Author: Aryaam H.

As we have already seen, human augmentation has, so far, been mostly used as a positive. It has focused on allowing people who have disabilities to have the same processes as those without one. For instance, cochlear implants have helped many hear better. It is important to note that these augmentations do not make them “superhuman”, which means they do not go “beyond” what it means to be human. This is mostly to do with the unethical nature that these experimentations must have, as well as the need to define what would make a human “better”. In the particular instance of eugenics, this has been widely discussed.

When babies are born with certain disabilities, it does not take away from their autonomy as a human being. However, in society, as we’ve seen with MAID policies in Canada, they are often denied good care or help from society until medically-assisted death seems like the only option. When one comes up with the idea to genetically modify sperm in order to create a “favorable” human being, all it will do is continually cause inequality in reality. What is favorable? Is it based on height? Looks? Race? Who will get access to these facilities? Unfortunately, as time passes, it seems that eugenics is becoming a possibility in many people’s minds. That, in my eyes, is completely unacceptable.

People might then argue, isn’t changing your body to add tails or horn also disfiguration? In my eyes, if it does not give you an extreme physical upperhand, then I do not care. What is the difference between that and getting insane piercings and cutting your tongue. People dislike it because it goes against what they view as a “socially acceptable human” but I only care about if something goes against a biological view of what it means to be human. There is no need for prosthetics that go beyond human capabilities in my eyes, and we cannot bite the hand that feeds us. If we begin to explore what it means to distance ourselves from being human by these techniques, then we can turn to the vast amount of media that proves this to be a terrible idea. Society is not equipped for another factor that could aid in inequality or discrimination

In Janelle Monae’s 2018 album, Dirty Computer, Janelle positions computers as analogous to humans, highlighting the rigid nature of both. Both this album and Haraway’s concepts, challenge traditional gender, sexuality, and race roles within human beings using the “human v machine” debate as a closer look into this. Janelle mainly uses the term “dirty computers” to describe a computer that has a bug or virus in it. Translating this to humans, this would mean any human that does fit the societal mold of what it means to be perfect. And perfect for Janelle is a white straight man. Haraway deems the cyborg as something similar: the rejection of what it means to be a perfect human. There are binary constraints that a cyborg cannot adhere to, and similarly, neither do humans who were born “different”. In this case, the narrative of it being  “bug” is a positive to Janelle and she does not shy away from celebrating her differences. To Haraway, the only way to liberate hybridity is to reject the societal notions and constraints that lead to this. 

In the beginning of “Crazy, Classic, Life” Janelle offers her rendition of the declaration of  independence by declaring “That all men and women are created equal”. This particular lyrics then challenges and confronts the lack of female inclusion without society, culture, and politics in documents that have become the backbone of America. If America will not include her, then Janelle would force it to. It is this unabashed opinion that mirrors the exact critique Haraway has on the power behind the patriarchal structures in our society. Janelle also unwinds the intersectionality between her race and gender by comparing her stress as a black woman to the stress her afro undergoes when it is forced to be “pressed”. Hairstyles in the African American community is ranked favorably paced in its vicinity to white hairstyles. Women who often walk out in their natural hair are seen as messy and unkempt. Haraway similarly rejects this one-sided privilege whether it be gender or race that is being exhibited. In “Django Jane”, Janelle attempts to “take back the narrative” from white men. Using the metaphor of a computer, she opts to rewrite her own future and identity.

If I were given the chance to become a hybrid creature, I wouldn’t want to be one at all. Personally, I stand firmly against genetic modifications that are not necessary and especially one that raises ethical concerns about this. Furthermore, I do not find anything wrong with having a human body and being limited by our human capabilities. If we all arrived to be perfect then we would all die, as perfection does not exist. The arrogance and hubris that society would have to be steeped in to create something like this proves to me that I definitely would not trust any corporation to do even do a surgery of modification like that on my body

However, for the sake of a hypothetical, I think I would choose a bat. Bats are one of, if not the only, mammal that flies so I would still be a cross with a fellow mammal and be able to fly. In that case, I wouldn’t have to suffer through the New Orleans traffic (although I would assume other people would choose birds so maybe air traffic would exist? I am unsure.) Bats also use echolocation, which humans obviously dont. Humans only see visible light and due to our rods and cones, we are unable to visualize colors in the dark. However, because bats use ultrasound waves, echolocation allows them to see perfectly in the dark and would be amazing to utilize as a human, particularly because I would love to take more night photography. 

My wishes would mostly end there, though. I am not fond of physical transformations and despite other cool things bats can do, at what point would I lose my humanity? Flying and using echolocation would mean that I would have to have wings and different eyes. Would I even recognize myself in the mirror? Are you still a human if you’re a hybrid? I do not know and I do not wish to find out. Also, bats are one of the most common animals to have rabies and that is almost 100% fatal. I am not fond of dying because I wanted to fly and see in the dark.