Posthumanism reconsiders what it means to go beyond being human or reconceiving what it means to be human. “Beyond” human conjures images of metal skin and science fiction augmentations. It advocates for a dissolving of boundaries between self, technology, and environment. Posthumanism decenters the humanist notion that “man” is the most elevated, singular, center of the universe. In The Posthuman, Braidotti lays out possibilities for expanding our conception of the human in a tangible way. She considers it to be a “complex relational subject framed by embodiment, sexuality, affectivity, empathy, and desire as core qualities”. 1 The posthuman acknowledges the interconnectedness of living matter. To transcend humanity, its borders must be blurred. 

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In Cyborg Manifesto, Haraway considers the cyborg to be the human body augmented by technology, one that takes pleasure in open possibilities of change. When the barriers that enclose and define humanity become permeable, one’s conception of what a (post)human is expands. Cyborg politics advocates against perfect communication with one code that translates all meaning perfectly. 2 If there is only one code that rigidly defines all things, that code does not leave room for the flexibility of the post – and “beyond”. Haraway uses the idea of “pollution” to stand in for the permeation of alternate conceptions of what constitutes a human body. If one opens oneself up to empathetic and technological pollution, those conceptions are able to expand.