Prosthetic Consciousness: Neuroscience and the Making of the Cyborg Subject
The Creative Launcher April 30, 2026 Anoop Prabha Kesavan
Identity is not a fixed biological essence but an ongoing process shaped by neuroplasticity, memory reconstruction, perceptual interpretation, and affective response. Drawing on Andy Clark and David Chalmers's theory of extended cognition, the article argues that smartphones, virtual reality, prosthetic devices, and digital avatars have become extensions of human cognitive and bodily life. Combining Donna Haraway's and N. Katherine Hayles's posthuman theories with neuroscience, it describes the modern self as a prosthetic consciousness continually generated through interactions between brain, body, environment, and machine—neither purely organic nor technological but a cyborg identity that is now an empirical and philosophical reality.