[Synapse elist] Situated being

[Brad Nunn]

Vicki

I haven’t read the book but yes it’s interesting the emotional and  
embodied relationships people can have with cars / vehicles. In my  
case I feel that at certain times that my fusing with a car is my  
most  ‘natural’ experience of my cyborg identity. That is to say that  
there have been time, for example on a long open road with no other  
traffic, where my being was extended through the wheel/pedals, the  
body, motor, wheels. We became one.  The (subservient) ‘natural’  
aspect was, like walking in a field, one aspect of my consciousness  
controlled my path and automatically adjusted to the terrain whilst  
the other aspect of my consciousness was able to ‘think my own  
thoughts’.

I’m curious how Stelarc personally understands the relationships that  
he has with his body extensions? I remember Howard Cargill’s  
observation of a Stelarc performance where he talked about the  
antagonistic and opposing relationship between a technological  
prosthesis and the body, and yet, he noted that these dualities still  
advanced “towards an awkward Harmony”.  I wonder if Stelarc has ever  
felt ‘natural’ in his experiments with an augmented body? (Especially  
the six legged Exoskeleton for it appears to me that has real  
potential in the future for the mobility impaired to go four wheel  
driving/ six leg walking)

Brad