I have just submitted my article “Posthuman cyborg love. The adaptation of the human body into machine-based offers in the sexual domain” which is going to be published (in German: Posthumane Cyborgliebe. Die Anpassung des menschlichen Körpers an maschinelle Angebote im sexuellen Bereich) in: Bendel, Oliver (ed.): Maschinenliebe. Liebespuppen und Sexroboter aus technischer, psychologischer und philosophischer Perspektive. Springer Verlag.
Posthuman cyborg love. The adaptation of the human body into machine-based offers in the sexual domain (Melike Şahinol)
Abstract
In this article, human-machine relationship of the specific kind, namely that of cyborg love/sex, is discussed from a sociological perspective. The main focus is to show how the human body adapts into machine-based offers in the sexual domain. The focus is on technically mediated and transmitted practice of love with teledildonic machines. Therefore, the questions are relevant whether the respective adaptation is a symbiotic relationship between human and machine and whether or when the relationship can be called cyborg love. For even if this still seems futuristic, the wide range and further development of love or sex related offers reveals posthumanist tendencies that seem to pull the ground away from the romantic love on which the concept of the nuclear family as the central institution of society is built. In the posthuman age, love, according to my main argument, does not represent a mere social relationship, but a socio-bio-technical one – especially when it is a matter of love for and with machines.
Already looking forward to the anthology Machine Love edited by Oliver Bendel!