Dr. Whitson's English Class

-Moved from another blog-

My english lecture course will evolve mostly it seems around how technology or cybertronics have managed to change human lives or the definition of human. So the first question is what is human? According to the dictionary, humans are scientifically labeled as any entity belonging to the genus homo or especially Homo Sapiens. Though the class syllabus pertains greatly to transhumanism and therefore science, it doesn't seem that this definition is really one the class is wanting.

Being bodies that learn language
thereby becoming wordlings
humans are
the symbol-making, symbol-using, symbol-misusing animal
inventor of the negative
separated from our natural condition
by instruments of our own making
goaded by the spirit of hierarchy
acquiring foreknowledge of death
and rotten with perfection (qtd. in Coe 332-333).

-Kenneth Burke's "Definition of Human" in The Rhetoric of Religion

This definition is a little more encompassing. It mentions that humans are those who are naturally intelligent enough to use symbols but also still animals. The idea that humans are animals is one that seems to be forgotten often. This definition also mentions that humans are "goaded by the spirit of hierarchy." This is interpreted to mean that humans naturally fall into some form of governmental or social ladder. History backs up this fact; yet with this definition it seems that there is still something missing. If the class is centered around how biotechnology and cybertronics are changing the definition of human, then there must be some sort of definition that separates man from machine.