Prosthetic Embodiment
"No bodies touched. Whatever physical interaction occurred consisted of a mingling of electronic signals sent from sites"
- Julian Dibbell A Rape in Cyberspace
The Prosthetic Embodiment is the real world extensions of our natural form that can enhance or alter our sense and shape. While a robotic/prosthetic appendage would surely also fall into this category, I would also argue that items such as a cellphone, laptop, and camera also are included in the Prosthetic embodiment. These items enhance our senses and become an extension of our body, The camera lens sharpens our vision and sees beyond what our normal vision can, the phone becomes a microphone that enables those who can't or doesn't want to speak the ability for their words to the other side of the earth, and laptop or computer becomes our nervous system, a place where all of our thoughts, ideas, and emotions are processed through. And much like when your physical real self can be harmed or pleasured, as can your extended virtual self.
Aside from online dating and the exchange of sexual encounters between individuals through messenger or online avatars, there are many other ways in which our extended self can derive pleasure. By interacting with others, being praised, and melting into the virtual environment one experiences physical, real-life emotions. An example of this being that many hospitals are incorporating VR headsets as a form of therapy for those suffering from debilitating illnesses. By being immersed in this virtual environment and having your senses tweaked and changed with by this prosthetic vision makes the children in the video to the right forget about the environment that they are actually inhabiting. They forget about the dreadful atmosphere of the hospital and become entranced by the virtual world that their prosthetic self is encountering. However, these sensations can also be vice versa. Whatever attacks are made to our prosthetic self, we as well seem to respond to. This was proven in the piece by Julian Dibbell that was quoted above A Rape In Cyberspace.The piece explores an experience within a chat room in which multiple people claimed that they were raped by an anonymous user named Mr. Bungle. Aside from the fact that the victims felt personally violated and actually began to call for the real-life dismemberment of the oppressor, what makes this piece such an interesting read and essential to the prosthesis argument is that it argues that the cyberspaces are real, tangible places. Dibbell doesn't claim that the incident occurred at 3 AM in the chatroom, no, the crime occurred in the living room. But was it a crime? In the eyes of many no, but to those at the hands of Mr. Bungle, that horrendous night would surely claim otherwise. Their real-life bodies felt violated as if the acts were done to them personally. These two experiences are essential in arguing that technology is an extension of ourselves in that we feel what our cyberself experiences. Whether that be the joy of escaping a painful illness or the violation felt through cyber harassment.
This metaphorical body has been explored since the beginning of technology, and one could argue even further. The environment has always affected humans and vice versa as well. We are one with our environment as our environment is one with us. So as we progress further and our environment breeches into the cyberspaces, it is only reasonable to think then that we also have cyberselves/bodies that can feel experiences that may not be happening int he real world. Marshall McLuhan, a Canadian professor, and philosopher (1911-1980) argued that the man-made environment was an extension of the human body as well, and this was before social environments like twitter and facebook or devices such as the smartphone were even thought of.
Technology is an extension of the body, both physically and metaphorically. It enhances our physical senses by letting us speak without actually seeing each other, hear what others cannot, see beyond our normal field of vision, and move or act in ways that our physical bodies cannot allow.
