DO CYBORGS DREAM OF BIOMECHANICAL SHEEP? THE BODY AND HYPERREALITY

Abstract

The paper will focus on the ever-changing role which human bodies have played through the history of widespread Internet use. Viewing contemporary human bodies as, in fact, cyborg bodies, I will argue that it was these technobodies that influenced the creation, but were also the direct consequence of a significant shift in the perception of reality experienced by Internet users in general, and users of social networking websites in particular. Furthermore, I will try to demonstrate how the corrosion and questioning of the borders between the real and the virtual, which emerged as a consequence of the mass influx of technology into all levels of society, brought about the creation of hyperreality – a reality which simultaneously incorporates and moves beyond physical as well as virtual reality, and creates new frameworks of existence, presence and sociability.