How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics 1st Edition

by N. Katherine Hayles (Author)

19 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0226321462

ISBN-10: 0226321460

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In this age of DNA computers and artificial intelligence, information is becoming disembodied even as the "bodies" that once carried it vanish into virtuality. While some marvel at these changes, envisioning consciousness downloaded into a computer or humans "beamed" Star Trek-style, others view them with horror, seeing monsters brooding in the machines. In How We Became Posthuman, N. Katherine Hayles separates hype from fact, investigating the fate of embodiment in an information age.

Hayles relates three interwoven stories: how information lost its body, that is, how it came to be conceptualized as an entity separate from the material forms that carry it; the cultural and technological construction of the cyborg; and the dismantling of the liberal humanist "subject" in cybernetic discourse, along with the emergence of the "posthuman."

Ranging widely across the history of technology, cultural studies, and literary criticism, Hayles shows what had to be erased, forgotten, and elided to conceive of information as a disembodied entity. Thus she moves from the post-World War II Macy Conferences on cybernetics to the 1952 novel Limbo by cybernetics aficionado Bernard Wolfe; from the concept of self-making to Philip K. Dick's literary explorations of hallucination and reality; and from artificial life to postmodern novels exploring the implications of seeing humans as cybernetic systems.

Although becoming posthuman can be nightmarish, Hayles shows how it can also be liberating. From the birth of cybernetics to artificial life, How We Became Posthuman provides an indispensable account of how we arrived in our virtual age, and of where we might go from here.

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Editorial Reviews

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The title of this scholarly yet remarkably accessible slice of contemporary cultural history has a whiff of paradox about it: what can it mean, exactly, to say that we humans have become something other than human? The answer, Katherine Hayles explains, lies not in ourselves but in our tools. Ever since the invention of electronic computers five decades ago, these powerful new machines have inspired a shift in how we define ourselves both as individuals and as a species.

Hayles tracks this shift across the history of avant-garde computer theory, starting with Norbert Weiner and other early "cyberneticists," who were the first to systematically explore the similarities between living and computing systems. Hayles's study ends with artificial-life specialists, many of whom no longer even bother to distinguish between life forms and computers. Along the way she shows these thinkers struggling to reconcile their traditional, Western notions of human identity with the unsettling, cyborg directions in which their own work seems to be leading humanity.

This is more than just the story of a geek elite, however. Hayles looks at cybernetically inspired science fiction by the likes of Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, and Neal Stephenson to show how the larger culture grapples with the same issues that dog the technologists. She also draws lucidly on her own broad grasp of contemporary philosophy both to contextualize those issues and to contend with them herself. The result is a fascinating introduction--and a valuable addition--to one of the most important currents in recent intellectual history. --Julian Dibbell

About the Author

N. Katherine Hayles is a postmodern literary critic and the James B. Duke Professor of Literature at Duke University.

Product details

Paperback: 364 pages
Publisher: University of Chicago Press; 1 edition (February 15, 1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0226321460
ISBN-13: 978-0226321462
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 19 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141,696 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #23 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science > Cybernetics
- #299 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science > AI & Machine Learning
- #726 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > Philosophy

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In this altogether fascinating volume, Katherine Hayles explores the ...

July 14, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

In this altogether fascinating volume, Katherine Hayles explores the history of cybernetic theory with reference to its cultural dissemination—primarily in literature. Developing lucid, and remarkably concise, historical reconstructions of the origins of cybernetics at the famous Macy Conferences, Hayles assesses the unfolding of a ‘post-human’ logic that has become pervasive in information theory, artificial intelligence, and even the humanities. Although she is not entirely critical of this development, she is critical of the cyberneticist abandonment of embodiment. While I agree with the general direction of this disagreement, her reasoning is often tendentious and underdeveloped. A fuller, more robust theory of embodiment and in its interactions with cognition would be needed.

One person found this helpful

February 16, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Very useful and readable resource. Helped me get an A!

2 people found this helpful3 people found this helpful

Hayles delivers a (virtual) reality check.

December 1, 1999

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Finally, a well-informed, razor-smart analysis of the cultural evolution of information as we (mis)understand it today. Hayles does for information and cybernetics what Foucault has done for sexuality, madness and the penal system, and she does it in a way that is thorough-going, highly contemporary, and enjoyable. Hayles offers the paradoxically devastating thesis that, in our visions of information, in our approaches to cybernetics, and in our handling of our own place in the world, Western culture has been hurtling down the wrong path. We have forgotten the physical. Worse, in order to forget the physical, to elide our own bodies, we had to forget or disregard a mountain of evidence. Not content to let us remain ignorant, Hayles recalls that evidence for us, shows us where we've come from, where we are, and offers some insight into where we're going. This is one of those books that you will tell all your friends about.

56 people found this helpful57 people found this helpful

November 16, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

great read!

2 people found this helpful3 people found this helpful

May 22, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

tough to read but very interesting!

2 people found this helpful3 people found this helpful

Must for advanced Tech Comm Theory gurus

December 7, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Really good theory text. Not even necessary for my course work, I just ended up wanting another of her books for research and edification.

2 people found this helpful3 people found this helpful

Paradigm-Shifting Exposition

March 31, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

As we consider drug use for higher scores on high-stakes test, become blasé about dental implants, expect prosthetics to have electronic nerves, and keep our smartphones as close as our pocket handkerchiefs, Hayles's insight into posthuman expectations are of huge value. It's not an easy read, nor is it particularly balanced, but there are some striking points here, especially about embodiment. Well worth reading.

3 people found this helpful4 people found this helpful

Great Book, Bad E-Book

November 13, 2012

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

My low rating is not for the text itself, but for the kindle formatting. Normally, one would be able to transfer between each chapter by using the arrow buttons, but this e-book provides no links to be able to do that. This seems like very lazy e-book formatting. I wish I had just bought the physical copy.

The text itself is excellent. If you are interested in this subject, N. Katherine Hayles is a fantastic writer who explains the posthuman very well.

3 people found this helpful4 people found this helpful

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