Where's My Jet Pack? Online Communication Practices and Media Frames of the Emergent Voluntary Cyborg Subculture By Tamara Banbury A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts In Legal Studies Faculty of Public Affairs Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario ©2019 Tamara Banbury Abstract Voluntary cyborgs embed technology into their bodies for purposes of enhancement or augmentation. These voluntary cyborgs gather in online forums and are negotiating the elements of subculture formation with varying degrees of success. The voluntary cyborg community is unusual in subculture studies due to the desire for mainstream acceptance and widespread adoption of their practices. How voluntary cyborg practices are framed in media articles can affect how cyborgian practices are viewed and ultimately, accepted or denied by those outside the voluntary cyborg subculture. Key Words: cyborg, subculture, implants, community, technology, subdermal, chips, media frames, online forums, voluntary ii Acknowledgements The process of researching and writing a thesis is not a solo endeavour, no matter how much it may feel that way at times. This thesis is no exception and if it weren’t for the advice, feedback, and support from a number of people, this thesis would still just be a dream and not a reality. I want to acknowledge the institutions and the people at those institutions who have helped fund my research over the last year — I was honoured to receive one of the coveted Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarships for master’s students from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Carleton University and the Law and Legal Studies department also assisted in the funding my master’s degree and I am thankful for the opportunity and privilege afforded to me by the financial support. There are several people that I want to thank individually for their contributions and assistance to my work. First and foremost, my supervisor, Dr. Sheryl Hamilton. Her advice, feedback, and patience have been influential in the success of this entire project and it is difficult to encapsulate how much her contributions improved all aspects of my work in just this short space. Thank you Sheryl for keeping me within the boundaries of sanity through all of the laughter and tears that went into this work and closely monitoring my overuse of commas. Dr. Philip Kaisary was officially my second reader but in the last two years he has taken on multiple roles in my academic career. Thank you Philip for enlightening me with other schools of thought and always making me wonder if there is one more way to approach a topic. I will debate Blade Runner with you anytime. iii Dr. Danielle DiNovelli-Lang graciously took on the role of the external member of my committee and her feedback and comments have given me new directions to take future work. I am very grateful for her willingness to read and discuss cyborgs at the end of her summer break. Thank you Danielle. Writing a cyborg thesis of this length means there will be typos, grammatical errors, and outright overuse of the words body and implant. I want to thank my proof-reader and friend Monica Bogza for her willingness to proofread and copyedit my work on very short notice — any mistakes that remain are mine. Monica, thank you; you really are my trusted accomplice. The Law and Legal Studies department at Carleton University has been my academic home for the last two years and I have enjoyed my time there immensely and the staff and faculty have been absolutely amazing with their help, guidance, and friendship as I meandered my way through the hallowed halls of academia. A special thank you to Andrew Squires for his patience and good humour in answering my panicked emails or general inquiries. I met Barb Higgins my first few days at Carleton and she has always been a friendly face and calm voice for students; Barb, thank you so much for all you do for us every day. My mom; my sister Tonya; my niblings Kevin, Blake, Kael, and Renan — thank you always for your support and good-humoured attempt at understanding what it is I research exactly and the need for me to move across the country to accomplish this crazy cyborg dream of mine. And Tracy, my kid sister — I miss you every day and you have inspired my work more than I can put into words. I also want to acknowledge all my fellow voluntary cyborgs out there whether you are on Biohack.me or not. Thank you for pushing boundaries, being the best kind of weirdos, and trying to build a future where we may one day all have jet packs. Cyborg Rights! iv Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iii List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One – Does Body + Technology = Cyborg? .................................................................... 10 Cyborg Identity and Performativity ........................................................................................... 10 Body Modification ..................................................................................................................... 15 Technology as an extension of the body .................................................................................... 19 Cyborgs and Gender - From Metaphor to Reality...................................................................... 20 Cyborg Artists ............................................................................................................................ 22 Medical Cyborgs ........................................................................................................................ 24 The “New” Cyborgs ................................................................................................................... 25 Chapter Two – Boundaries and Tensions: Community Building Online ...................................... 29 Subculture Studies ...................................................................................................................... 29 Chapter Three – Finding, Filtering, and Framing Cyborg Communications ................................. 38 Overview .................................................................................................................................... 38 Cyborg on the Inside: Subculture Research as a Subculture Member ....................................... 39 Biohack.me: The Discussion Forum .......................................................................................... 44 Online Media Analysis: Framing Cyborgs................................................................................. 48 Method of Article Selection ....................................................................................................... 50 Method of Analysis .................................................................................................................... 52 Chapter 4 – Shaking the Subculture Foundations .......................................................................... 58 The Origin Myth of the Biohack.me Forum .............................................................................. 60 What’s in a Name? Building identity as a community............................................................... 61 Gamification of the Forum: Visualizing Member Involvement................................................. 75 Cyborgian Language and Practices: Not Suitable for Children ................................................. 81 Cyborg Cultural Capital ............................................................................................................. 86 Values and Behaviour: The Self-Styled Steward of Cyborg Subculture ................................... 89 Cyborg Advocates: Overcoming Resistance from the Mainstream ........................................... 97 Summary .................................................................................................................................. 100 Chapter Five – It’s All in the Presentation: Framing Cyborgs .................................................... 102 Oops, I’m a Cyborg Now: The Impulsive Implants Frame ...................................................... 103 Cyborgs Mean Business – The Capitalist Cyborg Frame ........................................................ 105 Cyborgs and the Law: Law as Innovation and Legal Dystopia Frames................................... 109 Man and Machine: The Technology as Masculine Frame ....................................................... 115 Summary .................................................................................................................................. 119 Conclusion – Will Cyborgs Survive their “Growing Pains?” ...................................................... 121 Works Cited ................................................................................................................................