Cybernetics vs Humanism According to Hayles

The Macy Conferences on cybernetics viewed human beings as informational technologies in the sense that consciousness and intelligence could be separated from the body with the belief that information can circulate unchanged amongst different material substrates. These ideas have been connected with the term post-human which shares a common a theme in regards to the union of the human with intelligence machines. Hayles definition of humanism is based on embodiment which is a feature common to both the liberal humanist subject and the cybernetic post-human. The humanism perspective is the human essence of freedom without regards to being at-willed to somebody and their wishes. Both cognitive science and artificial life in regards to humanism illustrates that biologically unaltered (human beings) or homo sapiens is constructed as a form of humanism. Personally, I believe that humanism is a biological characteristic within everyone that aids in environmental survival. Hayles believes that post humanism is in the presence of non biological components, and to that extent, I agree. The difference between humanism and a post-human is that one possesses biological organs and the other does not. Post-humans tend to identify humans as informational to the extent that they behold a rational mind that are subject to different processes rather than beings. Despite this position, humans are self liberating and have a sense of self identity.

Quote: " A culture inhabited by post-humans who regard their bodies as fashion accessories rather than the ground of being." (Hayles P.5 II2)