proceedbydebate

Introduction

2010-05-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

The Criminologist: "I would like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey."
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, UK/USA, 1975)

Ok, it may not be a strange journey, but it is a journey for sure. I am currently on a journey of discovery, and self discovery come to think of it, as I attempt to climb the ladder of academia. Currently I am undertaking my Honours at The University of Western Australia, as an English and Communication Studies Student.
One cannot help but admit that the journey is very daunting, but I am dedicated to it, as I feel most passionately about the opportunity of teaching at University level. Why you ask? You probably don't ask, but I will tell you anyway. Because there is something wonderful about the teaching method employed by Universities. It's hard to describe, but maybe if I borrow Catherine Belsey's words for a moment and say, "Academic life proceeds by debate" (p. 35 "Discursive Desire: Catherine Belsey's Feminism" Feminist Review, No.66, Political Currents. (Autumn, 2000) pp25-45)
This is the difference, 'debate'. This process of debate doesn't just exist between academics, but also between the academics and the students they teach. In my time spent studying and listening to lecturers, often they have remarked on the joys of suddenly hearing a student suggest an idea, or a interpretation of a text that even they, after numerous years of teaching, haven't considered.
To me, this suggests a lot about what it means to be an academic and a teacher. It suggests that we never stop learning, not only in our own research, but in our interactions with each other.
This is what my blog here is all about, and what my beliefs are in regards to academia.
Here I may write ideas, interpretations, views and opinions on topics that I have found interesting. But all of this is just a building block, a small contribution, in hoping that others will then be prompted to consider these ideas, to propose alternatives, to inform me and help me learn as well.
Afterall, in all my time as a student so far, I have never once read an essay or article, or picked up a book, that doesn't owe a debt of gratitude to those who have researched and progressed ideas before it.
So please, if you are an academic, or a student at University and you come across my blog and an idea written interests you, leave a comment, tell me what you think.
Thanks
-Hilary

Muse

2009-05-09T23:30:00.000-07:00

I find it extremely frustrating that great ideas for ones PhD often come in the middle of the night, and at the point in time when you feel least inclined to get up and find a pen and paper of a computer and make a large number of notes!

Curse you muse! Curse you!

ATN-LEAP

2009-05-04T00:26:00.001-07:00

So I have just started the ATN-LEAP modules, Project Management and Leadership and Communication.

The idea is that each ATN-LEAP module functions as a 20hr introductory course on a subject that adds extra skills to your PhD qualification applicable for employment outside of academia.

While I still have hopes of being an academic at this point, you never know what might come along and since I am not working until next semester, when I will hopefully being taking some tutorials, I thought this would be good experience.

My desk is still rapidly piling up with PhD work - ie readings and so forth.
DAC09 Abstract was submitted, and I should hopefully be presenting in november to the postgrad and staff group presentations at Curtin - where I think I may take the opportunity to talk about Postsecrets: Postcards in the Digital Age. :)

Anyway, until I get the chance to update again ENJOY :)

Clever Advertisement

2009-04-14T00:51:00.001-07:00

Very Clever 2.0 Ad here

DAC09

2009-04-06T19:20:00.000-07:00

I will be a reviewer for DAC09 and also submitting an abstract.
Wish me luck!

More info at their website: www.dac09.uci.edu

Long Intermission

2009-03-22T02:56:00.000-07:00

*start transmission*

Some may have noticed my extended absence from this blog.
My apologies - Facebook took over, along with my Candidacy and a large degree of sickness and personal issues.

However, I have returned.
Rest assured all is on track and updates are soon to follow.

*end transmission*

Tea for Two

2009-03-22T02:54:00.001-07:00

Tea for Two, originally uploaded by Runamuk.

Nothing beats a cup of tea for getting the brain working!
It also helps when you have a cold.
Which I do at the moment while starting Chapter 1 drafting.

Sex Research Thoughts

2008-08-24T19:47:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like I am taking 2 steps forward and 1 step back in my research.
I read articles that have great ideas in them but then fall down with stupid statements that irritate me.

For example, I just read 'Sex as Play' by Nelson N.Foote, and it was good. However, he writes how humans are the only animals that produce copious amounts of sperm etc not related to procreation, and thus engage in sex as play or cultural interest. He also goes on to say that it is doubtful that any other female species achieves orgasm during sex.

Both these comments are a little ridiculous to be honest. I mean, even my budgie has engaged in copious amounts of sex almost bonking himself to death with everything. Masturbation for us is almost considered a cultural product rather than a natural one - yet look at my budgie? Isnt his constant humping classed as masturbation? Obviously he enjoys it - he didnt have any female budgies around and his activities werent restricted to certain times of the year related to breeding seasons. Of course, my budgie then got labelled to have Horny Budgie Syndrome by the vet.....does that mean that any human who indulges in masturbation is considered to have honry human syndrome? Why for my budgie is it classed as a syndrome or abnormality?
Plus, why would a scientist think that for some reason, humans out of all the species on earth would be the only ones to develop a cliterous (icantspell)? Ie a part of the body dedicated specifically to pleasure? Why would we be the only ones? Its not like culture has grabbed our bodies and placed upon us the clit - no, its developed naturally. And thus, one would assume, so has other variations for the numerous other species of the world. Afterall, even to argue from the point of procreation rather than sex for fun, it makes sense that the animal would enjoy sex as this makes it more inclined to engage in sexual activity and therefore increase the chance of conception.

There are also those Bonobo apes and Dolphins that have tonnes of recreational sex!

However, maybe we are the only species that has engaged in sexual activity to the point that we actively remove or annul its primative function of procreation. We remove from sex its basic purpose - taking away the physical and biological element to simply enjoy the benefits of intimacy and psychological blah.

An interesting point that I read was this:
Thus intimacy is not an inheritance but a social psychological achievement; it is th acme of communication and exposure of self. Every act of human coitus has something of the quality of drama; it commences with some form of pursuit and may be climaxed by total intimacy, but often is not. By itself, sex cannot substitute for intimacy; at best it then becomes mutual masturbation, a counterfeit currency of interpersonal relations.

So, maybe you should think about the mutual masturbation you have been having, rather than the intimacy it could really be.

Anymails

2007-08-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

I found this site via Waxy.org
Amazing idea, emails as microbes!

ANYMAILS

The Geek in me Rebels!

2007-07-04T05:34:00.000-07:00

World Leaders

2007-05-10T07:36:00.000-07:00

Tony Blair has been in office for TEN years....I am in shock

I remember John Major and Margaret Thatcher.....

John Major was such a wet towel....but then again, I remember at the time, it felt like the end of the world for Tony Blair to be stepping in.

I am so deeply disturbed by the passage of time, it's no wonder I suffer from melancholy.

Then again, maybe one is equally disturbed by the passage of world leaders....and a fear of who will be empowered next.

Pornography - The Secret History of Civilisation

2007-05-05T20:13:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Dwarf, my favourite Tech Support Senior, I have been given this wonderful official copy of "Pornography - The Secret History of Civilisation"! It is great, and definitely will be of use in my PhD studies.

As always, it is delightful to come across something informative that is not a gigantic book of a million pages.

I am very happy in my ability to add this to my DVD collection.

Postsecret Pick

2007-04-29T20:01:00.000-07:00

Abstract Accepted

2007-04-01T23:09:00.000-07:00

I will be attending AOIR 8.0 in Vancouver and presenting a paper on "Postsecrets in the Digital Age" for those interested.

There will undoubtedly be somewhat of a transformation from my abstract to final paper though.

The monster has been tamed - for Swancon!

2007-03-28T22:45:00.000-07:00

And Thus, I have edited 17,000 words down to a mere, 7,000 for my 45 minute presentation at Swancon.

Now, some more editing!

ONWARDS MIGHTY PEN!!!!

And then some helpful notes, as I am sure Christian, as kind as he is, does not want to read 7,000 words in order to help me make a Powerpoint!

DO be sure to turn up on Monday the 9th April to witness it.

For, if you do not wish to read my entire Honours dissertation, but would indeed like to have an inkling of the argument and understanding of Masculinity and Slash in LOTR....this is your chance!

Citizen Reporting -

2007-03-19T01:09:00.000-07:00

I will be interested to see how this works out - Citizen reporting - Wired and Assignment Zero

Will citizen reporting lead to a more accurate understanding of the day to day events in our world?

Less bias? Hardly

Though the traditional algorithm for the presentation and design of day to day news may be changed.

Will we find a more positive portrayal of life in the US for example? And escape the danger of Fox's limited interpretation of affairs?

Visual DNA

2007-03-18T21:50:00.000-07:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Birthday 07

2007-03-13T00:10:00.000-07:00

It was my birthday on the 7th of March and I turned 23.

Story of 'O' excerpt

2007-03-12T23:59:00.000-07:00

"Nothing however had been of such aid to her as the silence, unless it were the chains. The chains and the silence which ought to have sealed her isolated self within twenty impenetrable walls, to have asphyxiated her, strangled her, hadn't; to the contrary, they'd been her deliverance, liberating her from herself. What might have become of her had speech been accorded her and freedom granted her hands, had the faculty of free will been hers when her lover prostituted her while he looked on? She had spoken, it is true, under torture; but may one designate as words these which are only plaints and screams? Again, they often stilled her with gags. Beneath those stares, beneath those hands, beneath those sexes which raped her, beneath those lashes which tore her, she sank, lost in a delirious absence from herself which gave her unto love and loving, and may perhaps have brought her close to death and dying. She was - who? anyone at all, no-one, someone else...."

Just for fun

2007-02-26T18:02:00.001-08:00

Your Vocabulary Score: A

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary!
You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

The Academy Awards and Technology

2007-02-26T05:05:00.000-08:00

I'm surprised by the number of Web 2.0 references in the Academy Awards tonight.

They are actually acknowledging new technologies such as the mobile phone and its ability to film, as well as YouTube (web2.0).

I find it interesting to see an establishment mention these new technologies, especially when they can sometimes be considered 'set in their ways' or 'traditional'.

Imagine the beauty of a film produced and delivered to the audience on the net - within its own webspace, that allows interaction - the blurring of media boundaries!!

Maybe in the future they might even produce an award that acknowledges the new possibilities on offer!

Web 2.0 Explained

2007-02-23T00:38:00.000-08:00

I love the way Michael Wesch describes Web 2.0 in this short video clip from YouTube.

It is just fantastic, how he illustrates what it is - by the actual design of the video.

Constantly editing text - cutting/pasting - visiting Web 2.0 sites!

I love it.

As seen on Lawrence Lessig's blog

SwanCon32

2007-02-23T00:24:00.000-08:00

For those that are interested I will be presenting a paper at SwanCon 32 in Perth during April.

Long Exposure 80's Game Images

2007-02-16T19:46:00.000-08:00

"Tempest 1"
2001
digital c print
4ft x 6ft

I love it when technology and art come together.
Computers/films/animation/game machines/art/photography - combined in the one image.

This was created by Rosemarie Fiore - who describes the project as:

These photographs are long exposures taken while playing video war games of the 80"™s created by Atari, Centuri and Taito. The photographs were shot from video game screens while I played the games. By recording each second of an entire game on one frame of film, I captured complex patterns not normally seen by the eye.

For other examples of her work see here.

PhD topic - book selection

2007-02-09T02:12:00.000-08:00

I am collecting a number of books to help with research into my PhD topic.

So far these include:

-SM 101, Jay Wiseman
-Volatile Bodies, Elizabeth Grosz
-Sacred Sexuality, Feuerstein
-Cyberspace Romance, Whitty and Carr
-Sexual Personae, Camille Paglia
-Pornocopia, Laurence O'Toole
-On Agression, Konrad Lorenz
-Sexual Deviation, Anthony Storr
-Studies in Sadomasochism, Thomas Weinberg, Levi Kamel
-Perspectives in Human Sexuality, Gail Hawkes and John Scott
-Philosophical Perspectives on Sex and Love, Stewart
-Sexual Knowledge, Sexual Science, R.Porter and M.Teich
-The Myth of Women's Masochism, Paula Caplan
-The Philosophy of Sex, Soble
-Sublime Surrender, Suzanne Stwart
-Sexual Variations, Gosselin and Wilson

For a more complete bibliography please contact me if desired.

AOIR: 8.0 Let's Play

2007-01-31T04:16:00.000-08:00

So I submitted my abstract for AOIR 8.0 tonight.

Now to wait and see if it gets accepted.

This is what I wrote as a program insert, just to give you an idea (well a tease really):

Postsecrets of The Digital Age

Do you have a secret to share?
If so, I urge you to participate and become a cultural citizen of the digital world by producing your very own Postsecret. What, I hear you ask, is a Postsecret? Imagine a Postcard – transformed into the digital age – allowing you to confess your greatest sin or guiltiest pleasure without ever identifying who you are. Participate, produce, re-mediate, view, and indulge – in the creative culture that is Postsecret. Witness this transformation of a 20th Century cultural product, into the digital cultural citizen’s work of art and identity, and let me be your guide.

AOIR 7.0

2006-12-06T20:56:00.000-08:00

As some people may be aware, I went and presented at the AOIR 7.0:Internet Convergences Conference in Brisbane this year. This was my first conference, and I must say, a great success and wonderful experience.

I presented a paper on Memetics and Online Identity, which I will post up in time as I have ben waylaid by numerous other things in life at the moment. So I do apologies for my slow updates.

I will hopefully be moving swiftly on to my PhD, which will cover the area of sexuality/sex on the Internet with a specific case study of BDSM culture.

You will probably find upcoming posts related to this topic, as well as any conference research I am doing.

In the meantime, I have located on Flickr some official photos from the conference. These were alas, not taken by me, as I am lacking a camera.

The lovely Matthew and Charles, President and Vice-President of AOIR respectively, and quite serious party people.

Virtual Texts and Sex - The Internet as Sexual Fantasy

2006-06-27T02:24:00.000-07:00

How is the experience of "sex" represented on the internet?

I think it is interesting to look at the different examples of sex that the internet offers, compared to real life.
Real life, well, sex is physical - it is a bodily reaction. On the net, there is something far more akin to a mental reaction or stimulas to sex.

Sex on the internet is almost an intellectual version of the physical act.
Personally I think there is something lost when 'net-sex' crosses the boundary into the physical...where the aim is visual representations via screen, with opportunity for physical reactions prompted by *cough* ones own mechanical actions.

I think I have to pronounce my love for 'cyber-sex' as they say, or rather, the interaction enabled via instant messaging or irc type chat channels, where the entire experience is through text.

Text is the stimulus. There is something delicious about that notion; the idea of words exciting physical reactions that involve mental thought.

Fair enough, the words may not be eloquent at times, but the pleasure of the text, the text of a lover describing an intimate act is vastly different from the physical experience.

In a way it reminds me of The Pillowbook, where text becomes fetish. Yet, this is slightly different, the text in Pillowbook was written ON the body, it was still specifically physical. 'Cyber-sex' through text based chat is not connected to the body at all, except maybe in its descriptive qualities.

There is so much I would like to say about this topic. Maybe it is the perfect sexual fantasy, its not garish or gratuitious like porn, or impersonal like erotic novels - the fantasies and desires of another that become economic trash.

Instead its a personal, intimate exchange of words, desires, fantasies....love. Space means nothing, barriers disintergrate, you are united with your lover simply through the beauty of language.

Bibliography:
Although I haven't really read into this or researched to any great extent, since these are the first musings of my own thoughts on the topic, I would nevertheless direct you to the interesting article:

-McRae, Shannon, "Coming Apart at the Seams: Sex, Text and the Virtual Body" in Wired_Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace ed. Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise
-Peter Greenaway, The Pillowbook, (1996)

Spatial Considerations Online

2006-06-21T02:40:00.000-07:00

I guess one of the thoughts that popped into my head recently was about the notion of space and distance in online environments.

I haven't had a lot of opportunity to research into the area, and therefore, any ideas I have currently are at their basic levels of academic consideration! (IE not overtly theorized and more me just having ideas popping into my head and mulling them about in reflection of previous studies).

Anyway, something that I have found, is the Online Journal of Computer Mediated Communication. This has been a great discovery, and also, I have found an interesting article that considers spatial factors online.

So for the time being, I direct you to it, in hopes you might stimulate my intellectual considerations!!!

Dissertation: FINISHED!

2006-06-12T21:17:00.000-07:00

My Honours Dissertation is finished, being titled :

Masculinity in Lord of the Rings and Slash Fan Fiction.

If anyone is interested in this topic and would like to discuss my research or view my dissertation, please feel free to leave a comment and I will give you any advice I can offer.

Bodies in Second Life (VR)

2006-05-22T04:56:00.000-07:00

Just an addition to my last post, I noticed a friend made an interesting comment in relation to bodies in Second Life.

Virtual Community and the Physical Body

2006-05-18T20:39:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of research and academic consideration of how the concept of 'Community' transitions to 'cyberspace'.

The internet has facilitated a far more diverse range of interactions, and one of the means by which this has been enabled is via the removal of physical barriers such as distance.

In a presentation the other day in one of my classes, several definitions of 'Community' emerged, and I noticed that all of these had a sense of 'physical space'. A community was often made up, at least in part, by people being 'gathered' and 'interacting' in a specific location. This often led to them having things in common. Eg, it might be at a high school, or a public hall in their neighbourhood.

Community is sometimes hard to identify on the net. Many academics attempt to qualify the necessary requirements which must be fulfilled for a community to exist. These however can be debated, and even blogs and livejournals often feature in debates over whether the level of interaction and fulfillment they offer qualifies them as a 'community'.

But taking a step back, in terms of psychology, the essential elements of community are:

Membership
Influence
Integration and fulfillment of needs
Shared emotional connection

This sort of experience can easily be gained on the net, I dont think there is any sort of doubt in that.

But these qualities are more emotional than physical. But what is the concern of some, such as Sherry Turkle and Howard Rheingold, is the removal of the physical, the bodily experience of community, and the cost of a 'cyber life' which separates mind from body.

As Turkle writes: "This way of thinking about cyberspace substitutes life on the screen for life in our bodies and physical communities". -Virtuality and Its Discontents p. 337

But, at one point is the body separated? And what point does the body cease to exist in cyberspace? What is reality/ as opposed to 'virtual reality'.

And here, I want to take our attention to that of online gaming and 'virtual worlds'. Lets consider the virtual world experienced by Second Life.
As the name suggests, this is a virtual space which aims to consume the user, to submerse them in a space which can function, quite literally as a 'second life!'.
Second Life has an economy, sex life, community. You can buy and sell land. You can trade. And we aren't just talking 'pretend money' here that operates just inside 'game space'. This economy is connected to our own RL economy.

In Second Life, you are obviously represented by an avatar. A physical representation of your 'self'. This virtual body may not directly correspond to your RL body, but nevertheless, it is an essential part of your identity.

This is a body, which interacts/moves through the virtual space of Second Life. More importantly, the virtual WORLD of Second Life.

This isn't just a room, or a city or a text explored MUD. This is a 3D rendered world that is increasingly becoming as complex as our own RL.

In this environment, community can essentially become once again, a community centered around the 'physical'. The physical distance, geography of your location in Second Life will no doubt affect your sense of community.

If you build a house in a certain location, you will, essentially be part of the community that surrounds you. Your neighbours, flatmates, local parks, malls, outlets.

I guess what I am getting at here, is a sense that the concept of community and the notion of physical space and presence, is open for debate in such VR spaces such as Second Life. Is it possible that the internet, is introducing its own sense of community that isn't about text/webpages/chat...but is about physicality and the real world concepts of community.

What in a sense, distinguishes this reality from the reality of the screen. If philosophers have questioned are 'experience' of reality and the body...have posed the question of 'are we just a mind in a jar' suffering the illusion of space and time. What is this illusion of 'Second Life'?
Is our body in that space, just and extension, or a replication of our mind -body connection in RL? Is the community, the towns, the villages, in which numerous bodies walk in Second Life, offering something more complex, than the notions of community in text based environments.

It is once again a community centered around space.

-Hilary Wheaton

Bibliography

Joseph Turow & Andrea Kavanagh (eds), The Wired Homestead, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003 - "Virtuality and Its Disconetents: Searching for Community in Cyberspace" -Sherry Turkle pp. 385-397
-Howard Rhinegold, "The Virtual Community." Reading Digital Culture. Ed. David Trend. Malden Mass, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2001, pp. 272-280
-Second Life - http://secondlife.com/
-Business Week: My Virtual Life

More to be added.

Web 2.0 Conference Site

2006-05-18T20:38:00.000-07:00

Web 2.0 Conference Site

Gender, Sexuality, Motherhood

2006-05-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

This is a rather odd thought, prompted by a rather dry and depressing television program I had the misfortune to witness not long ago.

The basic premise suggested, between an upsetting character interaction, was that men may lose interest, sexually, in a female once she becomes a mother.

I find this hard to believe, but it prompted me to wonder, on some level, whether once a woman embraces the role of motherhood/nurture/caregiver, a man would still be able to objectify her.

There is clearly a substantial amount of literature on the objectifying of the female body, and the fetishistic qualities of dissembling the body into parts, sexual objects not associated with the 'whole'.

In another area I have been studying recently, that of Slash fiction, I came across some interesting considerations of why women find men so arousing/satisfying to write/read, in erotic male/male fiction. A side comment to this, was what the consequences were of introducing birth/reproduction into this fantasy. The simple reply was, that this hadn't worked. As a fantasy space associated with desire, the introduction of children/birth/pregnancy had spoiled the illusion.

Obviously this is a slightly different arena, men cannot, biologically give birth (unless we are living in the bizarre fantasy land of Arnold Schwazernegger <- I don't know how to spell his last name). But the focus still applies; namely that of sexuality, sensuality, erotic and pornographic in these fantasies. Furthermore, if anything, women's erotica features a greater focus on sensuality and emotions/care than male pornography. The introduction of the natural consequence of fertility should not, therefore, be such a turn off. But, I have deviated slightly. My central concern is, if a women's body, her blatent sexuality, is accompanied by the presence of birth/motherhood, will she no longer be objectified? Is it harder for a male to objectify the body of a mother? And please, this is an entirely different question as to whether a man would still wish to have sex with someone who has a child, or is pregnant.

Obviously my thoughts and considerations here are just basic. But, the female body as a site which can both be objectified, and embody motherhood/fertility/nurture etc is interesting, at least from a pornographic or erotic sense. If people come across this have thoughts, or want to point me in the direction of any previous work on this area, please do. Like I say, I'm just brainstorming in response to some poor quality television.

-By Hilary

-Lynne Segal "Only the Literal: the Contradictions of Anti-Pornography Feminism" in Sexualities and Society: A Reader, ed. Jeffrey Weeks, Holland Waites.
-Image from : R Delhaye Photo Gallery

(More reading to consider to be added)

BSG- Sexuality, Identity, Cylons

2006-05-09T02:16:00.000-07:00

I am, of course, a fan of Battlestar Galactica (BSG). Living in Australia leads me to be far behind on the plotlines, but I have been lucky to watch episodes here and there lent to me by friends.
One of the ideas that intrigued me regarding BSG is the concept of reproduction.

Alas, I do not know the specific episode, but in Season 2, Boomer informs us that the Cylons have not yet perfected the reproductive method. Starbuck unfortunately gets involved in their 'farms' an experiment in attempting to understand how the human body works, and using women as incubators.

BSG developed this theme of reproduction in the first Series, when Six tells Gaius that they will have a child. Of course, obviously there is some confusion about exactly whose child this is. Boomer (or a Cylon version of her) becomes pregnant and it turns out this is the child Six is talking of.

Through further exploration, Boomer explains that the Cylons believed the secret ingredient in creating human life was 'love'. This raises some interesting ideas.

Firstly, one cant help but notice that the male is represented by a human, while the woman (Boomer) is a Cylon or artifical. This sits uncomfortably with traditional notions of the role of women/men in reproduction and technology. Women are specifically linked to creation, the giving of life and fertility. Men are linked to technology, production by building, assembly.

Men have often created monsters in literary history, such as 'Frankenstien', where they have tried to usurp God's ability to create, and what's more, transition into a sphere specifically associated with the female. The essential element for men to produce life is through technology. Technology becomes the instrument through which life is created - it is no longer linked to nature.

So we witness a move towards machines/technology/instumentation/construction as a means of creating life.

In BSG, the humans created the Cylons. The Cylons rebelled. Of course, one cannot help but be reminded of the work by Isaac Asimov. It is interesting, to consider the Cylons current focus on religion and God.
Having been deprived of their rightful, divine connection, via creation with God, they are obviously attempting to re-connect. There is a bizarre set up of power between God-Humans-Cylons-Humans-God.
Six, and the other Cylons, spend a great deal of time preaching about God and religion. Indeed, they seem to have a more intimate connection with God than the majority of the humans we are introduced to.

What does this say about them?

And these thoughts lead me back to my original musings on reproduction. Clearly, by means of reproducing life, Cylons are attempting to bridge and heal this link, which so clearly seperates them from the Divine/Religious/Natural. In some ways, Cylons are the ultimate Sin which humans have enacted.

By Boomer being the mother, the female, the one whom gives birth, the technological is somehow reconnected to nature and the divine.

Is the man, and his technological creation, somehow reconnecting to nature, to the spiritual?
BSG certainly mixes up a lot of ideas about technology, reproduction, sexuality, creation. And it definately has something to say about the split betweem masculine and feminine/technology and nature.

-By Hilary Wheaton

-Battlestar Gallactica Official Site
-Three Laws of Robotics - Isaac Asimov
- 'The Instruments of Life: Frankenstein and Cyberculture" by Catherine Waldby in Prefiguring Cyberculture, eds. Darren Tofts, Annemarie Jonson & Alessio Cavallaro (Cambridge & London:MIT Press, 2002) pp 28-37