The movie “The Terminator” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, was probably the first to really bring the concept of the cyborg to the forefront. There had been others, but none really as compelling as that famous series. The movie’s creator James Cameron probably never suspected that his film in 1984 would spawn a generation of cyborg fans — still very much alive 30 years later!
The movie “The Terminator” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, was probably the first to really bring the concept of the cyborg to the forefront. There had been others, but none really as compelling as that famous series. The movie’s creator James Cameron probably never suspected that his film in 1984 would spawn a generation of cyborg fans — still very much alive 30 years later!
The internet and a wide array of graphic tools like Photoshop have made a virtual playground for those who love to conjur new and unique species of human and machine mix. Not surprising is the vast majority of such illustration fantasy depicts with woman cyborg.
Transhumanism and the End of Religion
As the sci-fi genre grew, and imaginations ran wild, so too various cults and theorists began to come out of the woodwork. One such is the ‘transhumanism’ section of “H Plus Magazine.” One editor writes : Mankind is still embryonic … [humans are] the bud from which something more complicated and more centered than [humans themselves] should emerge. ~ Teilhard de Chardin hplusmagazine.com
The web is full of blogs, picture galleries and facebook pages dedicated to various visions of human plus machine hybrids. Cyborgs. Here’s an example cyborgphotos.wordpress.com
Image of a male cyborg
Many of the galleries we found are redirects or replicators intended to earn click revenue. This was redirected from a Deviantart page which we cannot reach any more, but it’s found at this rather flaky site called “Gallery Hip.” We believe the artists’ name is mojette
Another flaky page at GalleryHip.com. Author and artists are not recognized. This page is all about cyborg head drawings
There are some gems among the polished, techno illustration techniques which evolve into a more painterly level of vision. This one, also from the Cyborg blog, was taged “technology art” and created to simulate paint. Full story : cyborgphotos.wordpress.com
If you are reading this, just like me, you are intrigued by the science fiction terminator-style cyborgs who take over the world in movies. And as much as I love Arnold’s acting in the movie “The Terminator” and my fondness of the film, I must say that I think the terminator is a very low-technology aspiration compared to the next big thing to come, the biological computer based cyborg.
Hardware, Software, Wetware: The Transhuman Future
The “transhuman future” is a theme we’ll probably be hearing more and more about. With the advent of wearable technology, can implanted technology be too far behind? One site puts it like this :
As technology becomes more and more personal, we can rest assured that the way we interface with it will also become more intimate. Even so, the choice between implant and exoskeleton is an individual one–at least for now.
NOW come along with me as we look at just a few of the more interesting works of designers, photographers, and Photoshop users who have created a new generation of cyborgs . . .