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Telepresence: A Gateway to Becoming a CyborgHeidi “Bob” Rivera As Cyborg technology advances, the term Cyborg is met with mixed responses. There are those who embrace the idea of cyborgization in society and on the other end of the spectrum those who completely despise the idea. But despite the varied stances on the argument, it is impossible to ignore the fact that some form of cyborgization is already going on in today's culture. Technology and the psychology of becoming a Cyborg has ingrained itself fundamentally into the human psyche, while most of the population has yet to realize that it has. How was this possible? One of the leading agents of this psychological change is the advent of the Internet and video games. These two mega giants in our culture have begun to ease this generation into a Cyborgian outlook on evolution. While anyone who plays video games is not necessarily jumping in line to get computer chips installed into the body, the psyche of the avid gamer and consistent internet user has accepted a form of cyborgization. This techno generation has accepted the virtual and cyber world with open arms. The information shared on the internet has transformed the mind into one that blurs the differences between the virtual world and real world. That is not to say that this generation cannot tell the distinction between the two, but simply that they have been able to adapt themselves into the cyber world. This concept is explained in its simplest form through the use of a driver and his daily routine. Anyone who has had to drive the same route on a day-to-day basis can relate with the idea of “zoning” out while driving. When the driver first begins to drive, they remain alert. The driver is aware of where the road is in relationship to the car and the driver must consciously think about how to turn the car properly in the right places and how to properly accelerate and decelerate to follow speed limits, assuming this new driver was attempting to be a safe driver. The drive must think about the pressure needed on the gas petal constantly and watch the speedometer to not only follow laws but also know when to change gears. The new driver consciously thinks about this task for the first couple of times driving, for driving tests, and whenever a police car appears. But after a while, glancing at the mirror, staying with traffic, routes, becomes unconsciously done. After the first couple of drives, the driver does not need to consciously think about the pressure of the foot on the gas pedal anymore. Instead of thinking about the act of driving on Monday mornings, the driver thinks about the date they will be attending after work, or about what they need to buy at the store the next day, perhaps about whether they need to go to the gym or not, or how they wished they were somewhere else in their life instead. Millions of thoughts go through the brain that have nothing to do with the physical aspects of driving the car and suddenly the driver is pulling into the parking lot of their destination, not remembering how they drove themselves there in the first place. The car and the driver had become a single entity of sorts; they worked flawlessly together to reach the destination, and all at a subconscious level. This concept has become true of more technologies than simply driving a car, and is the first step to symbioses between humans and technology; and while driving is not quite telepresence, the analogy helps to describe what has begun to happen in our social culture.
One of largest growing industries at the moment is video games. The older generations simply were not exposed to the video game industry as this generation has. For example, the Atari game system sold nearly 3 million consoles a year when it came out, however, 20 years later when the Sega Dreamcast was realized into the market it sold about the same amount but was considered a failure in the video game market because 3 million was so little a number to sell simply 20 years later (Beck 2004). More recent consoles, such as the Nintendo Wii sold 48.1 million consoles, 22 million in the United States alone (VG charts 2009). And as Beck states in his book Got Game?, with numbers like that its hard not to be exposed to video games in some way. And while Beck's argument is more capitalist oriented, the figures remain relevant because it proves that this generation has been exposed to video games at a much higher level than generations past. For anyone who has played a video game for an extended period of time and actually enjoyed the game, the mind becomes absorbed in the game of choice.. All outside stimuli is ignored; the people in the room tend to disappear in the conscious mind and are replaced by the fictitious characters of the video game. The avid gamers know that when truly absorbed in the game physical aspects about the self can be mostly ignored to. Hours can be spent on a game, ignoring the signs of hunger, sleep deprivation, and bladder functions. Why is the physical discomfort ignored? The mind itself is in game, in that moment the gamer is Link stuck in the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time, or the gamer is Master Chief trying to ward of the elite in Halo. Not until there are pauses in the action of the game does the gamer realize just how hungry their physical body actually is. There are limits to this, but it is these symptoms that caused the fear of video game addiction, which the APA has deemed as nonexistent. The physical body is not completely cut off, when the player gets hungry enough they will press the pause button and their mind is instantly back in the real world having to pee, sleep and eat all at once. Those limits are different for every gamer, there is nothing more irritating than playing an online game with friends and have them disappear mid battle to go eat leaving you with one man down. During that game time, the psychological mind has become a part of the video game universe. The controls of the game become autonomous with the mind, and, like the pressure of the feet on the gas peddle, do not need to be thought about. The best way to spot a new player in the Xbox shooters is to see a character that is looking around sporadically and unable to walk properly because they have yet to master the use of two analog sticks in order to get around the game. Actions in games such as simply walking around or doing specific jumps become as natural as breathing.
The use of computers and the Internet also works in much the same way. The social networking phenomenon has helped to immerse the psyche of the generation into yet another reality. With programs such as instant messengers, and video chatting a whole social life can be created online. And while in the process of communicating with others through the Internet connection the mind itself is conversing with the connected social network in a cyber space that does not physically exist in the real world. But the conversation between two people, and sometimes more, exists. Many different things happen to the psyche as a result of this. The ability to be anonymous on varies platforms on the Internet cause an exchange of ideas that might not have been possible otherwise. The creation of an alter ego occurs for some people, the virtual self that exists on chat rooms and the real self. On an even grander scale, the mind has adapted to the idea that a virtual self can exist. When having a video convergence or even just sending text back in forth between people, we as a society have accepted that the conversation is not occurring in front of us but in and through cyberspace. By taking this step in acceptance, what else could the human mind accept? Would we be able as a species accept the absorption as technologies into our bodies as our own autonomy? Society would not be able to handle a drastic change, and evolution does not work at such a fast pace. But the usage of video games and internet has psychologically taken the first baby steps in that direction, because in accepting virtual worlds at an unconscious level other technologies can then step in and become unconsciously a part of the human psyche as well. Works Cited
Beck, John C., and Mitchell Wade. Got Game How the Gamer Generation Is Reshaping Business Forever. New York: Harvard Business School P, 2004.
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http://bradyreports.com/left/hands-drivers-cell-phones/
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