Hari Kunzru

It's well over a decade since Donna Haraway first formulated her theory of the cyborg [Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science Technology and Socialist Feminism 1985]. During that time the figure of the 'cybernetic organism', networked flesh subject to rational control, has morphed from a technical into a political category, a change which continues to surprise the cyborg's scientist parents.

Last summer, just before the dotcom bubble burst, I visited San Francisco. The Bay Area local press was already running nervous articles on high burn rates in the new tech sector, and noting the advent of 'pink slip parties' held by sacked dotcom employees, which were starting to replace the lavish corporate launches of the previous three years.