Essay 6

Option 1
In Me++, William Mitchell talks about urban life and how it's defined by a series of networks and that these networks are potentially vulnerable. I believe that Mitchell has a great point and I will explain why through examples of my networked life, how it might be vulnerable and how we are becoming cyborgs.

In Me++, Mitchell explains how we have changed the way we network from a face-to-face contact to a electronic way to communicate. Mitchell states, "In the past, such networks would mostly have been maintained be face-to-face contact within a contiguous locality...Today, they are maintained through a complex mix of local face-to-face interactions, travel, mail systems, synchronous electronic contact through telephones and video links, and asynchronous electronic contact through email and similar media"(17). In my networked life, I contact people every other way besides face-to-face contact like email, text message, phone calls, Facebook, video messaging and many more networking techniques. In the film The Matrix by the Wachowski brothers, people on board the ships in the real world would make contact to the people in the matrix by making a phone call. In the film The Truman Show by Peter Weir, Truman Burbank is being filmed and broadcasted on live television all over the world. These are examples of how we advanced greatly in how we network through the years.

Mitchell discusses how networks are prone to failing and it's ripple effect in the his book Me++. He states, "The simplest way to crash a network is to block or sever a crucial link." He also states examples like an accident on the freeway or a blood clot blocks an artery. In my networked life, the computer lab in my school contains hundreds of computers that can access the internet. Hundreds of students use it at the same time. The simplicity of the internet crashing can disrupt all those student's work or whatever they might be doing. In the film The Matrix, As Trinity receives the call in the subway station to go back home, one of the agents shoots the phone preventing Neo from returning home. That network was blocked by that gun shot. In The Truman Show, a network crashed because a crucial link was disrupted. In the film, a thirty year continuous live feed to televisions around the world of "The Truman Show" was terminated because Truman Burbank was nowhere to be found. The network of the live feed was blocked by Truman's disappearance.

We are becoming more and more like cyborgs as the years progress. Mitchell discusses how he is a cuborg. He states "... disconnection would be amputation. I am part of the networks, and the networks are part of me. I show up in the directories. I am visible to Google. I link, therefore I am"(62). He considers disconnecting from the world is amputation. Disconnecting from the world can simply mean shutting off your cell phone. This brings stress upon anyone who is a cyborg. In my life, I network every day through Facebook and I do also consider it to be amputation if I am withheld from using it. This make me consider myself a cyborg. In the film The Matrix, Neo himself is a cyborg, being literally plugged in through the back of his head to enter the matrix, so his life depends on it. In the film The Truman Show, Truman Burbank life is revolved around a television show, without the show, there would not be a Truman Burbank. In which case he is a cyborg as well.

Through William Mitchell's Me++, I have giving examples of how we are cyborgs, how networked lives can be easily manipulated and how vulnerable they are. The films The Matrix and The Truman Show has great examples of these ideas. My networked life shows also that I am a cyborg.