Step 1 – Read

• Donna Haraway, A Cyborg Manifesto, pages 65–70
  Focus Questions:
  
  • How are humans, animals, and machines “chimeras” in Haraway’s view?
  • What does Haraway mean when she says we are already cyborgs?
  • What new possibilities—and challenges—does this raise for identity and art?

Best futurists ever: Donna Haraway

Step 2 – Explore and View

Choose two of the following artists to discuss in your post:

• Patricia Piccinini – sculptures of human/animal hybridsLinks to an external site.
• Eduardo Kac – Ted talk on biogenic art and GFP BunnyLinks to an external site.
• Pierre Huyghe – Untilled, 2012Links to an external site.
• Neri Oxman – Silk PavillionLinks to an external site.
• View selected works linked in the module. Reflect on how they express or complicate Haraway’s idea of hybridity and nonhuman agency.

Step 3 – Create an AI Image

Use an AI image generator (like DALL·E, NightCafe, Firefly, etc.) to create a visual response to the unit. Your image should reflect some aspect of the cyborg condition, hybridity, or a nonhuman future.

Save your prompt and your image: you’ll include both in your post.

What to Post (400–500 words total)

In your discussion post, respond to the following prompts in paragraph form:

1. Reading Reflection:
   What stood out to you in Haraway’s text (pp. 65–70)? How does she challenge traditional ideas of what it means to be human? Quote the text directly.
2. Art Analysis:
   Choose two artworks you explored and explain how they reflect Haraway’s cyborg thinking. How do these works blur the boundaries between human, animal, machine, or nature?
3. Real-World Example:
   Outside of sci-fi, what’s a real-world example that supports Haraway’s claim that we are already cyborgs? How does it affect our sense of self, labor, or embodiment?
4. AI Image + Reflection:
   
   • Include your AI image and prompt
   • Reflect briefly (100–150 words): What did you hope to express? What surprised you in the result? What does it mean to share intention with an AI?