Becoming-Computer, Hayles, How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics

by Corry Shores
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Becoming-Computer

N. Katherine Hayles

How We Became Posthuman:

Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics

Hayles defines the posthuman as a computational pattern.

I understand human and posthuman to be historically specific constructions that emerge from different configurations of embodiment, technology, and culture. My reference point for the human is the tradition of liberal humanism; the posthuman appears when computation rather than possessive individualism is taken as the ground of being, a move that allows the posthuman to be seamlessly articulated with intelligent machines. (33-34)

Hayles, N. Katherine. How We became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.

ISBN 0226321460, 9780226321462

More information and limited preview available at:

http://books.google.be/books?id=UcaDA5WNN78C&dq=Hayles,+N.+Katherine+(1999):+How+we+Became+Posthuman.+Virtual+Bodies+in+Cybernetics,+Literature+and+Informatics.+Chicago,+University+of+Chicago.&hl=en&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0