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Is the way we interact with technology moving us towards a cyborg future? In episode 164 of Overthink, Ellie and David take a closer look at Donna Haraway’s seminal essay, “A Cyborg Manifesto,” in which Haraway critiques the increasing technologization of everyday life and questions what it means to be a feminist and a socialist in the age of informatics and cybernetics. They discuss her critique of identity politics, her notion of the “homework economy,” the increase of miniaturization in technology, and her appeal to pleasure and responsibility. Why should we discard the assumption that technology has deepened mind-body dualism? And what might the theory of the cyborg look like in light of the rise of generative AI? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts discuss how the cyborg can be found in popular media like Severance and Crimes of the Future, and how the cyborg differs to Frankenstein’s monster.

Works Discussed:

Donna Haraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto”

 Dave Yan, “Posthuman Creativity: Unveiling Cyborg Subjectivity Through ChatGPT”

Highlight: The Homework Economy and Feminization of Work

* Haraway describes the homework economy, characterized by the feminization of work

* Technology inevitably impacts our homes and households

* For example, workplace changes affects the structure of the family, e.g. male “digital nomads” become domestic subjects, which was traditionally the space of feminity

* Ellie and David also connect Haraway’s ideas to AI

* Many LLMs, and even AI in general, are feminized

* E.g. Siri and Alexa have female voices

* What other connections did you see between Haraway and AI?