Do you feel as though you can be anonymous? If you wanted to scrub yourself from the internet forever, could you? The simplest answer is no. (Maybe if you’re in witness protection, but that is the government changing your life, and not you). There is always a chance that your data can be hacked, stolen, or your face put on the internet. For a specific example, I will address the Rayban Meta Glasses. Meta itself has been no shy stranger for its encroachment on user data. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Meta, testified in a trial questioning Meta’s data concerns in 2024 (Milman, 2024). There is simply no denying that if you own any Meta device or service, that there is a significant chance that there is excessive data collected on you. That includes: Facebook, Instagram, Rayban Meta Glasses, WhatsApp, and Threads, for short. Meta was accused of sending the data of over a million Facebook users to servers in the United States (Milman, 2024). Data and privacy is something that is an essential human right. There should be an option for such to be compromised. Your data should never be compromised without your knowledge and used in something unknown. Although this should be a standard, it is not, and remains a prominent issue. This issue has also been set physically. Specifically looking at Meta glasses, the company that has already breached users’ privacy countless times, has created a product that can further breach people's privacy. Upon initial release, many people were unaware of the use of Meta glasses, considering they look like regular glasses or shades. A person can record someone’s face and actions without anyone but them being aware. So not only is there a big company that is able to breach your data, they made a product allowing anybody that owns it to encroach on your privacy without your knowledge. This is not solely a western issue. The lawsuit against Meta in 2024 was called by the European Consumer Organization (ECO). Meta owns two social media platforms, that is not going to solely be a western issue. This is going to be a problem essentially anywhere the servers work. Products such as Meta Glasses are typically going to be a western issue, however. Situations such as the trial concerning Meta allows for checks to be made, however, the data was still breached. It is more so a warning of the public than a complete halting of the process. This is an issue many platforms face, and not each one will be brought to trial. Since it is more of a global issue, it does seem to have more checks. Again in this instance, Meta is being questioned by a European company. This is very similar to Ghost in a Shell which has everyone connected to a neurointerface controlled and surveilled by the government. There is no such thing as private in Ghost in a Shell, and with the actions of many current companies, there is little privacy left.
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References
Milman, O. (2024, February 29). Meta faces complaints in Europe over 'massive' and 'illegal' data processing. CNN. cnn.com
Haraway's Cyborg Theory and the Breakdown of Binaries
Donna Haraway’s theory and idea of the cyborg stem from her feminist and socialist theoretical work. She asserts that cyborgs, in themselves, break the binary boundaries that Western thought has placed on us. Boundaries such as human vs. machine and nature vs. culture assert that there is one category that triumphs over the other and serves as the standard. The cyborg’s existence breaks down these boundaries by design. It does not adhere to the standards and does not have allegiance to a specific side of the binary, which Haraway asserts provides liberation and freedom due to its hybridizing of the binary.
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In Janelle Monáe’s The ArchAndroid, we follow her character, who lives in a world where androids are solely for their utility to humans. They are used for entertainment and are treated as inferior to humans. She falls in love with a human, which is a crime in this universe. This would normally result in punishment, but she escapes and becomes a figure of revolution and liberation for other androids. Monáe’s storyline incorporates cyberpunk themes with Afrofuturistic visuals, sounds, and themes to build a world where her main character is an example of the very cyborg Haraway discusses.
The Metaverse as a Modern Cyborg Space
Today, there are many examples of the cyborg and the principles that Haraway discusses, given that digital identity comes in many forms. Most prominently, the Metaverse and the way the virtual world it creates shows the cyborg identity in action. Since it is pushed forth by a corporation, it also reflects common cyberpunk themes while interacting with the ideas that Haraway and Monáe push forth.
The Metaverse is “a simulated environment that is developed to converge an enhanced version of physical and virtual realities” (Dwivedi, 2023). Through the metaverse, users are immersed in the virtual platform and are represented by characters or avatars that they can create however they would like. While you may be one person, you are able to be different from your physical form and separate yourself from it. This creates multiple identities for the user: the identity associated with their physical form and their identity in the metaverse. This also is used to blur many binaries that Haraway discusses, such as the human and machine, the physical and virtual, and the gender binary. Through dissolving these dualisms, this form of the cyborg reflects Haraway’s ideas. When considering the metaverse and its avatars, there can be a liberatory factor in being able to exist as a new version of yourself that is separate from the experience associated with your physical form. While this is not the same situation discussed in the album, there is a relation to the freedom experienced by breaking free from what the real world wants for you.
Future Possibilities and Risks of the Metaverse
Looking forward, the Metaverse could go many ways. Considering current trends and technologies being developed, such as Neuralink, I could see wearable technology and brain-computer connections that allow instant access to the metaverse becoming normal. This could be positive because of the freedom it would give users to escape into their virtual reality. While there could be positives, in the article “Exploring the Darkverse: A Multi-Perspective Analysis of the Negative Societal Impacts of the Metaverse,” the possible negative effects seem more likely. The vulnerability of the consumer, privacy concerns, and identity theft are all raised as significant concerns in the future of the metaverse. This goes against the freedom of breaking the binary because it challenges the safety and life of the physical body that users inhabit.
The cyborg is not a speculative science fiction concept or character. It is present in the present and exists in the digital identities we have access to create. Given the boundaries that are blurred by the concept of the cyborg, we now must question who controls how blurred those boundaries are. Especially when considering the metaverse, the corporations behind it take away some of the freedom we receive from their products. Hopefully, the technologies we continue to develop are able to give us access to a hybrid future that affirms our current identities and encourages us to find freedom in new ones.
AI attestation: AI was used to edit grammar and create heading titles. https://chatgpt.com/share/699a856d-b6ec-800d-b3fe-756b565ea4f2
References
Dwivedi, Y. K., Kshetri, N., Hughes, L., Rana, N. P., Baabdullah, A. M., Kar, A. K., ... & Yan, M. (2023). Exploring the darkverse: A multi-perspective analysis of the negative societal impacts of the metaverse. Information systems frontiers, 25(5), 2071-2114.
Do you feel as though you can be anonymous? If you wanted to scrub yourself from the internet forever, could you? The simplest answer is no. (Maybe if you’re in witness protection, but that is the government changing your life, and not you). There is always a chance that your data can be hacked, stolen, or your face put on the internet. For a specific example, I will address the Rayban Meta Glasses. Meta itself has been no shy stranger for its encroachment on user data. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Meta, testified in a trial questioning Meta’s data concerns in 2024 (Milman, 2024). There is simply no denying that if you own any Meta device or service, that there is a significant chance that there is excessive data collected on you. That includes: Facebook, Instagram, Rayban Meta Glasses, WhatsApp, and Threads, for short. Meta was accused of sending the data of over a million Facebook users to servers in the United States (Milman, 2024). Data and privacy is something that is an essential human right. There should be an option for such to be compromised. Your data should never be compromised without your knowledge and used in something unknown. Although this should be a standard, it is not, and remains a prominent issue. This issue has also been set physically. Specifically looking at Meta glasses, the company that has already breached users’ privacy countless times, has created a product that can further breach people's privacy. Upon initial release, many people were unaware of the use of Meta glasses, considering they look like regular glasses or shades. A person can record someone’s face and actions without anyone but them being aware. So not only is there a big company that is able to breach your data, they made a product allowing anybody that owns it to encroach on your privacy without your knowledge. This is not solely a western issue. The lawsuit against Meta in 2024 was called by the European Consumer Organization (ECO). Meta owns two social media platforms, that is not going to solely be a western issue. This is going to be a problem essentially anywhere the servers work. Products such as Meta Glasses are typically going to be a western issue, however. Situations such as the trial concerning Meta allows for checks to be made, however, the data was still breached. It is more so a warning of the public than a complete halting of the process. This is an issue many platforms face, and not each one will be brought to trial. Since it is more of a global issue, it does seem to have more checks. Again in this instance, Meta is being questioned by a European company. This is very similar to Ghost in a Shell which has everyone connected to a neurointerface controlled and surveilled by the government. There is no such thing as private in Ghost in a Shell, and with the actions of many current companies, there is little privacy left.