Final Project

For my final project, I will examine the nature of robotic animals, and also androids/cyborgs to a lesser extent. I will make a comic based on the script I submitted for my midterm, though there may be some modifications to the script. In this comic, my main argument will be that robotic animals would coexist with, rather than supplant, organic ones. I will also explore how others view Robocat, and how he views himself. He is more than simply an electronic replica of an animal, as he is capable of doing more and thinking more. He is more like a cat-shaped android, and in that sense embodies Haraway's conception of a cyborg as being a human/machine/animal hybrid. Robocat is thus an animal, but not an animal, but real nonetheless. Others learn to relate to him as something real, though they are not so accepting at first. Though I agree with Philip K Dick that robotic animals are real too, I am not so sure that they are only animals. Robocat does not need to be turned into a 'real' cat, but he is also at the same time a cat and not a cat. He is a feline cyborg breaking and transcending such definitions. Thus, in my comic I wish to explore this apparent contradiction of cat and not-cat, and how Robocat deals with the issue and defines himself, as well as how others seek to define him.