LEADER 04433nam 2200697Ia 450 001 9910777650403321 005 20230124182520.0 010 $a94-012-0270-2 010 $a1-4237-9080-4 024 7 $a10.1163/9789401202701 035 $a(CKB)1000000000462481 035 $a(EBL)556430 035 $a(OCoLC)714567223 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000134271 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)12053453 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000134271 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10054068 035 $a(PQKB)10455119 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC556430 035 $a(OCoLC)70825533 035 $a(nllekb)BRILL9789401202701 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL556430 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10380404 035 $a(EXLCZ)991000000000462481 100 $a20090601d2006 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aCyberculture, cyborgs and science fiction$b[electronic resource] $econsciousness and the posthuman /$fWilliam S. Haney II 210 $aAmsterdam ;$aNew York $cRodopi$d2006 215 $a1 online resource (203 p.) 225 1 $aConsciousness, literature & the arts,$x1573-2193 ;$v02 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a90-420-1948-4 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $aPreliminary Material -- Preface -- Chapter 1: Consciousness and the Posthuman -- Chapter 2: The Latent Powers of Consciousness vs. Bionic Humans -- Chapter 3: Derrida's Indian Literary Subtext -- Chapter 4: Consciousness and the Posthuman in Short Fiction -- Chapter 5: Frankenstein: The Monster's Constructedness and the Narrativity of Consciousness -- Chapter 6: William Gibson's Neuromancer: Technological Ambiguity -- Chapter 7: Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash: Humans are not Computers -- Chapter 8: Haruki Murakami' s Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: Unicorns, Elephants and Immortality -- Chapter 9: Cyborg Revelations: Marge Piercy's He, She and It -- Chapter 10: Conclusion: The Survival of Human Nature -- Works Cited -- Index. 330 $aAddressing a key issue related to human nature, this book argues that the first-person experience of pure consciousness may soon be under threat from posthuman biotechnology. In exploiting the mind's capacity for instrumental behavior, posthumanists seek to extend human experience by physically projecting the mind outward through the continuity of thought and the material world, as through telepresence and other forms of prosthetic enhancements. Posthumanism envisions a biology/machine symbiosis that will promote this extension, arguably at the expense of the natural tendency of the mind to move toward pure consciousness. As each chapter of this book contends, by forcibly overextending and thus jeopardizing the neurophysiology of consciousness, the posthuman condition could in the long term undermine human nature, defined as the effortless capacity for transcending the mind's conceptual content. Presented here for the first time, the essential argument of this book is more than a warning; it gives a direction: far better to practice patience and develop pure consciousness and evolve into a higher human being than to fall prey to the Faustian temptations of biotechnological power. As argued throughout the book, each person must choose for him or herself between the technological extension of physical experience through mind, body and world on the one hand, and the natural powers of human consciousness on the other as a means to realize their ultimate vision. 410 0$aConsciousness, literature & the arts ;$v2. 606 $aBiotechnology in literature 606 $aBiotechnology$xSocial aspects 606 $aConsciousness$xSocial aspects 606 $aCyborgs in literature 606 $aMind and body 606 $aScience fiction$xSocial aspects 615 0$aBiotechnology in literature. 615 0$aBiotechnology$xSocial aspects. 615 0$aConsciousness$xSocial aspects. 615 0$aCyborgs in literature. 615 0$aMind and body. 615 0$aScience fiction$xSocial aspects. 676 $a303.48/3 700 $aHaney$b William S$0107960 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910777650403321 996 $aCyberculture, cyborgs and science fiction$93778105 997 $aUNINA