a. Postbiological life is life produced by non-biological technologies that modify or replace biological life forms or parts of these (especially the human body and mind).

b.

c. The media I chose is a commercial for CHIP. CHIP is an example of postbiological life, a robot pet. The commercial shows how a company that sells robot companions markets them by showcasing their benefits. It starts out by suggesting that having a real pet like a dog is a lot of work and a major headache. It tries to position CHIP as better than a real dog because it offers all of the benefits, like companionship and play, without the unwanted responsibilities. This is a major promise of postbiological life: all of the benefits and more with fewer costs. The commercial promises that CHIP “recognizes their owner” demonstrating the importance of the psychological aspects of the product. Depending on when the owner “likes” CHIPs actions, its behavior changes over time. CHIP is an individualized product that adapts to the owners actions and “no two CHIPs are alike.” The commercial also advertises a translate mode so that you can “understand CHIPs thoughts.” The characteristics that CHIP has are those that we would expect of a living creature: the ability to learn, to think and to have preferences. The commercial expects that the user will care about and for CHIP, much as for a real dog. Although the commercial ends “most of all CHIP is a friend,” one must ask the question whether or not this is true, and if not why not? As Turkle writes in Alone Together: True Companions real friends have their own unique desires that may at times be different than our own. They may need our help, or want us to do something that we don’t want to do. Postbiological life offers the promise of better than real life relationships, but in the process we may lose some of the psychological traits that make us most human.