Definitions
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by Rachel Rein
rachel@cinemaspace.berkeley.edu

Cyborgs in Film: Definitions


all definitions taken from Webster's NewWorld Dictionary
Third College Edition; New York: Prentice Hall, 1994


cyborg: a hypothetical human being modified for life in a hostile or alien environment by the substitutuion of artificial organs and other body parts

android: in science fiction, an automaton made to resemble a human being

automaton: 1 anything that can move or act of itself 2 an apparatus that automatically performs certain actions by responding to preset controls or encoded instructions 3 an electronic machine, control device, etc. equipped with a computer and designed to operate automatically in response to instructions previously fed into the computer . . .

robot: 1 a) any anthropomorphic mechanical being . . . b) any mechanical device operated automatically, esp. by remote control, to perform in a seemingly human way 2 an automaton; esp. a person who acts or works mechanically and without original thinking

science fiction: fiction of a highly imaginative or fantastic kind, typically involving some actual or projected scientific phenomenon
[I am aware that this definition is quite lacking. I strongly recommend a visit to Neyir Cenk Gökçe's Definitions of Science Fiction page.]


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