Cyborg and Religious? Technonature and Technoculture

Abstract

We are all aware that our idea of natural/unnatural has been changing over the centuries. According to Donna Haraway, we must exit the maze of dualisms that has marred the relationships between human and non-human nature for centuries. Cyborg is a figure of speech and asymbol, but preeminently a description of our actual being in contemporary technonature. Her idea has been picked up by artists (e.g. Lynn Randolph, Patricia Piccinini) and philosophers and theologians. The cyborgian organism/human and the world cannot be articulated in terms of black-and-white, us and them, friend and foe, kin and alien, good and evil etc. Our technonatural creatures require our care and love, curiosity and investigation, and there will always be unexpected consequences.

Keywords

• cyborg
• symbol
• technonature
• challenges to theology and anthropology
• haraway
• tillich
• piccinini