The Uncanny: Experiments in Cyborg Culture

Alice Kidd is an editor with The New Catalyst editorial collective in
Lillooet, B.C.

“The uncanny is that class of the frightening which leads back to what
is known of old and long familiar,” Sigmund Freud wrote in his 1919
essay, “The ‘Uncanny.’” Nowhere is the tension between the
frightening and the familiar more apparent than in “the intersection
of science, technology, and culture.” The cyborg, the physical union
of flesh and machine, has come to represent this unresolved tension in
literature, the visual arts, and popular culture.

The Uncanny was inspired by an exhibition of the same name that
explored the cybernetic body in contemporary and historical
representations. The book includes many images from the exhibition, as
well as a variety of literary representations (Freud, Bettelheim, Donna
Haraway, and William Gibson) and commentary.

The images are powerful and remain with the reader long after the book
is finished. They testify to the fact that as “artificial
intelligence” moves from science fiction to science fact, the
definition of “humanness” is changing. We have accepted pacemakers
and artificial limbs in our bodies, and computers in our cars, homes,
and workplaces. We are contemplating implants in our bodies for health,
security, and financial purposes. In short, we are becoming cyborgs.

This is a profound and challenging book, and a disturbing one as well.