#editor marcus

Lũn͇k̔y̩ aņ̣͡ḓ̵ Fͮ̈́r̪i͌ē̫ͪn̈́ͨ͡d̊̊͗s!̯̮

Started: April 6, 2023

Finished: April 9, 2023

Anyone who knows me knows that I get pretty much all of my entertainment from YouTube. Some of my favorite content-creators include MatPat, CoryxKenshin, Rosanna Pansino, Nathan Sharp, James and his crew on Dead Meat...and, of course, the one and only Markiplier.

While Lunky was both funny and creepy to watch when he first appeared, I didn't really get inspiration from him.

No spoilers in case you haven't seen certain videos, but once Lunky came back with his new design, I got more intrigued. And then, when his friends were introduced as part of an ambush on Mark...

I usually have a hard time keeping my sculptures small, but these ones came out relatively palm-sized.

I actually managed to include Lunky's "stitches" by cutting up bamboo skewers, painting them black, and pushing them in-between his halves before the clay started drying. (Yeah, I know it's hard to see them with how I took the picture. Sorry about that 😅)

Clay Shirky is the author of the book “Cognitive Surplus” and for those among us that don’t have the patience to read (though you should probably work on that, because reading is an amazing source of inspiration and education) he also gave a TED Talk about his concept.

“Cognitive Surplus” provides a new way of thinking about technology and what it contributes to today’s day and age. Now, I can hear all of your minds go “what the hell is cognitive surplus even supposed to mean?” So before I say any more, let’s look at the definition that Shirky himself gave in his talk:

(Watch his TED talk to understand why I included this magic cat)

“[Cognitive surplus] represents the ability of the world's population to volunteer and to contribute and collaborate on large, sometimes global, projects. Cognitive surplus is made up of two things. The first, obviously, is the world's free time and talents. … [Second are] the modern tools to allow that motivation to be joined up in large-scale efforts.”

What is Shirky trying to say with this? Though there are an incredible amount of examples I could use to exemplify this, I will stick with the one he gives early on in his book (cause who are we kidding, you’re gonna watch that TED Talk and never think about the book again, so let me tell you about it). In the chapter “Means”, Shirky gives the example of the “candlelight girls” who were a huge part of the 2008 US beef protest in South Korea. Despite the fact that many of them had never been politically involved in protests of any sorts, a Korean boy-band’s media platform allowed thousands of teenage girls to discuss and combine forces.

 ( Source: 너무나 뜨거운 광우병 쇠고기 수입 반대 촛불집회 열기)

The age of Cyborgs is here! In fact, it’s been here for a while now. Or at least, it is if you believe people like Donna Haraway and Amber Case. “What in the world is that supposed to mean” You ask? Well, there is an article written about Donna Haraway back in 1997 (by Hari Kunzru) and even at that time, Haraway had been describing herself as a cyborg for a while. This may seem odd, because smartphones weren’t even a thing back then, but for Haraway (and many others) being a cyborg is not the same as the futuristic sci-fi-esque half-human-half-machine that most of us are imagining right now.

To Haraway, being a cyborg is about networks, and about “an alliance between (wo)man, machinery, and new technology.” We may not necessarily have superpower-granting-implants (though those do in fact also exist) but over the years humans and technology have created an almost inseparable bond. There are an incredibly large amount of things in our day to day life that wouldn’t be possible anymore without technology (See Amber Case’ TED talk). To Haraway, Case, and many others, this means that we have basically become cyborgs?

Does that thought freak you out? Think about the role that technology plays in your daily life? What are you using to read this right now? Is it perhaps that smartphone that, as some (like one of my favorites: Banksy) have suggested, has become glued to our hand?

Sorry, I didn’t mean to get so existential. But I do think they are ideas worthy of giving some thought. After all, these are questions of identity and what it means for us to define ourselves as humans (or cyborgs).

To me, one of the most interesting parts of the article about Donna Haraway, is the significance it brings forth between cyborgs, technology, and oppressed minorities. Didn’t see that one coming, right? Or maybe you did. Because, when I read that “The cyborg idea may in the end be Donna Haraway’s way of showing us how to let folks be folks, rather than carving them up into cruel, arbitrary divisions.” I suddenly made connections between this cyborg idea any many other artists that have used the metaphors and visuals of cyborgs and androids to deal with different parts of their identity. Right away, Janelle Monáe and her “Dirty Computers” come to mind. Her most recent album exists in a reality where all humans have turned into computers, and if you don’t fit the mold (in other words belong to any minority) you are Dirty. (oh man I could write an entire blog about Janelle tbh). But she’s not the only one. Other artists, like Years and Years, have also felt a connection to cyborgs as a way to deal with sexuality.