Cyborgs

Entry updated 22 August 2023. Tagged: Theme.

The term "cyborg" is a contraction of "cybernetic organism" and refers to the product of human/machine hybridization. It was coined by Manfred E Clynes and Nathan S Kline in their article "Cyborgs in Space" (September 1960Astronautics p26), which proposed "Altering man's bodily functions to meet the requirements of extraterrestrial environments". Early sf uses of the term appear in the Comic Space Man (1962) and FrankHerbert'sThe Eyes of Heisenberg (June-August 1966Galaxy as "Heisenberg's Eyes";1966). DavidRorvik popularized the idea in his nonfictionAs Man Becomes Machine (1971), writing of the "melding" of human and machine and of a "new era of participant evolution". Elementary medical cyborgs – people with prosthetic limbs or pacemakers – are already familiar, early works ringing the changes on this theme include Edgar AllanPoe'sSatire "The Man that Was Used Up" (August 1839,Burton's Gentlemen's Magazine), in which an outwardly striking soldier proves to consist almost entirely of prosthetics, and Perley PooreSheehan's and Robert H Davis's "Blood and Iron" (October 1917Strand), with mutilated soldiers rebuilt from mechanical parts. Medical cyborgs have been extrapolated in fiction in such works as BernardWolfe'sLimbo (1952; vtLimbo '901953) and MartinCaidin'sCyborg (1972); the television seriesTheSix Million Dollar Man – which popularized the termBionic Man – was based on the latter. A more recent example of the cyborgSuperman can be found in RichardLupoff'sSun's End (1984) andGalaxy's End (1988).

There are two other common classes of cyborg in sf: functional cyborgs are people modified mechanically to perform specific tasks, usually a job of work; adaptive cyborgs are people redesigned to operate in an alien environment, sometimes so completely that their humanity becomes problematic. The subject of the earliest major cyborg novel,The Clockwork Man (1923) by E VOdle, belongs to the latter category, featuring a man of the future who has a clockwork mechanism built into his head which is supposed to regulate his whole being, and which gives him access to a multidimensional world (seeDimensions). The most common form of cyborg portrayed in the early sfPulp magazines was an extreme version of the medical cyborg (seeMedicine), consisting of a human brain in a mechanical envelope. These are featured in EdmondHamilton's "The Comet Doom" (January 1928Amazing) andCaptain Future series, in Neil RJones'sProfessor Jameson series beginning with "The Jameson Satellite" (July 1931Amazing), and in Raymond FJones'sThe Cybernetic Brains (September 1950Startling;1962). Brains immortalized by mechanical preservation (seeBrain in a Box) often became monstrous, like the ones in Lloyd ArthurEshbach's "The Time Conqueror" (July 1932Wonder Stories; vt "The Tyrant of Time" as title story of coll1955) and CurtSiodmak's much-filmedDonovan's Brain (1943). Some later writers approached the existential situation of humans in mechanized bodies in a much more careful and sophisticated manner; outstanding examples include C LMoore's "No Woman Born" (December 1944Astounding) and AlgisBudrys'sWho? (April 1955Fantastic Universe; exp1958), both of which focus on the problems of re-establishing identity once the familiar emblems are gone. Existential problems are also to the fore inThe Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe (1974; rev vtThe Unsleeping Eye1974; vtDeath Watch1981) by D GCompton, which features a man with television cameras implanted in his eyes.

An early example of the functional cyborg is strikingly displayed in "Scanners Live in Vain" (January 1950Fantasy Book #6) by CordwainerSmith, which features cyborgs designed forSpace Flight; this particular theme dominates stories of both functional and adaptive cyborgs. Earlier, aBrain in a Box functions as a directly connectedSpaceship pilot in "Camouflage" (September 1945Astounding) by HenryKuttner and C LMoore writing together as Lewis Padgett. Cyborg spaceships are central to Thomas NScortia's "Sea Change" (June 1956Astounding), AnneMcCaffrey'sThe Ship Who Sang (coll of linked stories1969), KevinO'Donnell Jr'sMayflies (1979) and Gordon RDickson'sThe Forever Man (1986). The title character of William CAnderson'sAdam M-1 (1964) is a cyborg astronaut comprising a human brain installed in aRobot body, while VondaMcIntyre'sSuperluminal (1983) features space pilots who require mechanical replacement hearts. Stories dealing with the use of adaptive cyborgs to explore other worlds include Arthur CClarke's "A Meeting with Medusa" (December 1971Playboy), FrederikPohl'sMan Plus (1976) – describing a radical and sometimes harrowing human adaptation toMars – and Paul JMcAuley's "Transcendence" (November 1988Amazing). Barrington JBayley'sThe Garments of Caean (1976) has two races of cyborgs adapted to the environment of outer space.

Another major theme in stories dealing with functional cyborgs concerns their adaptation to the needs of espionage,War and general mayhem; examples include "I-C-a-BeM" (October 1961Amazing; vt "The Augmented Agent" inThe Best from Amazing, anth1973, ed TedWhite) by JackVance, "Kings who Die" (March 1962If) by PoulAnderson,A Plague of Demons (1965) by KeithLaumer, the already citedThe Eyes of Heisenberg (1966) by FrankHerbert – where one augmented human deploys an impressive range of energyWeapons in a last stand against pursuit – and "Gottlos" (November 1969Analog) by ColinKapp. Relatively few stories treat more mundane manipulative functions, although Samuel RDelany'sNova (1968) makes significant observationsen passant, and the theme also features in KennethBulmer'sOn the Symb-Socket Circuit (1972). Many more recent stories feature humans modified in such a way as to be able to plug in directly toComputers, sometimes working in harness with them to do many kinds of work. Particularly graphic images of this kind can be found inORA:CLE (1984) by KevinO'Donnell Jr,Schismatrix (1985) by BruceSterling,Hardwired (1986) by Walter JonWilliams andEscape Plans (1986) by GwynethJones; the notion is a staple background element ofCyberpunk. Not all functional cyborgs involve human flesh: the eponym ofThe Godwhale (1974) by T JBass is a massive food-collecting cetacean cyborg.

Sf in theCinema and onTelevision has often used the cyborg as a convenient figure of menace; examples include theDaleks and Cybermen ofDoctor Who. Images of cyborg evil in written sf include the Cyclan in E CTubb'sDumarest novels and Palmer Eldritch in Philip KDick'sThe Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1964). A more sympathetic cyborg is featured in Dick'sDr Bloodmoney (1965), and television presented at least one memorable sympathetic image in HarlanEllison'sTheOuter Limits script "Demon with a Glass Hand" (1964). Later came such gung-ho cyborg agents asTheSix Million Dollar Man (1973-1978),TheBionic Woman (1976-1978), and a wide range of mechanically augmentedAnime characters.

One work which transcends categorization to deal in semi-allegorical fashion with the relationship between human and machine via the symbol of the cyborg is David RBunch'sModeran (1959-1970 var mags; fixup1971), an assemblage of vignettes about a world where machine-men gradually forsake their "fleshstrips" and retire into mechanized "strongholds" to plot the destruction of their fellows.

Mention should also made of what might be termed the inverted cyborg theme, where machines are augmented with human flesh rather than vice-versa. A human-seeming character in GeneWolfe'sThe Book of the New Sun (1980-1983 4vols) proves to be a robot who for lack of the correct spare parts has had missing parts restored with flesh and blood; the narrator and title character of MarthaWells'sMurderbot Diaries series beginning withAll Systems Red (2017) is an artificialAI "construct" whose human-based exterior and organs are built on a machine framework with inbuiltWeapons.

A relevant theme anthology isHuman-Machines: An Anthology of Stories about Cyborgs (anth1975) edited by Thomas NScortia and GeorgeZebrowski. [BS/DRL]

further reading

DavidRorvik.As Man Becomes Machine. The Evolution of the Cyborg (London: Souvenir Press,1973) [nonfiction: hb/]
Chris Hables Gray, editor.The Cyborg Handbook (New York: Routledge,1995) [nonfiction: anth: pb/]
Janice Hocker Rushing and Thomas S Frentz.Projecting the Shadow: The Cyborg Hero in American Film (Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press,1995) [nonfiction: hb/]
Jenny Wolmark, editor.Cybersexualities: A Reader on Feminist Theory, Cyborgs and Cyberspace (Edinburgh, Scotland: University of Edinburgh Press,1999) [nonfiction: anth: hb/]
Chris Hables Gray.Cyborg Citizen: Politics in a Posthuman Age (New York: Routledge,2001) [nonfiction: hb/]
Kevin Warwick.I, Cyborg (London: Century,2002) [nonfiction: hb/uncredited]
William S Haney II.Cyberculture, Cyborgs and Science Fiction: Consciousness and the Posthuman (Amsterdam, Netherlands: Editions Rodopi,2006) [nonfiction: pb/]