Cyberculture and Cyborgs
The cyborg has come to to be the mascot of cyberculture. This entity represents the crossing of all boundaries--biology, technology, identity, etc.--in a new structure of technological fusion. Pacemakers, synthetic knee and hip joints, anabolic steroids, and countless other technological advancements have enhanced (for those who can afford them) the quality of daily life and increased life expectancy dramatically. As Donna Haraway asserts in her discussion of feminism, science, and technology, Simians, Cyborgs, and Women, "we are all cyborgs" and the cyborg holds the promise of freedom from established categories of difference by removing the physical/social distinctions based upon class, race, sexuality, and most importantly for Haraway, gender. Thus her lament "I would rather be a cyborg than a goddess" attests to the liberatory potential offered by the infusion of technology into cybercultural social structure.