your departing comments Week 5

• i think there was some interesting discussion in the lecture where previously the main distinction between people was largely based on race and class and with the introduction of the internet, this is changing to the notion of the 'mind' as our distinction for individuality. Whilst GATTACA goes beyond that and conceptualises this difference with cells. It highlights both the potential for the destruction of individuality and the homogenisation of society
• race & class are becoming re-defined as technology advances. If these are removed or changed that what we identify with must be altered too
• gender isnt just of the body - but develops through social discourse. women & technology, humour/discomfort - controlling the outcome of humans - achieving 'perfection' is impossible - there will always be fault in tech (through ads - women should combine reproductive duties with public mechanisms - using laptops etc)
• ideas of internet: no race, no gender, no age, no infirmities - only minds
• re GATTACA: its interesting how, when we create this 'perfect race' we still would need to rank each other, finding faults regardless of our 'perfection'. The pressure would be intense and the expectations hard to live up to
  
• intriguing
• it annoys me how we say 'race'. isnt there only one race? the human race? anthropology in first year grilled that into me
• the idea that other forms of technology (phones) already have the capacity to make race anonymous (in his [Kang] story about his roommate)
• watching GATTACA was interesting - creepy idea of 'choosing' personality, qualities etc
• race is definitely an issue offline & online
• race is a way for people to band together & form an identity. for people to unite as a species, the concept of race has to be abolished
• Re Jerry Kang article: i dont think one can disregard race even in cyberspace. socioeconomic issues greatly affects our 'persona' in cyberspace.