Body, Soul and Cyberspace - Cyborgs, Clones and Simulations (original) (raw)

French Philosopher Gilles Deleuze (1989, p.259) suggested in the mid-1980s that the ‘life or the afterlife of cinema depends on its struggle with informatics’. He predicted that digital technologies would have a dramatic impact on the technological and aesthetical development of cinema. That ‘struggle’ is evident in contemporary science fiction cinema, but it reflects not just our connection to technology, but also to religion and spirituality. My proposed paper will look at how this struggle is unfolding with regards to human self-identity, postmodern spirituality and the relationship with our world. In this context, I will investigate why contemporary science fiction rather than destroying religious sentiments, do heavily trade ‘in religious goods and thus provide a new space, a cyberspace, for religious imagination.’ (Caputo, 2001, p.68) I will further argue that over the last two decades we can observe a gradual shift from a largely dystopian treatment of machines, artificial intelligence and virtual realities to a more ambiguous portrayal that shows the opportunities as well as the dangers of virtual worlds. John Caputo had suggested that the very nature of virtual realities – in that they challenge our perception of what is real and provide a sense of something beyond – is deeply religious. This paper will therefore explore the spiritual concepts that are explicitly and implicitly played out in contemporary science fiction cinema. For example, whereas The Matrix largely relies on Judaeo-Christian symbolism – Neo as the Messiah, his girlfriend Trinity, Zion as the last remaining human city and so on – Avatar seems to draw heavily on a naturalistic, pagan spirituality. The latter is, however, also very postmodern and adapted to a cyber-universe. It is thus not surprising that so many viewers are drawn towards the basic mythic and spiritual concepts presented in a hyper-modern, technologically enhanced, cyber-world such as Pandora in Avatar. Part of this development is – as I will argue – that spirituality becomes more ‘materialistic’. We can find this ‘material’ spirituality for instance in the electronic-organic networks and the ‘Tree of Souls’ in Avatar. On the one hand nature here is mysterious and spiritual, but on the other hand it can also be measured with scientific methods. I therefore argue that what we find in contemporary science fiction is often a synthesis of spiritual and material aspects. As a consequence ideas of belief and religiosity also become progressively linked to a materialistic dimension. Yet, while spirituality becomes increasingly materialistic, we run the risk of turning the body into something mystical and ephemeral. Within virtual worlds, the body at times only remains ‘as a heavily charged trace object of a remotely remembered […] sense of the encompassing unity of natural physicality, the sense of simultaneous physical and social containment that came from a fated/unalterable relationship to one’s body.’ (Csicsery-Ronay, 2002, p.75) The statement indicates the social relationships that are linked to the body. As a consequence, it becomes clear that body and soul are by no means independent and that by making the body disposable and open to endless modifications as suggested in some of the post-humanist debates, we risk losing a sense of wholeness that identifies us as human beings. It becomes evident that the ‘encompassing unity’ is a crucial aspect of the soul which needs embodiment as much as transcendence. This is reflected by Anderson, who describes human life as ‘the spiritual saga of the creaturely soul: limited, but also expressed through physical embodiment; distressed, but also inspired through the power of spirit; mortal, but also graced with the promise of immortality through the promise of God.’ (1998, p.188) The use of religious concepts immerged in high-tech narratives reflect our own struggles with the notions of embodiment, power and mortality in a world of (almost) endless possibilities. This is why particularly the shift in our relation with technology as outlined above highlights an underlying need for spiritual meaning.