This was originally posted on blogger.

Here’s a thought: Are English majors Cyborgs when they sit around a discussion table?

Well, what is a Cyborg? The word itself is a portmaneau of cybernetic and organism – a rough definition is “a person who is part machine, a robot who is part organic.”

How would this relate to the Harkness Table? When we sit in a book club or English seminar, most people have their books open and mouths shut, save for a few rambling folk. The proud student flips through their book to cite page numbers, give exact quotes, and search for context when others are reading or analyzing.

When we look at this a certain way, it becomes awfully cybernetic! After all, these people haven’t memorized the book, yet its physical existence allows students to recall quotes, plot-points, and metaphors after a bit of looking up. It may not seem so impressive, but this is a skill we (or at least some of us) build throughout high school so that we can have lovely, educated discussion. For the experienced reader, the book becomes an extension of the mind.

On the other hand, you might consider the book a tool, whose use doesn’t necessarily make us cybernetic. It’s not thinking for us – it’s just storing information. I mean, the use of pencils doesn’t scream Cyborg to me, nor does using flint and steel to light a fire.

But when does that boundary stop? Is Google (or DuckDuckGo) also just a tool, since it only retrieves information? But then, what happens when you open Google Maps and it calculates an optimum route for you – is it still just a storage device? That, along with many other examples (like Alexa, a FitBit, or even Elon Musk’s Neuralink) make it more and more seamless to connect with new technologies (t’s not unlike English class, when teenagers stealthily bring their phones out underneath the Harkness table!). In the language of computer science, the bandwidth of information transfer is increasing so that we can connect with computers faster than ever.

A lot of this is rather scary. Being Cyborgs with great works of literature is fine – I suppose – but it beings nefarious when we think of Facebook, or Netflix, or Candycrush. But like it or not, these advances don’t seem to be going away, and in fact people are getting more and more excited about them!

Off the top of my mind I try to remember to things when dealing with our increasingly Cyborked world: literacy and autonomy. The literacy movement – giving the gift of reading to everyone – is a noble one, and frankly essential for a democratic society. Our world is built on reading, from court rulings to stop signs, and if only a few could actually do it we would revert to a feudal society. The same logic goes for technological literacy, like being able to write and read computer code. In addition, I’d say we need autonomy – the ability to separate ourselves from our technological enhancements. For books, this is easy – it’s not hard to tell your teenager to put a book down. But when there’s Facebook and Netflix and Candycrush on a kid’s iPhone, they’re are sucked in and are loathe to put away this “tool”, which gives it power over us. Literacy alone doesn’t cut it. We need space away from devices so that we have a better understanding of ourselves, don’t get addicted to them, and of course have a bit of privacy.

How do you stop from becoming a Cyborg? Or is it something you whole-heartedly embrace? Leave a comment and tell me your thoughts!