Only Cyborgs and Cockroaches

Stojnić, A. (2017) ‘Only Cyborgs and Cockroaches’, Performance Research, 22(2), pp. 123–128. doi: 10.1080/13528165.2017.1315991. Abstract: In 2013 a cyborg-cockroach which was advertised as “RoboRoach, the world's first commercially available cyborg” appeared at the market. RoboRoach is a live cockroach whose moves can be remotely controlled via a smartphone app, thanks to the electronic device that has been surgically applied to its body. It was promoted as a “science kit” for children. Two years later cyborg cockroach gained a completely new role. Teams of researchers, engineers and entomologists form renowned universities have been testing their possibilities to access areas that are difficult for humans to reach such as earthquake sites or nuclear disaster zones. From the smart toy, cyborg-cockroaches advanced to the rescue squads that could, for instance, be navigated to record and find human life in disaster zones. However, we can easily imagine, I will argue here, that the next (if not already present) iteration of the cyborg-cockroach will be for military purposes abused in the war machine, as well as another symptom of the mode of governmentality that Gilles Deleuze has defined as “the society of control”. Relating to the question of “turning animal” the above mentioned example offers the opportunity to investigate the unstable relations and problematic distinctions between humans, animals and machines, through the concept of cyborg. Here, I would like to introduce a decolonial perspective as well as the topic of necropolitics, into post-humanist debate, in order to question who has the position (the privilege?) to proclaim “the human” as obsolete and what is the politics that is revealed in such a theoretical and practical move. Who can turn the cockroach into remotely controlled cyborg and what does this “turning into” mean for humans and non humans alike? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit necropolitics.substack.com