Helen Fowle wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I've been following the transhuman term debate over the last
> few days and I just wanted to ask a different slant on the
> idea of being transhuman.
>
> From speaking to several on the list about why they want to be
> transhuman, the overwhelming theme has been about having
> better functionality. but I was wondering if anyone out there
> had any other reasons for wanting to be a transhuman. Does
> anyone see it as a form of self expression, i.e. like in body
> modification (I think Anders essay on Self transformtion goes
> into this). The cyborg debates in academia centre on the
> cyborg, or machine human integration, as potentially
> transgressive. For example, being androgenous, potentially
> breaking such dualisms and boundaries as gender, mind and
> body, race, stigma against disability, difference and so on. I
> wondered if anyone had any thoughts on this. Do any of you see
> these as possibilites in the future or do you think
> traditional boundaries will remain as long as traditional
> institutions remain?
I don't transgress boundaries generally just because I enjoy
transgressing boundaries, though one does begin to enjoy it
after a while. I transgress boundaries when they are in the way
of my full unfoldment, happiness and/or well-being. I
"transgressed" gender, sexual expectations, "how things are
done" in my career, boundaries pro or anti-spiritual realms and
so on all for the same reason. And I plan to transgress other
boundaries defining the supposed limits of human or what is
*natural* as quickly as I am able to and as I feel the need.
Institutions are wavering and disassembling in the waves of
change and uncertainty. The boundaries are forms that may or
may not fit you or me at some point in time. The institutions
shift as the people shift. And the people shift as the
institutions shift.
- samantha
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Oct 12 2001 - 14:40:08 MDT