N. Katherine Hayles Quotes

A collection of quotes by N. Katherine Hayles.

N. Katherine Hayles is an influential scholar and professor in the field of literature and technology. Born on December 16, 1943, in St. Louis, Missouri, Hayles has made significant contributions to the understanding of the relationship between humans and technology.

She received her Bachelor's degree in English from the University of Rochester in 1966 and went on to earn a Master's degree in English from Michigan State University in 1968. Hayles later completed her Ph.D. in English from the University of Rochester in 1971.

Hayles is best known for her interdisciplinary work that combines literature, science, and technology. Her research interests focus on the impact of digital technologies on cultural practices, cognition, and the concept of embodied virtuality. She has written numerous influential books and articles, including "How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics" (1999), which garnered significant attention and acclaim.

Throughout her career, Hayles has held various academic positions at prestigious institutions, including the University of California, Los Angeles, where she is currently a Professor Emerita in the Department of English. Her work has had a profound influence on the field of digital humanities and continues to shape our understanding of the complexities of technology in contemporary society.

If my nightmare is a culture inhabited by posthumans who regard their bodies as fashion accessories rather than the ground of being, my dream is a version of the posthuman that embraces the possibilities of information technologies without being seduced by fantasies of unlimited power and disembodied immortality, that recognizes and celebrates finitude as a condition of human being, and that understands human life is embedded in a material world of great complexity, one on which we depend for our continued survival.

N. Katherine Hayles