Immersed in The Matrix...again.

Watching The Matrix again had me immersed in it in entirely new ways. I’m one who tends to be rather nitpicky with details in a movie—the one who catches inconsistencies or scenes (and lines) that contradict each other. I’m usually the viewer who catches editing mistakes like a cup appearing and disappearing throughout a scene or dry clothes on a person who just got wet. What got me immersed this time through the movie were the details I hadn’t noticed before. Well, I may have seen/heard them but never realized how each affect the movie until after knowing what happens in the plot. Another way I was immersed was by reading the movie as opposed to just watching it. I played the movie with captions running and found it to be a whole new experience altogether. I’m not sure what kind of immersion this would fall into—maybe textual immersion? Whatever it might be called, it kept me reading/watching even though I knew what was coming and practically what was going to be said. I wonder what it would be like if we all came with captions running over our heads or on our chests…?

Cyborg Presence...

For Aristotle rhetoric was the art of persuasion and for Burke, identification—at the core values of cyborg rhetoric is a connection to “presence.” The cyborg is here, no, wait, the cyborg is us. It has used rhetoric to become a part of us, exist within us, and make itself known through us. The cyborg in me is speaking now, trying to make sense of itself through a language never meant for it. The cyborg has figured us out and is now trying to reveal itself in any way possible. For the cyborg, rhetoric is a tool for coming into existence. The machine in us has adopted (and is evolving) the language of the human to establish a presence, become an entity in itself—not just a technological advancement, but an advancement as a “living” being. Just as we attempt to make language our own, so too is the cyborg making rhetoric its own, utilizing it to manifest its identity. We are the cyborg whose identity is unclear to even ourselves; therefore, our only hope is to make our presence known. Through cyborg rhetoric we have a voice, a means for our evolved selves to be noticed, heard, and wondered upon. The cyborg is post-gender, post-race, post-social class, and post-human and cyborg rhetoric, in its development, is how we were introduced and presently the only way we can talk about (or attempt to make any sense of) it. Cyborg rhetoric reveals that we are no longer where we were, but at the same time, not quite where we are headed. The cyborg has acquainted itself with us through rhetoric and as abstract and unclear much of this relationship is, one thing is absolutely clear—the cyborg is here and it is a part of us.

I'm smart, witty, and beautiful. I'm smart, witty, and beautiful. I'm smart, witty, and beautiful...

For some reason who we are in this world is never quite enough. We search for ourselves in books, movies, and relationships. The person in the mirror is not ourselves but a reflection of someone who needs to be better—more handsome, more beautiful, smarter. We create a new sense of self through social networks that offer us a reality that is not “real” but offers a satisfaction that effects us in virtually real ways. The term virtual used to represent presentations of real—things not quite real but “virtually” real. Today, with the emotion, attachment, and self-creation rooted within our virtual selves, virtuality has become reality.

I'm here, virtually

I am a graduate student because I think so and my university status tells me so, but I am virtually a writer because that is the direction my goals and desires are taking me. The mere act of writing itself may not be enough to establish myself a writer, but I am virtually every bit the writer that I can hope/strive to become. Virtual is to be and not quite be simultaneously. A thing can only be something when coupled with what it is not—not only the signifier and signified, but the unsignified as well. (Kind of like how this entry makes sense and doesn’t make sense). To be virtual is to be what your mind, imagination, and understanding will allow (or desire) you to be.

From cyborgs to the virtual that makes or breaks reality

Over the winter break I caught myself wondering what “Cyborg Rhetorics” was going to entail. Now that I’ve been in the class for a short period I find myself in a different kind of limbo. It turns out that even the scholars in the field are somewhat undecided in their positions within the realm of cyborg selves and virtual reality. From Harraway to Ryan—and the notable works of thinkers like Baudrillard and Levy—it turns out that this field of thought (and study) is full of questions and seemingly opposing views. Still, I would I would go as far to say that these views are not opposing each other at all, but actually working together to help explain something that may be too abstract to explain (for now). Without offering a concrete explanation, but rather two vastly differing ones, Ryan has made clear that the world of virtual reality is one that we are still trying to make sense of. This feeling is one that is familiar throughout Haraway’s text as well. From cyborgs to the virtual that makes or breaks reality, one cannot deny that this is part of who we are today. Whether one chooses to accept it or not, it’s here to stay, growing more a part of our lives with every day.