Rae's Reflective Post

I think weblogs have a great deal of potential as tools for learning, though I am not convinced that this potential was particularly well-used in this instance. I was disappointed with the lack of general involvement of the tutorial blogs in the unit, and feel that a greater focus in online interaction would be preferable, increasing the usefulness of the weblogs and allowing a greater exploration of some of the topics covered in the unit.

I do not believe I am a cyborg. I found the arguments of various theorists that engagement with the modern, technological world makes a human into a cyborg unconvincing; if we are cyborgs now, then we were, equally, cyborgs a century ago, when we started using telephones to enhance our ability to communicate, or three hundred years ago, when we had learnt to inoculate ourselves against disease, or three thousand years ago, when the lame took up using crutches to replace damaged or missing limbs, or thirty thousand years ago, when we took up wearing clothes to enhance our surviveability in adverse conditions. If interaction with technology shifts us from the human to the posthuman, then we have never been human; since I find the idea that the concept of humanity which has sufficed throughout our history is somehow entirely negated ridiculous, I conclude that I am not a cyborg.

I found the exploration of concepts of identity and the social and political consequences of the digital revolution interesting, but I was frustrated by many theorists; it seems that many academics work in this field despite having a poor comprehension of computers, the internet, and what seem to me to be the foundation concepts on which the study is based. The course readings were consequently quite difficult to take seriously, containing as they did many fundamental factual errors and inadequacies.