Essay 6

Jofran Mendoza


Earlier in the year our very first essay was if I were a Cyborg. And my answer still remains to be yes. As the year progressed I came to understand the meaning of being a “Cyborg”, the definition that Dr. Smith one used was vaguely “A cyborg is someone that cannot live without technology.” One doesn’t necessarily have to be a robot to be a cyborg, just live in a society that’s so depended on technology. I’ll be using examples from the Matrix film, Me++ and other sources to support my statement, including my own personal experiences. I’ll argue that we in today’s day and age live in a network, that we are all connected to each other.
William J. Mitchell repeatedly mentioned that the world is beginning to get smaller and smaller each day. In better understanding he says that, though the world isn’t shrinking, every material thing that we own is. He also mentions over and over that we all live in a network, a network that relies on everybody else to do their job or else nothing would ever go right. Mitchell states “And networks of different types and scales are integrated into larger network complexes serving multiple functions” (9). He says that everything is connected to the other, one small network is connected to another, while that other is connected to an even larger one, it’s a never ending circle of networks depended on each other to co-exist. Take for instance the Matrix film, the machines depended on the humans to survive, the only way the Matrix was able to keep running was because of the energy the machines took from the humans. And later on in other films of the Matrix it is realized that the humans also rely on the machines for their water rand heat, all of the essentials for human survival. Networks its everywhere, to make an ordinary plastic cup seems like a simple task but the truth would be that that cup went through a series of steps to become a final product. It went from one network to another to become, the product it is now, a cup.
Everything is shrinking, all our material things that we used to have to keep track of is disappearing. All of your things can be easily accessed at the palm of your hand, thanks to technology. William says “We can now keep almost unimaginable quantities of digital information on servers the size of domestic appliances” (83). More and more our devices are starting to become engraves on to us, we no longer have to stay home to watch tv, listen to music, look up information on the internet. We can now take all of that with us, as if it were a part of us now, attached to us somehow. Dr. Smith mentioned that in a way we are becoming part of the technology rather than they being a part of us. I myself fell like I’ve become a tool to my technology, I’m constantly on my iphone which obviously has a lot of features that some have to go home for. I can do countless things on my phone, things that before I would be able to do. I’ve become so overly engrossed on my phone that I simply cannot function without it; it’s become very essential to me.
Networks are all around us, it governs us now and so does technology. There is a society that Dr. Smith mentioned that knew nothing of the outside world, they lived among themselves, and they all had their own jobs and had their things to do to keep the tribe going. Dr. Smith was trying to explain to us networks with to my opinion with success, he said if one person were to die in the tribe that the tribe would not be affected at all, they’d still be able to continue living. Then he mentioned in this world if just one thing/person was not able to do their job than the whole network would come crashing down, everything needed to be working properly for anything to get done. To my understanding that is a network, a connection of different people/things that relied on each other to work. As Barry Wellman said “People in networked societies live and work in multiple sets of overlapping relationships, cycling among different networks. Many of the people of the related social networks they deal with are sparsely knit, or physically dispersed and no not know one another”(17). Also this world and its inhabitants have increasingly grown more dependent on technology, everyday losing their human instincts and relying on their tools to live. We are becoming Cyborgs more and more each day.

Sleep Dealer

There were certain elements that made it a "Mexican" film, like language. The entire movie was in spanish (although there were a few occasions when there was some english dialogue), but also the the slang was Mexican. I'm "latino" myself so I didn't think I would need to read the subtitles, but the language was different even to me, it was "Mexican" I don't want to sound racist but that is the case. In certain countries some languages are spoken differently, with a different accent or slang's. Another element would be the setting, it was all in a Mexican setting, in a forgien country. Some of the connections in this film and the Matrix are more obvious than the others. First in both films it involved having to be plugged in/connected to enter an alternate world or reality. Other similarity would be that both bring up the concept of a dream world, a world that is only produced ion your sleep which in return means what they were living was a lie. Both films feature futuristic elements like machines and advanced technology. In Sleep dealer the whole country finds themselves under the control of the United States, oppressed by them, there is a border separating the country and they are cut off from their water supply that can only be obtained threw the government. In the Matrix the humans are under the control of the machines, that have in slaved their minds as its their method of energy. In the Matrix it was more like a fight against machines, race was not an issue, most of the freed minds were mixed races, there wasn't just one main race. In Sleep Dealer it was more like Mexico versus United States/government, their were racial elements in the film. In Sleep dealer they portrayed as having a rural life as the better lifestyle, having to work hard everyday for something that you own, while living in a urban life was too confusing and depended on others rather than yourself.