Subject: transgenders and cyborgs (Modified by Leo Sullivan) From: Leo Sullivan <hilarleo(at)CAL.BERKELEY.EDU> Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2005 16:46:00 -0700"You know, transgenders and cyborgs have something in common: they both know what it’s like to go through profound physical transformations." Michael Chorost became a cyborg on October 1, 2001, the day his new ear was booted up. Born hard of hearing in 1964, he went completely deaf in his thirties. Rather than live in silence, he had a small computer chip implanted in his skill that would allow him to hear. The melding of silicon and flesh has long been a science fiction staple, but as Chorost reveals, it's now commonplace. Human and machine are becoming one. REBUILT is the story of Chorost's journey - from deafness to hearing, from human to cyborg - and how it transformed him. Despite his fear of technology's dehumanizing effects, Chorost's cochlear implant allowed him to connect with the world in surprising ways. It also altered his perception of reality: with every upgrade to the implant's software, his experience of the world changed. Written with a self-deprecating, dry wit, REBUILT explores the biology of hearing the physics of sound, and the engineering of software that can now mend the senses when they break down. This quirky coming-of-age story unveils, in a way no other book has, the magnificent possibilities of a new technological era. A graduate of Brown University, Michael Chorost does research in educational technology. MICHAEL CHOROST reads _REBUILT: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human_ across the country this week; tonight, Friday 24June 7:30pm, at Cody's/Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley. >http://www.michaelchorost.com/