The Political Cyborg

A collaboration with Carlos Martín Román and Hélène Trommelen.

Writing the Universal Declaration of Cyborg Rights – collectively

The project consists of an eParticipation platform that enables the members of its community to debate and vote on political issues. The platform is called The Political Cyborg, which opens up an interpretation of the platform as an assemblage of humans and the technological means they use to structure their communication. The first debate on the platform had the aim to create a text collaboratively: The Declaration of Cyborg Rights, for which the groundwork is provided by The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Cyborg Rights

A cyborg is an organism whose abilities are enhanced by means of an artificial organ, limb, implant or the like. This may sound like science fiction, but to a certain extent we are all cyborgs already, depending on your definition. Glasses, contact lenses, pacemakers and medication are means to improve abilities as well.

What kind of rights will we grant entities that are part human and part machine in the future? Who should own and be responsible for manufactured body parts? Do beings who are able to work longer hours deserve an equal amount of time off as those who are not?

The platform

The work presents the platform as a political actor in itself, which is made up of the hardware, software and people engaging with the system.
We used the Consul platform as a basis for our project. This platform enables citizens to engage in debate, create proposals and vote on them.