Prosthetics and Robots: Marking the Borders of Human/Technology Interaction

Abstract

The recent Olympics and Paralympic Games in London were enlivened by debates prompted by paralympian, Oscar Pistorius, commonly known as ‘the blade runner’ because of his carbon composite prosthetics. The term ‘blade runner’ was used in many, seemingly most, reports of his activity: the Mail Online announced his victory in the 400 metre sprint final of the 2012 Paralympic Games with the Banner: ‘Revenge of the Blade Runner’ (N. Harris, 2012); the Huffington Post reported ‘The original “Blade Runner” lost his 100 and 200 Paralympic titles this week, but eased to victory in his preferred 400 event …’ (R. Harris, 2012). The Independent coined the headline, ‘Pistorius victorious: gold at last for “Blade Runner” ’ (Youde, 2012); and The Observer noted:

It was a more than an appropriate way to sign off from the sporting action at this magnificent cauldron of noise and light. Oscar Pistorius, the South African ‘Blade Runner’ who has been a constant and sometimes controversial presence over London’s glorious summer of sport, capped it by retaining the 400m crown he values above all others.

(Gibson, 2012)

As noted in Chapter 2, the use of this term, derived from Philip K. Dick’s novel about androids (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (1968)) and the film Blade Runner (1982), based on the book and directed by Ridley Scott, to describe Pistorius’ prosthetics taps into Western fear and anxiety about the relationship with technology and, at the same time, exhilaration about the possibilities that relationship opens up.