Product Description

Are you a cyborg? Is your neighbour? The Cyborg - short for cybernetic organism - is an entity that is part human and part machine. Today's technology is transforming and maybe even transcending the human. People who have implanted pacemakers or attached prostheses are certainly cyborgs. Cyborgs are everywhere, multiplying. And many people, cyborged or not, now live in cyborg societies where humans and machines exist symbiotically. The Cyborg Handbook is an initial look at cyborg society and at the range of cyborg technologies, from the restorative and normalizing to the reconfiguring, and enhancing. These technologies can restore some to health and they can prolong horrible deaths, but they can also remake humans into more effective killers. Cyborgs, good, bad, and indifferent, are with us. The handbook brings together key documents from the history of cyborgs as well as the best writing about cyborgs, including recent cyborg cultural theory. The contributions cover the role of space technology, war, medicine, and the imagination in the production of cyborgs. The appendix lists cyborg films, videos, stories, and books.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #313687 in Books
• Published on: 1995-10-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 568 pages

From the Back Cover
The Cyborg (short for cybernetic organism) is an entity that mixes the mechanic and the organic, for example people who have implanted pacemakers. The Cyborg Handbook is an initial look at cyborg society and at the range of cyborg technologies.

Customer Reviews

Highly stimulating yet dry at times
This hefty tome is a real find for those who like a little science with their fiction. The basic premise is that in one way or another most of humanity is already a CYBORG. The definition is a bit broader than say Arnold in the Terminator and encompasses everything from fillings and eyeglasses to using a computer. I enjoyed the exploration of the CYBORG as a media icon. The technical discussions and NASA reports were a bit dry but do add to the overall credibility of the subject. This book is a real winner and anyone interested in the interaction of politics,philosophy and the human body will enjoy it.

Better than the Bible

As a cyborg myself, whose neighbour is also one, we found this book superb. We read it together. With our cyborg eyes.

Essential reading.