The term cyborg is a combination of the terms “cybernetic” and “organism”. It was originally coined by Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline in their 1960 article, “Cyborgs in Space.” According to the authors, a cyborg is a being that “deliberately incorporates exogenous components extending the self-regulatory control function of the organism to adapt it to new environments” (Clynes & Kline 31). This definition arises from the authors’ desire to formulate a way of successfully adapting human beings to the rigors of outer space. Likening space vehicles that were tiny, metal pockets of Earth’s atmosphere to “a fish taking a small bubble of water with him to live on land”, Clynes and Kline proposed the cyborg as a means of reshaping an organism’s body to the new and different environs of deep space, instead of transporting a pressurized pocket of earth into orbit and trapping the astronaut within its limiting confines (30). In this early work, the mechanical extension of human autonomous, biological systems is seen as a positive force, one that would leave “man free to create, to explore, to think, and to feel” (Clynes & Kline 30).

The hybridity represented within the mechanic/organic body of the cyborg is a powerful metaphor through which science fiction authors explore humanity’s relationship to technology. Early cyborg fictions dealt with questions concerning the breakdown of the notion of humanity, often attempting to determine the point at which a cyborg loses its humanity. Authors also grappled with issues of humans becoming enslaved by their own technologies. With the dawn of the information age and the rise of the personal computer, the cyborg came to be viewed as a positive force, a hybrid that had not lost its humanity but, instead, gained a host of new talents and powers. With this shift, the cyborg became an even more important figure for dealing with issues of technology within science fiction.