The Rhetoric of the Synthetic: Images of the Body in Technology, Business, and Culture

What is it that makes Barbie, the Terminator, and the cyborg icons of popular culture? How and why are we using these symbols to represent the human body as beautiful, invincible, and immortal? How does cyberpunk, which exists only as literature, become an actual subculture with its own fashion, language, and values?

This panel explored the rhetoric of synthetic images as they appear in technology, business, and culture. The panelists discussed representations of the body in their respective professions as a way of understanding what may be happening to us in the emerging world of digital culture.

Organizer
Lorne Falk
ARCHEON

Panelist
Heidi Gilpin
University of Hong Kong

Val Marmillion
Pacific Visions

Mark Resch
Xerox Corporation

Bill Kroyer
Warner Digital Studios