Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture and faith from the Antipodes.

Cyberspace, Cyborg

Albert Borgmann and N. Katherine Hayles interview/dialogue

Interesting interview I stumbled across today. Albert Borgmann and N. Katherine Hayles interview/dialogue

The claim that cyberspace liberates people from the accidents of gender, race, class, and bodily appearance is often made by advocates of electronically distributed education. But to conceal a problem is not to solve it. We have to learn to respect and encourage people as they actually exist. The “liberated” students or citizens of cyberspace, moreover, have to bleach out their presence to that of a person who is without gender, social background, and racial heritage. Otherwise they betray what is supposed to remain hidden. And it turns out that there are loudmouths and bullies in cyberspace as often as in reality. The fuzzed identities of cyberspace, moreover, lend themselves to their own kind of mischief. (Borgmann)

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