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7. Docile Bodies
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7Docile Bodie s • Rossum' s Universa l Robot s Computers d o no t far e wel l i n s f movie s becaus e they'r e no t pho togenic . Computer s are , howeve r smar t an d silk y voiced , neve r really cute. They are machine s with squar e metalli c surfaces, gauges , controls, lamps , and screen s blinkin g o n an d off . Robot s ar e quit e another story . The y ar e mobile—whic h i n an d o f itsel f make s them infinitel y mor e anthropomorphic , eve n whe n the y d o no t particularly loo k lik e humans—an d the y ar e ofte n d e fact o con structed i n th e imag e o f thei r creator s o r o f other livin g creature s (pets). Robots are , by definition, machine s tha t d o work. The wor d was coine d b y th e Czec h writer/playwrigh t Kare l Cape k (1923 ) i n his pla y R.U.R. (Rossum' s Universa l Robots) . "Robot " mean s "worker" i n Czec h (i t i s a genera l Slavi c word , th e Russia n wor d is "robotnik"). So the idea behind robot s i s machines tha t perfor m tasks heretofor e performe d b y humans—machine s tha t ar e mor e effective, cheaper , les s troublesome , an d infinitel y mor e obedien t than huma n worker s eve r were . Robots presen t th e nex t ste p i n m y plot/story : machine s tha t not onl y hav e cognitio n an d will , but tha t want , lik e evil trolls , t o kill off th e human race . Or machines tha t ar e really humans trappe d in monstrous technologica l forms . The ver y ide a o f machine s tha t emulat e huma n worker s grow s 150 Docile Bodie s 15 1 out o f th e kind s o f wor k demande d b y th e industria l workplace . Machines see m th e logica l operator s o f machines , wherea s hu mans , a s Modern Times s o hilariousl y demonstrates , ar e ill-fitte d to the kinds of repetitive, choppy, rigid activities th e conveyor bel t demands. I n traditiona l economies , wor k activitie s depende d o n the rhyth m o f nature : o f animal s t o b e hunted , o f crop s t o b e grown, th e rhyth m o f biology an d th e seasons . Humans hav e t o d o violence t o thei r ow n biologica l rhyth m t o accommodat e th e de mands o f machines . An d th e marketplac e dictate s wha t kind s o f work ar e availabl e an d wha t kind s o f skills , wha t kind s o f me n and women , i t take s t o fill them . Surviva l i n th e moder n worl d t o most peopl e mean s havin g a salarie d position , sellin g thei r skills , selling thei r "bodies " to the highes t bidder . Those who control th e means o f production , th e corporations , th e economi c elite , hav e the powe r t o dictat e wha t kind s o f jobs ar e availabl e an d wha t i t takes t o fill them . Miche l Foucaul t ha s sai d tha t a "mechanic s o f power" define s how one may hav e a hold ove r others' bodies, not only so that the y ma y do what one wishes, but so that the y may operate as one wishes, with th e techniques, the speed, and th e efficiency tha t one determines. Thus discipline produce s subjecte d an d practice d bodies , "docile " bodies . Disci pline increase s th e force s o f th e bod y (i n economic term s o f utility) an d diminishes these same forces (in political term s of obedience). In short, it dissociates powe...