Prosthetic Paradise (was Re: pynchon-l-digest V2 #1012

[rj]

I have to agree with Frodeaux and David here.

> A pen is just like a
> finger?

Yes. Each can communicate human thought. Each can poke you in the eye.

> Humans make and use tools, they are
> not born with them. 

They are not born with hand-eye coordination or language or morality
either. These are "acquired" characteristics, just like the ability to
use and modify technology.

> but you are not born with
> tools, 

Indeed you are: they are inherited from previous generations. They are
already made and their uses have been circumscribed. Humans no longer
fashion tools to help them better adapt to their individual environment.
The tools are in place, and have altered irrevocably the very conditions
of human survival. In fact, it is humans who now have to learn to adapt
to a technological environment. In a very real way the balance between
man and machine has shifted.

> Having a pacemaker or dentures or an artificial heart does
> not make my mother a robot anymore than having a baboons
> heart make my son a baboon. 

This is spurious. Have you not read *V.*, the parable about the Bad
Priest of Valetta?

best