Technology an Extension of the Body & the Mind 

The increasing dependency on technology in a post-human culture has originated from the reflection of the human within the technology. Just as “Narcissus falls in love with his reflection in the water… we fall in love with the extensions of ourselves in technologies” (Van Den Eede, 2014, p. 157). However, Van Den Eede emphasizes that we do not view technologies as ourselves, but as foreign materials. Thus, this divisive perspective creates an illusion of separation between technology and body, but in actuality technology is based off of the human. Parallels drawn between railroads and the human’s circulatory system represent the concept of “organ projections” (p. 154), where technologies are external representations of the human organs and processes. He contrasts the concept of organ projections with Marshall McLuhan’s idea that technologies are extensions of the human senses, body parts, or capabilities (p. 157). Thus, creating a convergence of technology in the body. Many technologies have incorporated self-tracking statistics which quantify human biometrics which essentially objectifies human processes into data and exemplifies technology based off of human activity. 

However, the existence of prosthetic memories implies that the human and one’s subjectivity is deeply influenced, impacted, and perhaps even based on technology. Since “people rely on their memories to validate their experiences, they draw on memories to structure their subjectivity” (Landsberg, 2004, p. 25), and thus prosthetic memory, despite being ‘artificial’ and ‘inauthentic’, can be argued to just be “as formative…as other life experiences” (p. 30), which then becomes part of the archive of experience that defines one’s being. This is possible through the ability of media, such as film, to connect with the body sensuously through ‘emotional possession,’ where an individual can identify so much with a body of work that they are essentially carried away; hence, it evokes an “experience powerful enough to shape or construct identity” (p. 30). Therefore, technology becomes an extension of the mind, in the sense that it becomes a new configuration of the human memory and experience.

Technology & Amplification 

Technology has a profound impact on humans in how it amplifies senses and experiences, especially with its effects on actions and emotions. 

“The wheel, as an extension of the foot…” (Van Den Eede, 2014, p. 158). Material objects amplify social practices and human senses; for example, money creates socio-economic practices through pictures as an extension of the eyes. These technological amplifications enhance “the capacity of the human organism” (p. 158), yet also deteriorate the subject-object schema as it cannot recognize the processes of which the object and the subject are together. While separate entities, the extension is ingrained within the body. 

Additionally, emotions are amplified by technology through how prosthetic memories are “a crucial step toward learning how to experience empathy” (Landsberg, 2004, p. 47). With the proliferation of mass-mediated images and culture, people are brought into contact with each other. Despite the emotions created through these memories being artificial, it remains to be a prominent site in the production of empathy with its ability to create cross-cultural emotional connections between individuals and communities as these prosthetic memories are shared and universal. Yet, it becomes troublesome when it starts to call into question notions of identity and authenticity. How can identity and authenticity be anchored into memories if these memories can be falsified? 

Hence, one sees that if technologies are pushed to the extremes, it results in a hindrance instead of an amplification. Marshall McLuhan theorizes that media and technologies are structured in four laws: what does the medium enhance? What does the medium obsolesce? What does the medium retrieve? All media are supposed to turn into their opposite when pushed through their extreme (Van Den Eede, 2014, p. 160). This can be exemplified with cars, which originally rendered horses and buggies obsolete by extending the feet, yet hindered human processes with the development of traffic. Ultimately, these hindrances are temporarily resolved and compensated for with further development, creating a cyclical feedback loop of new technologies replacing old technologies.