Cyborg Identity, Essay Example

Introduction

The computer technology has not only transformed the way people live now but has also given rise to new identities of people or what may be called cyborg identity. This gives human beings identities that are not real although they may have some real facts about someone. A good example is in the social networking sites where people put profiles that do not describe them at all. This creates or gives someone a different identity that he/she only uses when in cyberspace hence the term cyber identity. These identities are what other people want to see and they know they know what kind of person they are dealing with from the kind of information you have put in your profile. It is therefore easy for someone to create a profile that looks the same as that of someone they wish to be.

What cyborgs use to define themselves is usually what they are not (Haraway, 1991). Most cyborgs construct identities that will enable them fit into a particular category they have chosen. This is brought about by the fact that such people realize that with their own real profiles, they would not fit into those existing categories hence they define an identity that will help them fit into a category. Cyborg identities are developed with the help of machines, in this case, computers and this is just one of the results of the technology world we live in at the moment. With cyborg identities, it is very difficult to distinguish between the real human and the human-machine guided. As Rheingold (1993) puts it, “…it’s no longer possible to tell where we end and machines begin.” (pp 465)

The cyborg identity aspect enables us to form new identities and communicate virtually, which is made possible through the use of cyber environments. This has also led to the issue of using other means of communication to convey emotions that would rather have been portrayed through facial expressions and other body gestures if people were communicating face to face.

This paper aims to find out and discuss how cyborg identities have affected the way of communication and specifically the way it has affected how people interact in the various social networking sites such as facebook. The following are the objectives of this paper:

• To discuss the meaning of cyborg identity as relates to computer or machine communication
• To determine its influence on social networking sites and the society in general but specifically with the use of fan pages.

There are many researchers who have been interested in the issues of cyber identities hence one can easily find a lot of information on the topic.

Meaning of Cyborg Identity

Group interactions in the online communities have changed overtime with cyborg identities such that the way people see themselves and the way others see them is different. Technology has changed the kind of relationships people have with the use of virtual worlds or virtual environments also known as cyberspace. Cyborg identity can be termed as the personal characteristics of an individual as recognized by a particular group. Virtual identity is a term that most people may be conversant with and this is one aspect of cyborg identity term. This is mostly applied when, for instance, someone sits at his/her computer and describes a person’s appearance such as slim, red haired, thin legs and so on. The group knows this person with this kind of specifications but this is just a cyberspace virtual identity you can only ascertain when you see the person.

Cyborg identity is like creating a persona online so that it would fit exactly the person you want or a kind of environment you would want. There is usually no way you can use to validate the true identity from a cyborg identity. For instance, on facebook, most people have used personas when it comes to creating profiles and most of the time even your friends would not know who you are unless you include something that is common or shared between you.

Cyborg identities are new identities that are created by the millions of users of the internet at the moment; there are millions of cyborgs already created while some are still being created everyday.  The issue of cyber identity therefore comes from the fact that people have their own real or physical identity which is distinguished from the one they use in cyberspace. That is why there is a cyborg identity as it may not necessarily be the same as the physical identity.

Cyborg Identity and the Internet

Using the internet involves the creation of a new identity (Kaiser, 1999). An individual can have more than one cyborg, each with its own unique profile. Cyborg identity makes people not to worry about any information loss or identity theft as most of what is given is not the real and true identity of the person. At the moment, identity theft is a major problem when it comes to the use of the internet. With the use of the cyborg identities, there is no cause to worry about identity theft anymore as that is simply a persona and not the real you. When people use their real identities instead of the virtual ones, they are usually worried about someone using their identities to do something bad.

Cyborg Identity and the Virtual Community

Cyborg is fully an aspect of the internet and has also been described as a congregation in a virtual community (Rheingold). According to this author, the virtual community is simply a social aggregation that has people carrying on public discussions that take a sufficiently long enough time to enable people form personal relationships. Rheingold’s research is based on his personal experiences as a member of several online forum sites such as Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link (WELL). According to him, one thing about virtual communities is that members have to trust each other and believe that the information you have given about you is real.

With virtual communities too, there are no time and geographical location limits as it goes beyond that. These communities are founded based on interests, for instance, a community with members who have an interest in a specific type of sports such as football or basketball. Here, members are usually people who know about this kind of sport very well and are at liberty to discuss anything about it depending on the virtual community they belong to.

Hence, these may are communities whose only relation is by choice and not blood (Haraway, 1997).

Describing them as such, this author therefore calls them affinity groups. There is no doubt that a lot of researchers and theorists in various fields have observed and analyzed that way computer communication is growing very first and according to Harawy (1991) “…computer-mediated communication is growing and the literature associated with computers in the cultural setting is growing at a fast speed”( Harawy 1991). The aspect of cyber identity or new identities has had both positive and negative impacts on the society we live in depending on the way you look at it. One thing is that virtual communities only portray illusions of what the reality is. People must always be careful to create a boundary between the real and the simulated. Previously, virtual communities used to be for people of specific physical communities, for instance, a city or town area in a state. Most of them have however expanded their reach and anyone can join them regardless of the area in the world you are in.

Cyborg Identity and the Social Networking Sites

With cyborg identity, interactions between individuals and groups have taken a different turn. More than half of the identities found on the social networking sites can be said to be cyborgs. This is because someone can have more than one identity and since it is not possible to have the same kind of information for different identities, each of the profiles will have its own identity. Cyborg identities are also common in certain social sites groups which are developed for people who share the same kind of interests. For instance, you will find many sports groups created that support certain teams and what is written on their walls is either something that is meant to talk evil about the other group or show how great their team is.

People are able to create cyborg identities that are easily identified with one of such groups. The only thing they have to give is the login information and one is not compelled to include any true information about him/her. The other group members only know you with the kind of information you have given there since they cannot validate. Cyborg identity has however made information interchange between individuals not to be very much trusted since people are aware of new identities people create just to fit socially. This has led some people to find ways and means in which they can authenticate what they find online. Most people cannot however use the social networking sites to convey serious of official information as they are mostly meant for socializing.

Due to this, cyborgs have had a chance to create a lot of new identities in every site or social networks for the purposes of socializing. With the cyborgs, you only discuss topics of interest so you may not know any other information about the other person apart from the interest. Cyborgs act on the realization that there are people observing. However, this is in essence the logic behind social sites. People update statuses because there are people who will see and also give their views on that.

Cyber Identity and Deception

According to Haraway (1991), it is important to recognize and accept the partiality and contradictions cyborg identity contains. As much as cyborg identities may be used as a unifying factor due to the interests people share, she warns that these are just unifying theories that are fictional. Cyborg personal and social identities manifest itself not in blood and physical form but in choices and attractions (Haraway, 1991). Therefore, these are just fictional to her as there is no blood links whatsoever with the relationships created by cyber identities. With cyber identities, someone can create an identity that looks like someone you know and you may be socializing with someone else thinking it’s the one you know. This leads to the issue of deceptions where cyborgs posing with someone’s real identity ask for help from a certain group he/she know are affiliated with the said person in one way or the other.

It is quite common to find cyber identities of people who are well known but it’s not the individuals who run those pages. It might be just a fan who has created a profile with the name of that person for fun and the status updates are also made by this person. All this is made possible by the presence of cyborgs. It is no wonder you find many sites created by the real individuals with messages saying that those are their real pages and any profiles pretending to them are not real. With the social networking sites, people sometimes have to put photos so that the profiles can look real. Hence, cyber identities can be termed as deceptive identities where people may only create identities for a purpose which may be genuine or malicious.

There are also those who create cyborg identities in the internet so as to act as potential picks for a certain NFL team they want. For instance, on facebook, you will find people creating identities that include everything the teams would want to see with their potential picks.

However, most of these teams are using special techniques that would help them identify these cyborgs or ghost profiles that don’t exist and may only be there for a certain purpose such as to get information about the teams. They look at the networking profiles of the prospective players and gather as much information as they want that will help them in conducting background searches on the players since cyber identities can be deceptive.

Cyborgs are also common in players personal networks where someone creates an identity that he/she knows the player will like. This is with an intention of being added as a personal friend by the player and some have even gone to the extent of posing as beautiful women to attract the male players. An article by Charles Robinson on Yahoo Sports discusses this issue where people put attractive female photos. In the real sense, the person may not even be female but a female who just has a collection of female photos to entice the players.

These identities have also been called ghost profiles especially those created with a certain intention since once they accomplish their mission, the profiles cannot be found anymore as they disappear completely from the sites.

Cyber Identity and Fan Pages

Cyborg identities on social networking sites have also been used on fan pages created for various teams where fans express their anger towards a rival team virtually. Usually, the identities are cyborgs hence you wouldn’t know the real identify of the sports fan even if you wanted to find him/her.  There is the use of usernames and passwords for someone to create an account and it is not a must for the other information required to be true.  A good example is Alabama and Auburn, two college football teams whose rivalry has been termed as one of the best in college football.

Fans of both these teams hated each other so much that there was a fight after one of their matches sometime in 1907 to such a level that there happened to be a long period of time when the two teams could not play against each other. Perhaps the worst thing is that they always see each other since the two teams are in the same state hence you would expect to find most fans in the state as well. The players are also drawn from the same state and most of the time they are people who have played against each other since high school. This creates a rivalry that is extended over a long period of time as the players know each other very well as opposed to other teams whose members may be meeting for just the first or second time.

Fan Pages

Face book fan pages is one of the places where sports fans of a certain team find an opportunity to express their feelings freely. Fan pages can be created to deal on a specific topic though, for instance, where to find sportswear for the team among others depending on the creator of the fan page. The teams may also have their own fan pages where they would like to gather information about the team from their fans. Alabama and Auburn are no exception as they also have their own facebook walls created by fans where they share information about the teams, give views about games played as well as inform one another of upcoming games.

This fan pages have been found to increase the animosity between these groups since most of the time what appears on their wall pages is not something that the other teams like. The difference between Alabama and Auburn is so serious that when you are in the state, you may be described as either being pro Alabama or Auburn.

Conclusion

The term “cyborg identity” or “cyber identity” may have started a few years ago when the use of the virtual world for communication became common but social networking is something that has been around for a while. Cyber identity has given internet users a chance to make friends, even create personal relationships without revealing their true identities. The use of cyber identities in the virtual communities ignores issues of race and class as what brings people together is interest. The cyborgs may thus be a way to bring people together as much as they may create a lot of animosities especially on fan pages. Apart from sports, other areas where cyborgs are used are good in creating relationships that are long lasting although this may just be virtually.

Cyborg identity is just what enables you access your email and other web pages through your computer and as Haraway (1991) put it, “a heightened sense of connection to our tools” (pp144) Thus, your computer makes it possible for you to create cyborgs in a virtual community as well as communicate with others who have also created their own new identities online all over the world. The use of cyber identities is however making people to be like programmed creatures. Unlike previous communities, present virtual communities are more of deceptive identities as people have moved further from creating real profiles into cyborgs. This has also characterized how people create their identities in the social networking sites.

Works Cited

Clynes, M.E. and N. Kline. “Cyborgs and Space. ”Astronautics. September 26–27, pp.75–76. (1960)

Haraway, D “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century,” in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York: Routledge. 1991. Pp 144

Kaiser, T. The Internet Cyborg. Half Empty Magazine. 1999. Retrieved on 12 Dec. 2009. <http://halfempty.com/wp/1999/04/the-internet-cyborg/>

Robinson, Charles. Social Networking a Potential Trap For Prospects. Yahoo Sports. 2009. Retrieved on 12 Dec. 2009. < http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=cr-socialnetowrking040709>

Rheingold, H. The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier, Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1993.pp 465