seti's Journal: The Man-Machine

Well well, I have a journal.

I actually registered this account about five years ago, only to realise I still had it not so long ago.

It is quite interesting to see that Slashdot has remained the same over the past few years, however only now am I starting to take an interest in posting and reading comments on a daily basis.

Anyway to my journal entry.

I have been listening to Kraftwerk's first official live cd (Minimum Maximum) over the past week, and the grandfathers of electronic music are more alive than ever. It's great to hear all their old tracks in a new and refreshing settings, with the occasional bit of crowd noise in between.

The very first track on the album is The Man-Machine, Die Mensch-Machine. It goes:

Der Mensch-Machine
Ein Wesen und ein Ding

The Man-Machine
A pseudo human being
A super human being

Along with the electronic bleeps, bassline and computer voices I visualise the birth of the Man-Machine, the perfect symbiosis of flesh and electronics.

Why is it that humans have long sought after a way to create a Man-Machine? Why is it, that since the 1950's, that so many science fiction films have some kind of cyborgs, be it as friend or foe. We are fascinated by the notion of enhancing ourselves by devices of our own design.

Maybe we are frustrated by our own vulnerable and mortal nature, and in our hubris wish to overcome those lackings.

The lyrics to the song describe the Man-Machine as being an enhanced, "super" human being. But they also describe the Man-Machine as "pseudo", he is but a fake human being.

As far as I am concerned, I will take my mortality and failings as a human head-on.