Are Cyborgs Really Monsters?

Advances in technology are always met with some degree of technophobia—and villainization. And cyborgs represent a special kind of fear inherent in losing ourselves in the technologies we create.

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Written and Hosted by: Dr. Emily Zarka
Director: David Schulte
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Producer: Thomas Fernandes
Editor/Animator: Steven Simone
Editor/Animator: Jordyn Buckland
Illustrator: Samuel Allan
Executive in Charge (PBS): Maribel Lopez
Director of Programming (PBS): Gabrielle Ewing
Additional Footage: Shutterstock
Music: APM Music

Descriptive Audio & Captions provided by The Described and Captioned Media Program

Produced by Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios.

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Bibliography
Coeckelbergh, Mark. New Romantic Cyborgs: Romanticism, Information Technology, and the End of the Machine. The MIT Press, 2017.

Hanafi, Zakiya. The Monster in the Machine: Magic, Medicine, and the Marvelous in the Time of the Scientific Revolution, Duke University Press, 2000.

Jancovich, Mark. “Modernity and Subjectivity in The Terminator: The Machine as Monster in Contemporary American Culture.” The Velvet Light Trap, vol. 30, no. 30, 1992, pp. 3–17.

Haney, William S. Cyberculture, Cyborgs and Science Fiction: Consciousness and the Posthuman, BRILL, 2006.

Haraway, Donna. Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. United Kingdom, Taylor & Francis, 2013.

Li, Qiang. Silk Road: The Study Of Drama Culture. World Scientific Publishing Company, 2019.

“Spaceman is seen as man-machine.” The New York Times. May 22, 1960.

Willis, Martin. Mesmerists, Monsters, and Machines: Science Fiction and the Cultures of Science in the Nineteenth Century, The Kent State University Press, 2013.

[lukecampbell]

You might trace cyborgs (or something like them) back into Irish mythology, where king Nuada lost an arm in battle, but had it replaced by a working arm made of silver crafted by a smith and a doctor.

[AmyDentata]

The potential for villainy is not just about the technology itself, of course, but who/what owns and controls that technology.

[ReynaSingh]

Cyborgs are interesting because it all comes down to definitions, you might say we’re all psuedo-cyborgs with cellphones that may as well be attached to us

[centreoftheselights]

It feels like a major oversight to spend so much time discussing cyborgs without ever directly commenting on how they relate to disability, especially cultural fears of disabled bodies.

[TheWanderingFire]

Kind of surprised you didn't mention the Cybermen from Doctor Who, they preceded the Borg in Star Trek by more than 20 years.

[RainbowLegion]

One could argue what makes Cyborgs scary isn't the technology but rather who uses the technology and the overall fear of humans themselves

[skyemiddletonx]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the fear of a loss of autonomy and identity . Which is a huge part of many Cyborg representations. Especially the Borg in Star Trek.

[fiberpoet]

Dr Z, can you do a Cyborg video part 2 that discusses disability, cultural ableism and cyborgs?
It’s a big part of the lore on Cyborgs and one can’t fully understand Cyborgs without understanding disability as that’s a big part of how one becomes a Cyborg.

[sharlharmakhis]

Media is awash with heroic and un-frightening cyborgs... Inspector Gadget, Cyborg from Teen Titans, Major Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell, Franky from One Piece, Genji from Overwatch, Echo from Star Wars' 'The Bad Batch'... the list goes on. I personally fear *for* any real-life cyborgs that may arise in the future (or already here) because of techbros and corporate malfeasance.

[likebot.]

"Cyborgs may not inherently be monsters, but we are afraid they will _become_ monsters." Great quote to pair with The Borg or potentially A.I.

The concept of Borg in the Star Trek canon was probably not given much thought by the typical viewer, but suspending reality and considering how it came to be, it had to be an altruistic attempt at a civilization to survive into the future. It makes a great metaphor for almost every civilization ever to ever exist, past present and future. When I look around the world with well seasoned eyes I see well over 500 "Borg" on the planet right now, with at least 2 or 3 in each country.

[RidireOiche]

I once read about an asymmetrically quadriplegic girl, a consequence of a birth defect meningitis I think, the little girl was given experimental bionic ironman-looking prosthetics that were fused to her bones and stitched directly to her muscle tissue and nervous system for an almost seemless transition between skin and metal. The prosthetics were even capable of expanding to grow as the girl did using some kind of telescopic magnet. The bionic limbs reportedly gave her the ability to control her new limb's gross motor function in how they were stitched to her. She used a device that connected her fingers and toes to her mind to control fine motor function using thought control, supposedly she could pick up an egg without breaking it, or do cartwheels, play guitar, feel the grass between her toes, and even feel heat and cold on the soles of her prosthetic feet and the palms of her prosthectic hands. I didn't believe it at the time, but with the leaps and bounds boston dynamics have made in the field of robotics in the last decade and this psyonics technology I saw there the other day making sci-fi just sci, I honestly wouldn't mind swapping out a limb for one of these technological marvels.

[badscientist]

I've never thought of cyborgs as scary or monstrous in any way. I mean, they're really just people with a lot of prosthetics.

[d.lawrencemiller]

I'm glad this episode acknowledged that Cyborgs aren't merely fiction anymore. Loads of people augment their bodies with technology due to disability, but also some people do it just for curiosity or personal satisfaction.

There used to be a wonderful convention in Austin, TX called BDYHAX where Cyborgs and transhumanists and body mod grinders gathered. It doesn't exist anymore as far as I'm aware but the people who used to attend are still doing our thing.

[HeraclesN-fpbw]

Cyborgs are SUPER (One Piece reference) which leads me to list off some other great fictional cyborgs:
- Franky, Kuma, & several other characters (One Piece) created by Eiichiro Oda
- Cyborg 001 - 009 (Cyborg 009) created by Shotaro Ishinomori
- Nyctalope created by Jean de La Hire (maybe one of the first fictional cyborgs hero)
- Inspector Gadget created by Bruno Bianchi, Andy Heyward, & Jean Chalopin

[oleksandrbyelyenko]

Major Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell and Alita from Battle Angel Alita are some of my favourites characters. Moreover them made me become open to cyborgs and in extension androids.

[LoveHandle]

As a Cyborg, I can confirm that I frighten others with my behavior sometimes.

[TheHornedKing]

People becoming cyborgs after a tragic event makes perfect sense though. "Cyborg-ism" is often presented as advanced prosthetics, and among all the reasons for why a person might need a prosthetic, I'm pretty sure a terrible injury is often the first that comes to mind.

[deetlebee]

As a card carrying cyborg*, I do wonder how much of cyborg-as-monster is rooted in ableism. In your examples of Good Vs Bad cyborgs, it's notable how the "Bad" ones were always visibly disabled. Luke can hide his amputation. Vader cannot.
Of course, there are exceptions. Cyborg from DC is one that comes to mind. Though even he functionally lacks any disability like Luke: we never see him struggle to put his prosthetic appendages in the morning.
I dunno. I guess I'm mostly tired of (especially cyberpunk settings) SciFi using disability as a "loss of humanity" shorthand. Tabletop and video games sometimes even have mechanics to show how much less human you were for each enhancement.

*I have a spinal cord stimulator which comes with a card for metal detectors

[Beryllahawk]

Some of the animations in this one reminded me STRONGLY of "City of Lost Children, " which featured some truly terrifying cyborgs (among other horrors)
Great job!

[Ziorac]

'We are already cyborgs' is not what you want to hear when you're high as hell. That was a trip....