Our Cyborgian Future?
Monday, August 10, 2009 by gelise123
I had always considered a “cyborg” to be something more like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator films – more robot than human, and basically in the realm of sci-fi. So Luke Goode’s introduction to last week’s lecture really opened my eyes by illustrating how technology has already become such an ingrained part of our lives. From laser eye surgery to sleeping with our cell phones, many of us rely heavily on technology to get us through our day. What I want to know is, how far will this progress? If the Extropians get their way, the end will only be once humans have “discarded” their corporal bodies in the pursuit of a more advanced virtual society.
While this view is obviously very extreme, there have already been experiments and patents made which have been devised to control certain facets of the human mind and body through technology. I find this area of research incredibly disturbing. Case in point- the video about performance artist Stelarc. This video included a segment where he had attached some sort of electrodes to the arm muscles of participants, and was then able to control the movement of their arms through the use of a remote transmitter. Imagine if this got into the wrong hands – someone being able to control the movements of another human being through a remote transmitter, with the people affected being unable to resist, conjures up some seriously frightening potential consequences. To fellow Harry Potter readers out there, doesn’t this sound like an electronic version of the Imperius curse??
After being initially quite alarmed by the increasing fusion of the human body and technology, I had consoled myself with the thought that this was largely hypothesis and conjecture, and wouldn’t necessarily start happening in my lifetime. Then this Saturday, I came across an article in the Herald about a robotic suit – the Hybrid Assistive Limb, or HAL – designed to help people with weak limbs to walk. The company that designed it, Cyberdyne Corporation, was quoted in the article as saying HAL was made to “upgrade the existing physical capabilities of the human body”. Perhaps a more “cyborgian” future isn’t as far off as I thought…
While this view is obviously very extreme, there have already been experiments and patents made which have been devised to control certain facets of the human mind and body through technology. I find this area of research incredibly disturbing. Case in point- the video about performance artist Stelarc. This video included a segment where he had attached some sort of electrodes to the arm muscles of participants, and was then able to control the movement of their arms through the use of a remote transmitter. Imagine if this got into the wrong hands – someone being able to control the movements of another human being through a remote transmitter, with the people affected being unable to resist, conjures up some seriously frightening potential consequences. To fellow Harry Potter readers out there, doesn’t this sound like an electronic version of the Imperius curse??
After being initially quite alarmed by the increasing fusion of the human body and technology, I had consoled myself with the thought that this was largely hypothesis and conjecture, and wouldn’t necessarily start happening in my lifetime. Then this Saturday, I came across an article in the Herald about a robotic suit – the Hybrid Assistive Limb, or HAL – designed to help people with weak limbs to walk. The company that designed it, Cyberdyne Corporation, was quoted in the article as saying HAL was made to “upgrade the existing physical capabilities of the human body”. Perhaps a more “cyborgian” future isn’t as far off as I thought…
Very interesting, I too had misconceptions about the term 'cyborg'. It is interesting to see just how far we can go with technology and your blog certainly illustrates this!
Before the lecture, I found the idea of cyborgs quite exciting, as I had visions of Iron Man and other such fantastic things. I was too, disturbed by the idea of the human body being controlled by a machine. I agree with you in that the concept of controlling other human beings with computers or technologies is scarily close to a version of the Imperius curse from Harry Potter. Human nature would lead to such technologies being abused, and would hence become a significant threat.
I am however, in two minds on this concept of cyborgs. My younger brother was born with bones missing in his leg, and has as a result had to go through copious amounts of surgery to fix the problem. The final fix was, sadly enough, to amputate his leg. Everyday he struggles with the artificial leg he has, as it is fairly simple and not able to do much. He cannot bend his knee, flex his toes, roll his ankle, and of course, this can be difficult. I think that in this case, an advanced robotic leg would be very useful, and I would consider it ethically acceptable. If you have seen the movie I-Robot, Will Smith's character is himself a cyborg, as he has a robotic arm. This arm is a blessing to him, as he would not have a functional arm without it.
Do others think that perhaps in these situations the idea of a cyborg is not quite as terrifying?