Subjective Engagement

Subjective EngagementWho/What is listening?Music is generally viewed as a binary with the subject.The subject (I) Engages music for a specific purpose. Mood, Identity, Memory, etcThe subject is separated from the other that is music.The Cyborg has few such binary oppositions

The Cyborg

Popular Culture CyborgAn assemblage of human and machine The machine element enhances the human element in many ways strength, dexterity, stamina, intelligence, lifespanThe Human and Machine elements are initially separate, but brought together to form an enhanced Human, not an enhanced MachineGhost in the shell, EX-Machina, Transcendence, Blade Runner, Star Trek (Data), Star Wars (Vader), RobocopThese are really Transhumans, not CyborgsThe (real) Cyborg

The Real CyborgOrdinary everyday people use technology to enable their livesFrom the relatively mundane a commuter reading a newspaper on an iPad to the amazing an individual with implanted ocular replacements which transmit computer imagery directly into the brain.This is a Cyborg. We are all already Cyborgs. DescartesThe cyborg relies on a break with Cartesian thinkingDescartes wrote Cogito Ergo Sum or I think therefore I am and most theories of subjectivity fall back to him as the founder of the school.This gave rise to the idea of a core self or subject that arose in the world complete and autonomous.This has been challenged by many, from Heidegger to Haraway

Instead of Cartesian dualism between mind and body, Posthumanism reintroduces the importance of embodimentMusicians often instinctively feel this connection when playing