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MACHINE DREAMS

Alexei Taylor, Author
Hybrid, page 1 of 3
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Hybrid



A hybrid is the offspring of two differing species. As seen in the video, the idea of creating the “humanzee” can be seen to be an impossible plausibility. 

Interbreeding between species has been proven to be successful as seen in the clip, such as ligers and mules. Despite this fact, creating a humanzee is a taboo subject as the social conventions do not familiarize the concept of interbreeding of two different species, especially when one of the chosen specie is the human being. As the concept is alien to us, the plausibility of the creation of a humanzee comes out to be impossible. 

As it is with the case of the humanzee, the concept of a cyborg, a hybrid of machine and organism (Harraway 1), may also be an abhorring subject to some people. But as discussed in Donna Harraway’s “A Cyborg Manifesto”, the creation of a cyborg can be a solution to the faults of both a human being and a machine. Harraway shows how a cyborg could be in some ways “better” than both a human being and a machine by saying, “People are nowhere near so fluid, being both material and opaque. Cyborgs are ether quintessence.”(3) But a question arises from observing the differences of reactions to the possibility of a cyborg and that of a humanzee. What combination of species creates a socially acceptable hybrid, and who are we to say what is and what isn’t?
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