Título: | DEFYING THE GODS AND THE ODDS: ON BEING A CYBORG | ||||||||||||
Autor: |
VITOR MOURA LIMA |
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Colaborador(es): |
LUIS ALEXANDRE GRUBITS DE PAULA PESSOA - Orientador RUSSELL WILLIAM BELK - Coorientador |
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Catalogação: | 28/MAI/2020 | Língua(s): | ENGLISH - UNITED STATES |
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Tipo: | TEXT | Subtipo: | THESIS | ||||||||||
Notas: |
[pt] Todos os dados constantes dos documentos são de inteira responsabilidade de seus autores. Os dados utilizados nas descrições dos documentos estão em conformidade com os sistemas da administração da PUC-Rio. [en] All data contained in the documents are the sole responsibility of the authors. The data used in the descriptions of the documents are in conformity with the systems of the administration of PUC-Rio. |
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Referência(s): |
[pt] https://www.maxwell.vrac.puc-rio.br/projetosEspeciais/ETDs/consultas/conteudo.php?strSecao=resultado&nrSeq=48331&idi=1 [en] https://www.maxwell.vrac.puc-rio.br/projetosEspeciais/ETDs/consultas/conteudo.php?strSecao=resultado&nrSeq=48331&idi=2 |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.17771/PUCRio.acad.48331 | ||||||||||||
Resumo: | |||||||||||||
Humanity s fascination for achieving something beyond what is given by an
Almighty divinity can be found in many episodes since ancient times. Our quest for
creation, extension, and controlling different forms of life, such as gods do, has
been semiotically echoed through religions, myths, SCI-FI productions, and, of
course, science. From the magical creation of Homunculi to the Altered Carbon
dystopian setting, several issues arise from this complex relationship, perhaps
mainly because of the rebellious act of benevolence committed by Prometheus, the
fire (technology)-bringer. Although prior studies investigated technology
consumption from different perspectives, they mostly employed a Heideggerian
approach to them and, thus, viewed the technological device as only a tool. Given
the consumption of insideable technologies, the way that we have been
experiencing the dissolving boundaries between humans and machines, and the
emerging changes in the human ontological status, the ensuing consequences,
remain overlooked. To explore this singular phenomenon, based on abductive
reasoning, I developed my theorization on the Interactive Self, mostly based on
Sartre s latter existential-phenomenology approach. To do so, I had a prolonged and
intensive immersion in the biohacking context, specifically grinding (cyborgs), that
began in 2017 with a combination of netnography, ethnography, phenomenological
interviews, and autoethnography. To analyze the large collected dataset, I followed
the French Semiotics postulates, especially taking into account the existentialphenomenological
turn in the Parisian School of Semiotics. As a result of this
inquiry, my theoretical claim is that the Interactive Self is sustained by the process
of the externalization of the internal and the internalization of the external in
dialectical and perpetual dynamics. To sustain this argument and answer my
research questions, I present this novel concept in two ways: First, I describe the
conceptual components for the ontological condition of being a cyborg by means
of NFC microchip consumption. Subsequently, I promote an articulation of Sartre s
modes of existence within the aspect of volitional cyborgization, which places
humanity one step closer in its ancient and ongoing dream of performing god-like
miracles. In considering technology not as a mere tool to an end, as Heidegger
would, I argue that it is a living, magical, and vibrant matter that has the power to
change our ontological condition as human beings. In doing so, my research
contributes to discussions on technology consumption, identity projects, and,
tangentially, bioethics in consumer research within the context of Transhumanism.
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