Transformations of the Body Prosthetised by Virtuality

This article describes changes happening to a human body under the influence of machinery. The paper presents the philosophical and anthropological analysis of interaction between human body and computers based on concepts of M. Heidegger, J. Baudrillard, J. Deleuze and V. Podoroga. The article demonstrates how changes in the human body in contemporary societies are determined by the technosphere. It also depicts certain changes that occur in the human body when it is put into the position of being a technology’s paradigmatic object. The author shows how modern technology, following modernist metaphysics and axiology, objectifies the body temporally and spatially. The modern type of technology accelerates processes such as production, movement, and information exchange, leading to transformations of the body beyond the initial scope of modernist metaphysics. The special attention is paid to the transformations of the human body that occur in the constant interaction of the body with digital technology, showing the changes in the phenomenological experience of the body augmented by virtual reality.