cyborg

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

ABSTRACT Cyborgs-cybernetic organisms, hybrids of humans and machines, have pervaded everyday life, the military, popular culture, and the academic world .Cyborgs are ongoing becomings

of a doubly ―in-

between‖ temporality of humans and machines. Materially made from components of both sorts of beings, cyborgs gain increasing function through an interweaving in which each alters the other, from the level of ―neural plasticity‖ to software updates to emotional breakthroughs of which both are a part. One sort of temporal in-between is of the progressive unfolding of a deepening becoming as ―not-one-not-two‖ and the other is a ―doubling back‖ of time into itself in which moments that were once disparate are conjoined or enjambed. There are two senses of the cyborg which have been discussed by those interested in the human/machine in-between. The first and more traditional sense of the case of organic beings who are physically and functionally united with mechanized beings to constitute what some consider ―true‖ cyborgs. The second sense of ―cyborg‖ claims that we have all become cyborgs in the sense of becoming enfolded within a world in which machines not only perform many of our key actions but also make possible how we know ourselves, express ourselves, modify our intentions, and open new avenues for who we might become. "Cyborg" is a science-fictional shorting of "cybernetic organism". The idea is that, in the near future, we may have more and more artificial body parts - arms, legs, hearts, eyes - and digital computing and communication supplements. The logical conclusion is that one might become a brain in a wholly artificial body. And the step after that is to replace your meat brain by a computer brain.

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

CONTENTS 

Introduction



Cyborgs-Cybernetics



Robots & Cyborgs



Cyborg Entities



Convenient



Conditional

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Definitions in Cyborgology



Prosthetics



Orthotics



Communication Technology & Cyber body



Cyborg Proliferation in Society



Medicine



Army



Art



Sports



Advantages and Disadvantages



Future Scope



Conclusion



Reference

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

INTRODUCTION Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of the regulatory system. Cybernetics is closely related to control theory and system theory. Contemporary cybernetics began as an interdisciplinary study connecting the fields of control systems, electrical network theory, mechanical engineering, logic model, evolutionary biology, neuroscience etc. Cyborgs are originated from the concept of cybernetics, which is referred as a mixture of both organism and the technology. When an organism is half human and half machine then we call them CYBORG. The whole process of becoming a Cyborg is known as Cyborgation Among the Cyborgs living today Dr. Kevin Warwick heads the Cybernetics Department at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom and has taken the first steps on this path, using himself as a guinea pig test subject receiving, by surgical operation, technological implants connected to his central nervous system. The world's first cyborg was a white lab rat, part of an experimental program at New York's Rockland State Hospital in the late 1950s. The rat had implanted in its body a tiny osmotic pump that injected precisely controlled doses of chemicals, altering several of its physiological parameters. It was part animal, part machine.

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

INTRODUCTION TO CYBORGS BASICS A cyborg, also known as a cybernetic organism, is a being with both biological and artificial (e.g. electronic, mechanical or robotic) parts. The cyborg is often seen today merely as an organism that has enhanced abilities due to technology ,but this perhaps oversimplifies the category of feedback. AN EXAMPLE OF CYBORG Fictional cyborgs are portrayed as a synthesis of organic and synthetic parts, and frequently pose the question of difference between human and machine as one concerned with morality, free will, and empathy. Fictional cyborgs may be represented as visibly mechanical or as almost indistinguishable from humans. Cyborgs in fiction often play up a human contempt for over-dependence on technology, particularly when used for war, and when used in ways that seem to threaten free will. Cyborgs are also often portrayed with physical or mental abilities far exceeding a human counterpart (military forms may have inbuilt weapons, among other things). Real (as opposed to fictional) cyborgs are more frequently people who use cybernetic technology to repair or overcome the physical and mental constraints of their bodies. While cyborgs are commonly thought of as mammals, they might conceivably be any kind of organism

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

ORIGIN OF CYBORGS The term 'cyborg' is a contraction of 'cybernetic organism', and entered the language in the early 1960s. The term 'cybernetics' was coined by Norbert Wiener in 1948. It referred to the then-new notion of controlling human-designed processes through feedback and response, in ways similar to those evident in natural organisms (Wiener 1948, 1949). He contrived the word from the Greek word for 'steersman'. The origin of the contraction 'cyborg' is commonly attributed to two US research scientists, who used it to refer to an enhanced human being who could survive in extraterrestrial environments, or, in their own words "the exogenously extended organizational complex functioning as an integrated homeostatic system unconsciously" (Clynes & Kline 1960). More generally, a cyborg is a human with whom mechanical and/or electronic parts have been integrated. Driven by feature films that depict imaginings of sci-fi authors, popular culture envisages a cyborg as necessarily having functionality that has been extended beyond that of a normal human being. Indeed, the OED adopts that element of Clynes & Kline (1960). Although one definition is "an integrated man-machine system", the other is "a person whose physical tolerances or capabilities are extended beyond normal human limitations by a machine or other external agency that modifies the body's functioning" (emphasis added). For the purposes of this analysis, however, it is necessary to distinguish enhancements from more mundane, but highly valuable interventions. Also in popular culture, a cyborg's enhancements are physically inserted into the person. This paper will, however, also encompass circumstances in which this condition is not satisfied. Consideration has also been given to the notion of 'bionic implants'. The concept is, however,

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

largely confined to entertainment arena, as a result of a 1973 novel called 'Cyborg', which gave rise to television series called 'The Six Million Dollar Man' and 'The Bionic Woman' - who had 'bionic' eyes, legs and arms.

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

CYBERNETICS: Cybernetics is word coined by group of scientists led by Norbert Wiener and made popular by Wiener‘s book of 1948, Cybernetics or Communication in the animal and the Machine. Based on the Greek ―Kybernetics‖, meaning steersman or governor, cybernetics is the science or study of the control or regulation mechanism in human and machine systems, including computers CYBERNETICS could be thought of as recently developed science, although to some extent it cuts across existing science. If we think of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, etc. as a traditional science, then Cybernetics is a classification, which cuts across them all. Cybernetics is formally defined as the science of control and communication in animals, men and machines. It extracts, from whatever context, that which is concerned with information processing and control …. One major characteristics of cybernetics is its preoccupation with the construction of models and here it overlaps

operational

research.

Cybernetics

models

are

usually

distinguished by being hierarchical, adaptive and making permanent use of feedback loops… Cybernetics in some ways is like the science of organization, with special emphasis on the dynamic nature of the system being organized.

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

ROBOTS & CYBORGS All of them, to some degree, are programmed; they're basically computers that move. A robot, however, doesn't necessarily have to resemble a human. It can be in the shape of a dog, or a lunar Lander, or one of those giant arms in a car factory. But cyborgs are beings that are part mechanical and part organic. In fact, some theorists consider anyone whose body relies on a form of machinery in order to survive - such as a pacemaker or an insulin pump - to be a cyborg. CYBORG Convenient

Conditional

CYBORGS are categorized into two types based on their structural and functional role play. Convenient cyborgs may refer to any external provision of an exoskeleton for satisfying the altered fancy needs of body. Conditional cyborgs include bionic implants replanting the lost or damaged body part for normal living in the present environment Cyborg technologies can be of four types:Restorative : In that they restore lost functions and replace lost organs and limbs. Normalizing: In that they

restore some creature to indistinguishable

normality. Reconfiguring: creating post human creatures equal to but different from humans, like what one is now when interacting with other creatures in cyberspace or, in the future, the type of modifications proto-humans will undergo to live in space or under the sea having given up the comforts of terrestrial existence.

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Cyborgs

Enhancing: The aim of most military and industrial research, and what those with cyborg envy or even cyborgphilia fantasize. The latter category seeks to construct everything from factories controlled by a handful of "worker-pilots" and infantrymen in mind-controlled exoskeletons to the dream many computer scientists have-downloading their consciousness into immortal computers

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

DEFINITION IN CYBORGOLOGY 1. PROSTHETICS

The OED defines a prosthesis or prosthetic as "[a] replacement [for] defective or absent parts of the body [in the form of] artificial substitutes". Its use in this manner is traced to 1706. A more appropriate definition for a prosthetic may be an artefact that provides the body with previously missing or overcomes defective functionality.This definition is narrower than the OED, in that it requires the artefact to enable the performance of a function, and thereby excludes merely cosmetic or ornamental artefects such as glass eyes and breast implants. A prosthesis may have various relationships with the human body, and hence the following categories are usefully distinguished: 

External Prosthesis. This is a prosthesis separate from the human body, but connected to it, or interfaced with it. Examples include spectacles, walking sticks and crutches, but also renal dialysis and heart-lung machines

2.

Exo-Prosthesis. This is a prosthesis on an outer extremity of the human body and effectively integrated with it. Examples include contact lenses, artificial hands, arms and legs

3.

Endo-Prosthesis. This is a prosthesis internal to the human body and effectively integrated with it. Examples include artificial hips and knees, stents, pacemakers, cochlear impants and implanted lenses .

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

2. ORTHOTICS The OED defines an orthosis or orthotic as "An external orthopaedic appliance or apparatus, such as a brace or splint, that serves to support, assist the function of, or prevent movement in a body part such as a limb or the spine". A more expansive definition of orthosis is appropriate to the present purpose, as an artefact that supplements or extends a human's body, or a human's capabilities. It also enables a parallel set of terms to be devised, in order to distinguish the following sub-categories: 

External Orthosis. This is an orthosis separate from the human body,

but connected to it, or interfaced with it. Examples include telescopes and microscopes; golf-clubs and snorkels; body-suits such as those for knights, deep-sea divers, astronauts and competitive swimmers;. 

Exo-Orthosis. This is an orthosis on an outer extremity of the human

body and effectively integrated with it. Examples include artificial limbs that do something more than the natural limb would have done. 

Endo-Orthosis. This is an orthosis internal to the human body and

effectively integrated with it. Examples include chip impants that disclose an identifier or other data, whether to assist the person's location to be found or tracked, or to, for example, automatically open a door.

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

Archetype The cyborg archetype is a character in a near future world where societal decay has led to the adoption of metal parts. These cyborgs are commonly armed with paramilitary in-built weaponry or are otherwise survival and combat oriented. Communication Technology A cyborg with neural cybernetics can tap into the data streams around him. This can allow him to make untraceable calls, tap into other‘s streams, and evade detection. Com-Gear Cybernetic communications gear is very common. Troops will have built in radios. Common citizens will have internal cell-phones. Hackers will come equipped with their own modems and cops will be wired into police channels. Types of com-gear are: Radio: The character can broadcast and receive on several bands. The character can receive both ―citizens band‖ and local AM/FM stations. Cell Phone / Modem: The character can hook into the world‘s phone net if a receiving station is within range. Fast Modem: This acts like phone and as a ―fast‖ modem. The GM must determine what fast is but it should be significantly faster than a normal modem Very Fast Modem: This acts as above but the connect is really Tight Beam Radio: So long as the receiving character is in range and the sender knows exactly where he is (i.e. can see him or is in contact) the signal can‘t be intercepted unless the intercepting character gets between the sender and receiver

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

Cyber Body (Heavy Metal!) Polygraph Scanner The character has voice-stress analysis gear. Any liar must roll against the devices‘ 14- skill (actor, the lie skill, or a WIL roll at –1 are allowed). If the roll is failed the cyborg will detect the lie. The greater the difference in the rolls, the more sure the cyborg is (but the GM may rule that great stress, half truths, etc. can give false readings). Heat Signature Scan Reptiles can distinguish humans by their heat signature—so can a cyborg fitted with this device. A standard perception roll will distinguish a person who can only be vaguely seen.

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

DAMAGE TO CYBERNETICS Dry cybernetics are damaged as objects with STC and damage points. Wet cybernetics usually cannot be damaged specifically without surgery on the target. The GM makes the final decision on what happens when something gets damaged but these rules apply to most cases. The rules for cybernetic damage are as follows: o Cybernetics can suffer penetrating damage—they‘re complicated machines. It takes a hit of 5 or better to double, though.

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

SOCIAL / INDIVIUAL CYBORGS SOCIAL CYBORG More broadly, the full term "cybernetic organism" is used to describe larger networks of communication and control. For example, cities, networks of roads, networks of software, corporations, markets, governments, and the collection of these things together. A corporation can be considered as an artificial intelligence that makes use of replaceable human components to function. People at all ranks can be considered replaceable agents of their functionally intelligent government institutions, whether such a view is desirable or not. The example above is reminiscent of the "organic paradigm" popular in the late 19th century due to the recent breakthroughs in understanding of cellular biology.

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

APPLICATIONS IN MEDICINE: In medicine, there are two important and different types of cyborgs: these are the restorative and the enhanced. Restorative technologies ―restore lost function, organs, and limbs‖.The key aspect of restorative cyborgization is the repair of broken or missing processes to revert to a healthy or average level of function. There is no enhancement to the original faculties and processes that were lost. A brain-computer interface, or BCI, provides a direct path of communication from the brain to an external device, effectively creating a cyborg. Research of Invasive BCIs, which utilize electrodes implanted directly into the grey matter of the brain, has focused on restoring damaged eyesight in the blind and providing functionality to paralyzed people, most notably those with severe cases, such as Locked-In syndrome. Retinal implants are another form of cyborgization in medicine. The theory behind retinal stimulation to restore vision to people suffering from retinitis pigmentosa and vision loss due to aging.

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

IN MILITARY: DARPA-Cyborg Military organizations' research has recently focused on the utilization of cyborg animals for inter-species relationships for the purposes of a supposed tactical advantage. DARPA has announced its interest in developing "cyborg insects" to transmit data from sensors implanted into the insect during the pupal stage. Similarly, DARPA is developing a neural implant to remotely control the movement of sharks. The shark's unique senses would be exploited to provide data feedback in relation to enemy ship movement and underwater explosives. IN ART: The concept of the cyborg is often associated with science fiction. However, many artists have tried to create public awareness of cybernetic organisms; these can range from paintings to installations. Stelarc is a performance artist who has visually probed and acoustically amplified his body. He uses medical instruments, prosthetics, robotics, virtual reality systems, the Internet and biotechnology to explore alternate, intimate and involuntary interfaces with the body..

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

ADVANTAGES: The human cyborg represents a ‗transitional species‘ of sorts,before the human enters total post-biological obsolescence. If evolution is theorized from an abstract perspective as an attempt to increase the information processing power latent in matter, in the struggle against entropy, it is clear that Artificial life will eventually win out against organic life since it is more durable and more efficient. These extropians see this as perhaps bad news for the human race, but in the long term at least good news for the planet and apparently the universe. There are others who foresee perhaps a more peacable coexistence for human beings and electronic ‗life‘, however . one recent theory that has been bantered about lately is that the human race may have reached the saturation point for economic growth, but this is fortunate since it has arrived in time for it to work on ‗human growth‘, i.e. the re-engineering of the human species. We can ‗graducate‘ from being victims of natural selection to masters of self-selection. It seems hard to argue against increasing human longevity, intelligence, or strength , since human beings seem to live too short a span, to make too many mistakes in reasoning, and to to lack the physical endurance necessary to make great accomplishments. Lastly , there are the postmodern theorists , normally noted for their anti technological stance, who have taken a favorable position on the coming of the cyborg.

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

DISADVANTAGES The critics of bioelectronics and biocomputing foresee numerous potential negative social consequences from the technology. One is that the human race will divide along the lines of biological haves and have-nots. People with enough money will be able to argument their personal attributes as they see fit as well as to utilize cloning , organ replacement, etc. to stave off death for as long as they wish , while the majority of humanity will continue to suffer from hunger, bad genes, and infirmity. Certainly, it would be easy to utilize bio-implants that would allow people to trace the location and perhaps even monitor the condition and behavior of implanted persons. This would be tremendous violation of human privacy , but the creators of human biotech might see it as necessary to keep their subjects under control. Once implanted with bio-implant electronic devices , ‗cyborg‘ might become highly dependent on the creators of these devices for their repair, recharge, and maintenance. It could be possible to modify the person technologically so that body would stop producing some essential substance for survival , thus placing them under the absolute control of the designer of the technology. Even those not spiritually inclined who still nevertheless posses the feeling that there is something within humanity which is not found in animals or machines and which makes us uniquely human, worry that the essence of our humanity will be lost to this Technology

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

FUTURE SCOPE 'Cyborg' is actually a science fiction shortening of 'cybernetic organism'. The idea is that, in the future, we may have more and more artificial body parts—arms, legs, hearts, eyes and so on—till one might end up finally as a brain in a wholly artificial body. The fact that our ideas about what constitutes a machine have changed notably is evident in the ubiquitous desktop personal computer that's capable of instantaneously morphing from a word processor into an entertainment centre playing music and video. Or from an accounting machine into a speech synthesizer or a game station within the span of a mouse click. A far cry from the oilspewing, smoke-belching, noisy clumps of twisted metal that represented machines of the past. As the attributes of machines changed, our basic attitudes toward them underwent a remarkable shift. For many of us, the computer is no longer a cold grey machine, but a trusted assistant without which everyday business would come to a grinding halt. In the mid-'80s, science fiction writer William Gibson coined the term 'cyberspace', and offered the vision of a man-machine linkup at the neurological level hinting at some sort of techno-transcendence. A decade later we have the World Wide Web or the Internet, which is actually a machine, and the race to achieve such a manmachine linkup is on. The idea is to be linked to the Internet through surgically-implanted chips capable of wireless communication with the Net: making you physically here and virtually embodied in cyberspace. Virtual reality as a technology is still in its infancy, but once perfected we would have individuals with the implants for wireless linkup opting to spend most of their time in designer realities and virtual heavens. This Gibsonian world of man-machine symbiosis is a direction we are definitely moving towards, amply demonstrated by the recent chip

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

implant on 44-year-old professor of cybernetics, Kevin Warwick from the University of Reading, Britain. The implanted chip in his left arm wirelessly linked him to the network, made his office welcome him in the morning, turned on his computer, switched on the lights in the office corridor, opened doors and even helped his secretary track him irrespective of where he was on the campus. After a week of this, when the implant was removed from his body terminating the linkup, Professor Warwick experienced a sense of loss as though he was cut off from something, similar to a shared sense of being with the computer network. He later admitted that with the implant he had felt "an affinity to the computer".This shift in our attitude towards machines and machine intelligence is gradually gaining legitimacy. Identified as 'post-humanism', this new ideology endorses the idea that humans need to involve intelligent machines in the evolutionary process. The proponents of post-humanism perceive this involvement as using technology to overcome our physical and mental limits. As machines continue their rapid evolution towards increased miniaturization and functionality, and as we keep tinkering with our bodies and brains at the molecular and genetic level, this involvement will become more feasible. For instance, the problem of how to increase human intelligence is being approached from various angles. One approach is the use of chemicals like Vasopressin to enhance already existing processes in the brain such as memory. The other is an attempt to link the brain directly to computers. Such brain-computerinterfaces could amplify the processes that constitute the human mind to unimaginable levels. The computers could be small enough to be implanted within the body of the user.According to post-humanist thinker Max More: "A human brain reasons, creates, feels, plans, calculates, appreciates. These properties of

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

living, conscious beings result from the immensely complicated connections among our billions of neurons. An individual neuron by itself displays no consciousness, reasoning, or creativity. The neuron is a biochemical machine. We should therefore be able to replace or repair damaged neural tissue with implants and supplement biological neurons with synthetic neurons while retaining the same functions. We should be able to add memory, processing power, and new abilities by doing so. In principle, we could replace all our neurons until we had an entirely synthetic or prosthetic brain. If the new neurons worked similarly to the old, and were connected up the same, we would never notice the difference."By far the most ambitious project of this kind is 'migration through silicon' or 'uploading', which involves putting the mind into a machine. Uploading or 'migration through silicon' plainly means transferring or duplicating the mental processes of a living person along with his/her identity on to a specially designed computer. Once a mind is successfully transferred on to silicon, one could modify that mind by increasing the scope of the senses or even add new senses. Or increase and enlarge the memory functions by creating remote links to all the existing records in human cultural and intellectual history. One could eliminate unnecessary activities like sleeping, or eliminate unwanted personality traits, instal new ones, invent new emotions, dream while fully awake, choose what emotions and moods to experience, inhabit artificial bodies of either sex or of completely new sexes, experienccompletelyimaginarystates The truth is those among us who use a pacemaker to sustain the normal heart functions and be alive are in effect part-machine and parthuman, a minor cyborg. But in the vision of the future, presented by people like Gibson, intelligent technology intrudes into the hitherto sacred space

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

of the human body to morph into a tool that offers transformation and transcendence. The future is no longer seen to be existing out there, where life is full of pain and all-too-human suffering, but within a digitally constructed space, melded with the nerves and by all-knowing machines. Post-humanism and other technocentric New Age philosophies seem to be preparing us for this radically different world we are going to inhabit, where we will coexist with intelligent machines by integrating them into our own being. Perhaps that is the only way we can prevent ourselves from being at the mercy of our own magnificent creation-the super-intelligent machine

Seminar Report on 2013

Cyborgs

CONCLUSION As many scientists have eloquently argued, once a technology is out there, you cannot make it go away. The genie simply will not go back in the bottle. There never was a technology that the human race ever abandoned wholesale, even the hydrogen bomb or other weapons of mass destruction with the power to wipe out all life on Earth. You might eventually be able to ban the production of H-bombs, but it would take a long time to kill everybody who knew how to make one or eliminate all blueprints and specifications for the design. While scientists discussed the possibility of a ban on recombinant DNA research at the Asilomar Conference, they knew it was not feasible. Even if overt public funding for such research was cut off, covert private funding would continue to flow from various interested parties, as has happened with even disproven technologies like cold fusion. Thus, once invented, bioelectronic technologies cannot be wished away. Once given the opportunity to improve themselves in any form, human beings rarely surrender the opportunity, whether it's "pumping iron" or exercise to raise physical fitness, so-called "smart drugs" to raise intelligence, or vitamin therapies to stem the onslaught of the aging process. When human beings are offered the chance to utilize computers and electronic technologies within their bodies to achieve these same results, it is almost certain they will embrace them regardless of the risks. Based on this, it would be unrealistic to try and ban such technologies, however one might worry about their ethical and social consequences. A ban would only probably force them into a large, criminal black market, as illegal drugs and weapons already have been. A new "cyborg bioethics"

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may be necessary. While it cannot be possible to foresee all the consequences resulting from bioelectronics, most scientists are already aware of what some of the major dangers are. Researchers in biocomputing may be required to adopt protocols on acceptable research with human subjects, much as genetic engineers did back in the 1970s. In drafting bioethical imperatives for bioelectronics research, it will probably be imperative to consider the concerns of groups such as the religious community, since to ignore their concerns simply out of the insistence that they are merely acting out of "anti-science" ignorance will leave an important group "out of the loop" of this research. This is uncharted territory for the human race, and it is the first time in which our own "built environment" may be directly incorporated into our own sense of self and human nature. Our own biocomputers (the human mind) evolved under a very specific set of evolutionary circumstances, after all, and they may not be equipped with the foresight and moral sense to keep up with the accelerating pace of technology. Since this is the case, it is probably imperative for society to assert that the scientists and engineers charged with creating this new technology exert the proper amount of social responsibility. Safeguards will have to be insisted on to prevent the possible negative impacts discussed above, and many of these things will have to be built in at the instrumental level, since they probably cannot be achieved only through policy and regulation. Critical public awareness and vigilance, of the kind already shown by Jeremy Rifkin and the Foundation on Economic Trends with regard to biotechnology, will be essential. But ultimately, bioethicists will have to grapple with the fundamental issues involved, which touch on aspects of human existence and human nature which reach to the core of what most

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people think is involved in what it means to be human, and this will not be an easy dilemma to resolve.

REFFERENCES

CYBERNETICS AND CYBORGS by Jazeel J REFFERENCE CYBORGS v1.0 by Macron Chackon www. universityofreading.ac.uk www.ieee.org www.fiu.edu www.universityofcalifornia.edu www.mit.edu www.absoluteastronomy.com www.librarything.com www.neuroscience Inc.com