Temporada 4 · Autopsia de los Gigantes · JVV-T4-11
Cyborg vs. Companion Species: from the manifesto to the LoRa collar
I Two genealogies cross in a dog park
- A Cyborg Manifesto (1985) → breaks the binaries (organic/technological, female/male, human/machine).
- The Companion Species Manifesto (2003) → insists on dog-human “co-filiation”: there is no subject without a creature that gives back the gaze (and the hair).
2026: LoRa collars translating canine heartbeats into MQTT packets; dog-drones patrolling allotments; GPT-bark synthesising barks into legal commands.
“The cyborg wants to hack; the companion smells first.”
The tension is no longer binary: Cyborg–Dog is a dialectical torque that redesigns citizenship.
II Cartography of practical hybridisation
| Module | Cyborg (Manifesto) | Companion (Species) | 2026 prototype |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sensing | Subcutaneous NFC implant | A nose with 220 M receptors | LoRa collar + VOC sensor: the dog flags a gas leak |
| Motor | Servo exoskeleton | A spine flexible to 30 º | Assisted harness; the dog carries the Li-ion, the human runs >15 km |
| Language | Binary code / API | Bark, tail, pheromone | GPT-bark maps pitch to an emoji-HUD in the glasses |
| Affect | Simulated empathy | Pheromonal empathy | DAO contract: 1 hour of play ↔ 2 kWh of battery |
III Equation of “haptic loyalty”
- H_c
- hours of skin-to-skin contact
- T_s
- synchrony rate heartbeat-bark
- P_f
- oxytocin pheromone (ng/L)
- I_e
- electronic interference (dBm)
- \Delta D
- avg. body-dog distance (m)
When designing the gadget, the goal is to maximise L – if it drops through RF noise, you have to restore analogue contact (stroke the dog).
IV Inter-species ritualsafe
-
01
Rest a smartwatch on the dog's back, heartbeat mode.
-
02
Without looking at the screen, match your breathing to the rhythm that vibrates.
-
03
When 5 beats sync in a row, take the gadget off and carry on by ear.
-
04
Write the sentence: “I don't know where my pulse ends.”
V Civic architecture of the “Lo-Ranic Park”
| Zone | Infra | Hybrid function |
|---|---|---|
| Paw Ring | Piezo paving → power for the lamp posts | Dogs run, humans stroll — they make 2 kWh/day |
| Olfactory Node | A micro-GC detects ammonia in the soil | Maps sewage leaks → the municipal DAO votes the repair |
| Relay Tower | LoRa gateway + 6 GHz mesh | A bark-alert carries 3 km with no 5 G |
The result: the city reads its own biology through the cyborg-canine pair.
VI Risks and countermeasures
| Danger | Symptom | Antidote |
|---|---|---|
| “False bark” DDoS | Alert spam | Rate-limit filter + collar signature |
| Canine objectification | The dog = a low-cost sensor | A “Companion-Subject” statute: 2 h of play/day minimum |
| Electrical dependence | The harness runs flat, the dog gets hurt | Supercap battery + passive emergency mode |
VII Coda
“Where the cyborg encodes, the dog feels; together they draw the perimeter of a new us.”
The Cyborg–Companion fusion reprograms citizenship: we no longer legislate only for human bodies nor design only for machinic efficiency.
Haraway was right twice over: we must embrace the glitch and embrace the animal—literally.
Next city design: a nose-to-USB walkway where skin and code smell the same thing.