cyborg
Short Description
A cyborg, short for "cybernetic organism", is a being with both organic and cybernetic parts. See for example ...
Description
A cyborg, short for "cybernetic organism", is a being with both organic and cybernetic parts. See for example biomaterials and bioelectronics. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating humanmachine systems in outer space.[1] D. S. Halacy's Cyborg: Evolution of the Superman in 1965 featured an introduction which spoke of a "new frontier" that was "not merely space, but more profoundly the relationship between 'inner space' to 'outer space' – a bridge...between mind and matter."[2] The beginning of Cyborg creation began when HCI (human-computer interaction) began. There is a clear distinction between the human and computerized technology in HCI, which differs from cyborgs in that cyborgs act out human functions. The term cyborg is often applied to an organism that has enhanced abilities due to technology, [3] though this perhaps oversimplifies the necessity of feedback for regulating the subsystem. The more strict definition of Cyborg is almost always considered as increasing or enhancing normal capabilities. While cyborgs are commonly thought of as mammals, they might also conceivably be any kind of organism and the term "Cybernetic organism" has been applied to networks, such as road systems, corporations and governments, which have been classed as such. The term can also apply to micro-organisms which are modified to perform at higher levels than their unmodified counterparts. 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 (e.g. the Cybermen in the Doctor Who franchise or The Borg from Star Trek); or as almost indistinguishable from humans (e.g. theTerminators from the Terminator films, the "Human" Cylons from the reimagining of Battlestar Galacticaetc.) The 1970s television series The Six Million Dollar Man featured one of the most famous fictional cyborgs, referred to as a bionic man; the series was based upon a novel by Martin Caidin entitled Cyborg. 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). Overview According to some definitions of the term, the metaphysical and physical attachments humanity has with even the most basic technologies have already made them cyborgs.[4] In a typical example, a human fitted with a heart pacemaker or an insulin pump (if the person has diabetes) might be considered a cyborg, since these mechanical parts enhance the body's "natural" mechanisms through synthetic feedback mechanisms. Some theorists cite such modifications as contact lenses, hearing aids, or intraocular lenses as examples of fitting humans with technology to enhance their biological capabilities; however, these modifications are as cybernetic as a pen or a wooden leg. Implants, especially cochlear implants, that combine mechanical modification with any kind of feedback response are more accurately cyborg enhancements. The term is also used to address human-technology mixtures in the abstract. This includes artifacts that may not popularly be considered technology; for example, pen and paper, and speech and language. Augmented with these technologies, and connected in communication
with people in other times and places, a person becomes capable of much more than they were before. This is like computers, which gain power by using Internet protocols to connect with other computers. Cybernetic technologies include highways, pipes, electrical wiring, buildings, electrical plants, libraries, and other infrastructure that we hardly notice, but which are critical parts of the cybernetics that we work within. Bruce Sterling in his universe of Shaper/Mechanist suggested an idea of alternative cyborg called Lobster, which is made not by using internal implants, but by using an external shell (e.g. a Powered Exoskeleton).[5] Unlike human cyborgs that appear human externally while being synthetic internally, a Lobster looks inhuman externally but contains a human internally. The computer game Deus Ex: Invisible War prominently featured cyborgs called Omar, where "Omar" is a Russian translation of the word "Lobster" (since the Omar are of Russian origin in the game). Origins The concept of a man-machine mixture was widespread in science fiction before World War II. As early as 1843, Edgar Allan Poedescribed a man with extensive prostheses in the short story "The Man That Was Used Up". In 1908, Jean de la Hire introducedNyctalope (perhaps the first true superhero was also the first literary cyborg) in the novel L'Homme Qui Peut Vivre Dans L'eau (The Man Who Can Live in the Water). Edmond Hamilton presented space explorers with a mixture of organic and machine parts in his novel The Comet Doom in 1928. He later featured the talking, living brain of an old scientist, Simon Wright, floating around in a transparent case, in all the adventures of his famous hero, Captain Future. He uses the term explicitly in the 1962 short story, "After a Judgment Day," to describe the "mechanical analogs" called "Charlies," explaining that "[c]yborgs, they had been called from the first one in the 1960s...cybernetic organisms." In the short story "No Woman Born" in 1944, C. L. Moore wrote of Deirdre, a dancer, whose body was burned completely and whose brain was placed in a faceless but beautiful and supple mechanical body. The term was coined by Manfred E. Clynes and Nathan S. Kline in 1960 to refer to their conception of an enhanced human being who could survive in extraterrestrial environments: For the exogenously extended organizational complex functioning as an integrated homeostatic system unconsciously, we propose the term 'Cyborg'. Manfred E. Clynes and Nathan S. Kline[6] Their concept was the outcome of thinking about the need for an intimate relationship between human and machine as the new frontier of space exploration was beginning to take place. A designer of physiological instrumentation and electronic data-processing systems, Clynes was the chief research scientist in the Dynamic Simulation Laboratory at Rockland State Hospital in New York. The term first appears in print five months earlier when The New York Times reported on the Psychophysiological Aspects of Space Flight Symposium where Clynes and Kline first presented their paper. A cyborg is essentially a man-machine system in which the control mechanisms of the human portion are modified externally by drugs or regulatory devices so that the being can live in an environment different from the normal one.[7]
A book titled Cyborg: Digital Destiny and Human Possibility in the Age of the Wearable computer was published by Doubleday in 2001. Some of the ideas in the book were incorporated into the 35mm motion picture film Cyberman. Individual cyborgs Generally, the term "cyborg" is used to refer to a human with bionic, or robotic, implants. In current prosthetic applications, the C-Leg system developed by Otto Bock HealthCare is used to replace a human leg that has been amputated because of injury or illness. The use of sensors in the artificial C-Leg aids in walking significantly by attempting to replicate the user's natural gait, as it would be prior to amputation.[9] Prostheses like the C-Leg and the more advanced iLimb are considered by some to be the first real steps towards the next generation of real-world cyborg applications. Additionally cochlear implants and magnetic implants which provide people with a sense that they would not otherwise have had can additionally be thought of as creating cyborgs. In vision science, direct brain implants have been used to treat non-congenital (acquired) blindness. One of the first scientists to come up with a working brain interface to restore sight was private researcher William Dobelle. Dobelle's first prototype was implanted into "Jerry", a man blinded in adulthood, in 1978. A single-array BCI containing 68 electrodes was implanted onto Jerry's visual cortex and succeeded in producing phosphenes, the sensation of seeing light. The system included cameras mounted on glasses to send signals to the implant. Initially, the implant allowed Jerry to see shades of grey in a limited field of vision at a low frame-rate. This also required him to be hooked up to a two-ton mainframe, but shrinking electronics and faster computers made his artificial eye more portable and now enable him to perform simple tasks unassisted.[10] In 1997, Philip Kennedy, a scientist and physician designed the world's first human cyborg named Johnny Ray. Ray was a Vietnam veteran in Georgia who suffered a stroke. Unfortunately, Ray's body, as doctor's called it, was "locked in". Ray wanted his old life back so he agreed to Kennedy's experiment. Kennedy embedded a Neurotrophic Electrode near the part of Ray's brain so that Ray would be able to have some movement back in his body. The surgery went successfully, but in 2002, Johnny Ray passed away.[11] In 2002, Canadian Jens Naumann, also blinded in adulthood, became the first in a series of 16 paying patients to receive Dobelle's second generation implant, marking one of the earliest commercial uses of BCIs. The second generation device used a more sophisticated implant enabling better mapping of phosphenes into coherent vision. Phosphenes are spread out across the visual field in what researchers call the starry-night effect. Immediately after his implant, Jens was able to use his imperfectly restored vision to drive slowly around the parking area of the research institute.[12] In 2002, under the heading Project Cyborg, a British scientist, Kevin Warwick, had an array of 100 electrodes fired in to his nervous system in order to link his nervous system into the Internet. With this in place he successfully carried out a series of experiments including extending his nervous system over the Internet to control a robotic hand, a loudspeaker and amplifier. This is a form of extended sensory input and the first direct electronic communication between the nervous systems of two humans.[13][14]
In 2004, under the heading Bridging the Island of the Colourblind Project, a British and completely color-blind artist, Neil Harbisson, started wearing an eyeborg on his head in order to hear colors.[15] His prosthetic device was included within his 2004 passport photograph which has been claimed to confirm his cyborg status.[16] In 2012 at TEDGlobal,[17] Harbisson explained that he didn't feel like a cyborg when he started to use the eyeborg, he started to feel like a cyborg when he noticed that the software and his brain had united and given him an extra sense.[17] Social cyborgs 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 era's breakthroughs in understanding of cellular biology. Jaap van Till tries to quantify this effect with his Synthecracy Network Law: V ~ N !, where V is value and N is number of connected people. This factorial growth is what he claims leads to a herd or hive like thinking between large, electronically connected groups. In medicine In medicine, there are two important and different types of cyborgs: the restorative and the enhanced. Restorative technologies "restore lost function, organs, and limbs".[18] 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. On the contrary, the enhanced cyborg "follows a principle, and it is the principle of optimal performance: maximising output (the information or modifications obtained) and minimising input (the energy expended in the process)".[19] Thus, the enhanced cyborg intends to exceed normal processes or even gain new functions that were not originally present. Although prostheses in general supplement lost or damaged body parts with the integration of a mechanical artifice, bionic implants in medicine allow model organs or body parts to mimic the original function more closely. Michael Chorost wrote a memoir of his experience with cochlear implants, or bionic ear, titled "Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human."[20] Jesse Sullivan became one of the first people to operate a fully robotic limb through a nerve-muscle graft, enabling him a complex range of motions beyond that of previous prosthetics. [21] By 2004, a fully functioning artificial heart was developed.[22] The continued technological development of bionic and nanotechnologies begins to raise the question of enhancement, and of the future possibilities for cyborgs which surpass the original functionality of the biological model. The ethics and desirability of "enhancement prosthetics" have been debated; their proponents include the transhumanist movement, with its belief that new technologies can assist the human race in developing beyond its present, normative limitations such as aging and disease, as well as other, more general incapacities, such as limitations on speed, strength, endurance, and intelligence. Opponents of the concept describe what they believe to be biases which propel the development and acceptance of such technologies; namely, a bias towards functionality and
efficiency that may compel assent to a view of human people which de-emphasizes as defining characteristics actual manifestations of humanity and personhood, in favor of definition in terms of upgrades, versions, and utility.[23] 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. This technology could enable people who are missing a limb or are in a wheelchair the power to control the devices that aide them through neural signals sent from the brain implants directly to computers or the devices. It is possible that this technology will also eventually be used with healthy people.[24] Deep brain stimulation is a neurological surgical procedure used for therapeutic purposes. This process has aided in treating patients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Tourette syndrome, epilepsy, chronic headaches, and mental disorders. After the patient is unconscious, through anesthesia, brain pacemakers or electrodes, are implanted into the region of the brain where the cause of the disease is present. The region of the brain is then stimulated by bursts of electrical current to disrupt the oncoming surge of seizures. Like all invasive procedures, deep brain stimulation may put the patient at a higher risk. However, there has been more improvements in recent years with deep brain stimulation than any available drug treatment. [25]
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 (conditions in which people have an abnormally low amount of ganglion cells) is that the retinal implant and electrical stimulation would act as a substitute for the missing ganglion cells (cells which connect the eye to the brain.) While work to perfect this technology is still being done, there have already been major advances in the use of electronic stimulation of the retina to allow the eye to sense patterns of light. A specialized camera is worn by the subject, such as on the frames of their glasses, which converts the image into a pattern of electrical stimulation. A chip located in the user's eye would then electrically stimulate the retina with this pattern by exciting certain nerve endings which transmit the image to the optic centers of the brain and the image would then appear to the user. If technological advances proceed as planned this technology may be used by thousands of blind people and restore vision to most of them. A similar process has been created to aide people who have lost their vocal cords. This experimental device would do away with previously used robotic sounding voice simulators. The transmission of sound would start with a surgery to redirect the nerve that controls the voice and sound production to a muscle in the neck, where a nearby sensor would be able to pick up its electrical signals. The signals would then move to a processor which would control the timing and pitch of a voice simulator. That simulator would then vibrate producing a multitonal sound which could be shaped into words by the mouth.[26] An August 26, 2012 article from Harvard University's homepage, by Peter Reuell of the Harvard Gazette, proceeds to discuss three dimensional cyborg tissue research, published in the journal Nature Materials, with possible medical implications done by Charles M. Lieber,
the Mark Hyman Jr. Professor of Chemistry, and Daniel Kohane, a Harvard Medical School Anesthesiology Professor at Boston Children's Hospital.[27] In the military Military organizations' research has recently focused on the utilisation of cyborg animals 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. The insect's motion would be controlled from a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) and could conceivably survey an environment or detect explosives and gas.[28] Similarly, DARPA is developing a neural implant to remotely control the movement of sharks. The shark's unique senses would then be exploited to provide data feedback in relation to enemy ship movement or underwater explosives.[29] In 2006, researchers at Cornell University invented[30] a new surgical procedure to implant artificial structures into insects during their metamorphic development.[31][32] The first insect cyborgs, moths with integrated electronics in their thorax, were demonstrated by the same researchers.[33][34] The initial success of the techniques has resulted in increased research and the creation of a program called Hybrid-Insect-MEMS, HI-MEMS. Its goal, according to DARPA's Microsystems Technology Office, is to develop "tightly coupled machine-insect interfaces by placing micro-mechanical systems inside the insects during the early stages of metamorphosis".[35] In 2009 at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Micro-electronic mechanical systems (MEMS) conference inItaly, researchers demonstrated the first "wireless" flying-beetle cyborg.[36] Engineers at the University of California at Berkeley have pioneered the design of a "remote controlled beetle", funded by the DARPA HI-MEMS Program. Filmed evidence of this can be viewed here.[37] This was followed later that year by the demonstration of wireless control of a "lift-assisted" moth-cyborg.[38] Eventually researchers plan to develop HI-MEMS for dragonflies, bees, rats and pigeons.[39] [40] For the HI-MEMS cybernetic bug to be considered a success, it must fly 100 meters from a starting point, guided via computer into a controlled landing within 5 meters of a specific end point. Once landed, the cybernetic bug must remain in place.[39] 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. Some artists who create such works are Neil Harbisson, Patricia Piccinini, Steve Mann, Orlan, H.R. Giger, Lee Bul, Wafaa Bilal, Tim Hawkinson and Stelarc. 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. He has made three films of the inside of his body and has performed with a third hand and a virtual arm. Between 1976–1988 he completed 25 body suspension performances with hooks into the skin. For 'Third Ear' he surgically constructed an extra ear within his arm that was internet enabled, making it a publicly accessible acoustical organ for people in other places.[41] He is presently performing as his avatar from his second life site.[42]
Tim Hawkinson promotes the idea that bodies and machines are coming together as one, where human features are combined with technology to create the Cyborg. Hawkinson's piece Emoter presented how society is now dependent on technology.[43] Wafaa Bilal is an Iraqi-American performance artist who had a small 10 megapixel digital camera surgically implanted into the back of his head, part of a project entitled 3rd I.[44] For one year, beginning 15 December 2010, an image is captured once per minute 24 hours a day and streamed live to www.3rdi.me and the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. The site also displays Bilal's location via GPS. Bilal says that the reason why he put the camera in the back of the head was to make an "allegorical statement about the things we don't see and leave behind."[45] As a professor at NYU, this project has raised privacy issues, and so Bilal has been asked to ensure that his camera does not take photographs in NYU buildings.[45] Machines are becoming more ubiquitous in the artistic process itself, with computerized drawing pads replacing pen and paper, and drum machines becoming nearly as popular as human drummers. This is perhaps most notable in generative art and music. Composers such as Brian Eno have developed and utilized software which can build entire musical scores from a few basic mathematical parameters.[46] Scott Draves is a generative artist whose work is explicitly described as a "cyborg mind". His Electric Sheep project generates abstract art by combining the work of many computers and people over the internet.[47] Artists as cyborgs Artists have explored the term cyborg from a perspective involving imagination. Some work to make an abstract idea of technological and human-bodily union apparent to reality in an art form utilizing varying mediums, from sculptures and drawings to digital renderings. Artists that seek to make cyborg-based fantasies a reality often call themselves cyborg artists, or may consider their artwork "cyborg". How an artists and work may be considered cyborg will vary depending upon the interpreter's flexibility with the term. Scholars that rely upon a strict, technical description of cyborg, often going by Norbert Weiner's cybernetic theory and Manfred E. Clynes and Nathan S. Kline's first use of the term, would likely argue that most cyborg artists do not qualify to be considered cyborgs.[48] Scholars considering a more flexible description of cyborgs may argue it incorporates more than cybernetics.[49] Others may speak of defining subcategories, or specialized cyborg types, that qualify different levels of cyborg at which technology influences an individual. This may rang from technological instruments being external, temporary, and removable to being fully integrated and permanent.[50] Nonetheless, cyborg artists are artists. Being so, it can be expected for them to incorporate the cyborg idea rather than a strict, technical representation of the term,[51] seeing how their work will sometimes revolve around other purposes outside of cyborgism.[48] In body modification As medical technology becomes more advanced, some techniques and innovations are adopted by the body modification community. While not yet cyborgs in the strict definition of Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline, technological developments like implantable silicon silk electronics, [52] augmented reality[53] and QR codes[54] are bridging the disconnect between technology and the body. Hypothetical technologies such as digital tattoo interfaces[55][56] would blend body
modification aesthetics with interactivity and functionality, bringingtranshumanist discourse into present day reality. In popular culture Main article: Cyborgs in fiction See also: List of fictional cyborgs Cyborgs have become a well-known part of science fiction literature and other media. Although many of these characters may be technically androids, they are often referred to as cyborgs. Examples include RoboCop, Terminators, The Six Million Dollar Man,Replicants from Blade Runner, Daleks and Cybermen from Doctor Who, the Borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Darth Vaderand General Grievous from Star Wars, and Cylons from the 2004 Battlestar Galactica series. Other examples include characters frommanga and anime such as 8 Man (the inspiration for RoboCop), Kamen Rider, Ghost in the Shell's Motoko Kusanagi, as well as characters from western comic books like Tony Stark (after his Extremis and Bleeding Edge armor) and Victor "Cyborg" Stone. TheDeus Ex videogame series deals extensively with the near-future rise of cyborgs and their corporate ownership, as does the Syndicateseries. The Metal Gear Series also contains a few examples of cyborgs (Raiden and Gray Fox) while Inspector Gadget is a cyborg detective. Cyborgization in critical deaf studies Joseph Michael Valente, describes "cyborgization" as an attempt to codify "normalization" through cochlear implantation in young deaf children. Drawing from Paddy Ladd's work on Deaf epistemology and Donna Haraway's Cyborg ontology, Valente "use[s] the concept of the cyborg as a way of agitating constructions of cyborg perfection (for the deaf child that would be to become fully hearing)". He claims that cochlear implant manufacturers advertise and sell cochlear implants as a mechanical device as well as an uncomplicated medical "miracle cure". Valente criticizes cochlear implant researchers whose studies largely to date do not include cochlear implant recipients, despite cochlear implants having been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 1984.[57] Cyborg Foundation In 2010, the Cyborg Foundation became the world's first international organization dedicated to help humans become cyborgs.[58] The foundation was created by cyborg Neil Harbisson and Moon Ribas as a response to the growing amount of letters and emails received from people around the world interested in becoming a cyborg.[59] The foundation's main aims are to extend human senses and abilities by creating and applying cybernetic extensions to the body, [60] to promote the use of cybernetics in cultural events and to defend cyborg rights.[61] In 2010, the foundation, based in Mataró (Barcelona), was the overall winner of the Cre@tic Awards, organized by Tecnocampus Mataró.[62]
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The advantages of becoming a cyborg: #1 Returning Function If you have had parts of you damaged, such as you are blind, you can have to eyes replaced with electromechanical devices that return function.
#2 Increased Strength Assuming that it is possible to replace or enhance the human endoskeleton with metal and pneumatic/hydraulic pumps, the strength of a cyborg could be drastically increased above a normal human. A metal skeleton would even possibly allow you to even take hits a normal human couldn't survive (eg. A sledgehammer to the chest, or a gunshot to the head)
#3 Added Functionality
A cyborg does not have the limits of a standard human. For example due to increased weight, they could replace or add appendages such as a building a gun inside the arm, that can extend out and shoot, with there being less recoil thanks to weight and strength.
#4 Possibly Longer Lifespan
Because you are replacing a lot of your body parts, you are making some of your organs obsolete and since you aren't relying on them, it doesn't matter if they fail or are taken out. How ever until research into extended or replenishing the state of the brain, you will still only have as long to live as your brain will allow. Unless you could somehow transfer your conscience into the computer that eventually replaces your brain, you are screwed.
#5 Increased Intelligence/Computational Power/Perception
A possibility of a cyborg can be to add microchips to the brain, which would allow your brain to offload commands such as doing calculations to the chip, which could do the calculations instantaneously and return the answers to the brain. Perception could be increased by assisting parts of the brain that deal with awareness. You could also potentially have microchips installed that make you "high" as if you were suffering from the effects of THC in the brain, but would be able to be turned on and off at will. The Disadvantages of becoming a cyborg: #1 Possible loss of humanity Due to having microchips installed in your brain that can alter your behaviour, it is possible that you would lose or overwrite the parts of you, that make you who you are. When your brain dies, people aren't likely to let your body go to waste and will therefore replace the deceased brain with Artificially Intelligent computers, leading to your body becoming an android.
#2 Expensive Unless you are being subjected to becoming a cyborg against your will by secret underground science teams, all this tech is going to be coming out of your pocket, and it will not be cheap.
#3 Loss of Acceptable Appearance
Assuming that you had your muscles mostly replaced with pumps, you aren't going to have all that much blood, so there won't be a whole lot keeping your skin (and your member) alive. This could be included under loss of humanity but it is important to know that you won't look the same.
#4 Likely to Die in the Creation Procedures Adapting to cyborg life wouldn't be even nearly as hard as surviving all the surgery that you would have to go through to have entire parts of your body replaced. Unless research teams develop some way to replace body parts with other things in an instant, you will probably be dead before you know it.
#5 You Are Now Property of a Government Expanding on the expensive point, now that you have somehow managed to survive the expensive surgery that an underground government has paid for, they basically now own you and you are in their service until your brain dies and they turn you into an android to keep forever.
ABSTRACT: Neural control/interfacing/interaction is a powerful means, which can develop a robust bridge between humans and machines. In this paper we emphasize on neural interfacing as an evolving trend in wireless communications by taking into account one of its important application i.e. cyborgs. A cyborg is a cybernetic organism (i.e. an organism that is a self-regulating integration of artificial and natural systems). In the next half of the paper we discuss the operational features of cyborgs.In an attempt to promote greater interaction between humans and computers, companies that develop (cybernetic) robotics technologies participate in a variety of seductive strategies that embody the cyborg discourse. Some of these strategies persuade individuals to concede to particular philosophies, such as the argument that technical artifacts and instrumental reasoning are necessary for effective social development. With the experiments conducted and proposed to be conducted in future and in the process give a brief description of the advantages and disadvantages of this technology. INTRODUCTION: Attachments and interfaces mediate our interaction with the environment and usually are positioned on the surface of the body. Physical objects would be called tools or attachments, while information utilities would be called interfaces. In the same way a neural interface allows human brain communicate directly with a computer, without any other equipment. That kind of interface allows any illusions to be inputted to human nervous system. Neural interfacing fantasies have mainly grown out of science fiction. A recent article on neural interfacing in the IEEE Transactions reports that "a Microelectrode array capable of recording from and stimulatingperipheral nerves at Prolonged intervals after surgical implantation has been demonstrated." These tiny silicon-based arrays were implanted into the peroneal nerves of rats and remained operative for up to 13 months .The ingeniously designed chip is placed in the pathway of the surgically severed nerve. The regenerating nerve grows through a matrix of holes in the chip, while the regenerating tissue surrounding it anchors the device in place. This chip receives the signals from the surrounding nerves and sends it to a computer through a wireless medium. Within several decades, active versions of these chips could provide a direct neural interface with prosthetic limbs, and by extension, a direct humancomputer interface. This human computer interface may now lead to a revolutionary organism called as “cyborg”, which was thought of as a science -fiction earlier.
What is cyborg? A cyborg is Part human and part machine(robot), a hybrid of neurons and wires or circuits. It is a human being artificially transformed into a machine by providing a proper interface between man and computer. And Cyborg means “Cyber Organism”.
What is Neural Interfacing? The Society for Neural interfacing (SNI) actively promotes research on innovative approaches dedicated to Neural Interfacing (NIF). Evaluating current technology and its intrinsic limitations it is possible to outline an almost perfect Neural Interfacing technology, however, predictions are largely based on current visions and one's imagination. Thus, the content of this site is expected to be up dated on a regular basis. NIF techniques with the potential of significantly improving current electrophysiological approaches should exhibit the following features: • Non-invasive communication with the neural tissue • No harming side effects • Spatial resolution in the range of micro- or nanometers in order to specifically target individual neuritis. • Temporal resolution at the millisecond level in order to capture neural processes • Real-time data acquisition and processing An interesting concept that may ultimately unify the requirements listed is the communication with neural tissue by means of electromagnetic fields. An ideal NIF technology would enable the real-time visualization of thoughts. A related concept was employed in the movie "Minority Report" (see below).
Scene from the movie "Minority Report": Thoughts and thus neural activity is directly visualized by means of optic scanning of the brain. Depicted are three muses whose thoughts are directly visualized on a screen. (Please note, that NIF has nothing to do with predicting no future or action elements as entertained in the movie mentioned. Operational and architectural features of cyborg: A silicon chip is implanted into any part of the body especially the region where most of the nerves are interconnected, and send and receive the electronic impulses. This silicon chip is designed in such a way that it can receive the nerve signals, amplify them and encode the signal into digital format by which proper computer accessibility is provided. Since no wires are preferred to interconnect the cyborg and computer a wireless communication path is preferred. This implant is encased in a glass tube. Onecontains the power supply, a copper coil energized by respect to the signals from the “Cyborg”. Radio waves to produce an electric current. In the other end, three mini printed circuit boards will transmit and receive signals. The implant is connected to the body through a band that wraps around the nerve fibers and is linked by a very thin wire to the glass capsule. The chips in the implant will receive signals from the nerve fibers and send them
to a computer instantaneously. For example, when a finger is moved, an electronic signal travels from the brain to activate the muscles and tendons that operate the hand. These Nerve impulses will still reach the finger. The signal from the implant will be analog, so it is to be converted into digital in order to store it in the computer.
Still, several studies on work, organizational culture, computerized information systems (CIS), networks, and human-machine dyads (such as the "symbolic value of the CIS" or the "organizational symbolism" of computer Culture) indicate the desire to explore, interpret, and reveal more than the efficiency of cyborgs and their supposed capability to undo the "problems" of late industrial society .There is a desire to understand and to make meaning of the developing history of cyborgs, the development of their behavior and culture; the two interconnected through hands, wires and electronic mechanisms that bend the technological discourse towards cultural as wellas digital ears. Cyber Drugs: Tiny Silicon chips implanted in the body could soon imitate the effects of heroin or cocaine. The technology opens up the nightmare prospect of drug barons controlling victims with message sent by Internet to home computers. The message would activate the chip and deliver sensations to the brain identical to those created by drugs and just as addictive.
Research project on cyborg: “This project is based on the experiment conducted by cyborg Steve Mann “ The silicon chip implant is inserted into the upper inside of the left arm, beneath the Inner layer of skin and on top of the muscle. And the device is connected to the Nerve fibers in the left arm, positioned electronic impulses that control dexterity, feeling, even e motions. This nerve center carries more information than any other art of the anatomy, aside from the spine and the head and so is large and quite strong This chip is made of receive the signals from the nerve fibers and the signals are then transmitted to the computer. The computer is programmed to receive the signals, store them in a data base and execute the tasks such as opening the doors switching on and off of lights and giving vocal messages to the cyborg depending on his loco motions and actions. The fig. shows a blind man wearing A camera interfaced to nerve cells in brain to view images on Television artificially.
Experiments Proposed by cyborg Steve Mann: As discussed earlier The chip in the implant will receive signals from the nerve fibers and send them to a computer instantaneously. For example, when we move a finger, an electronic Signal travels from the brain to activate the muscles and tendons that operate the hand. These Nerve impulses will reach the finger. The implanted silicon chip receives these nerve pulses and it sends the signal of impulses to a computer through wireless path. The signal from the implant will be analog, so we'll have to convert it to digital in order to store it in the computer. The computer receives the signal and sends it back to the implant. This ensures whether the same response of moving the finger will be by
sending same impulse signal to the implant. When we waggle the left indexfinger, it will send a corresponding signal via the implant to the computer;here it will be recorded and stored. Next, we can transmit this signal to the implant, hoping to generate an action similar to the original. No processing will be done inside the implant. Rather, it will only send and receive signals, much like a telephone handset sends and receives sound waves. It's true that onboard power would increase the options for programming more complex tasks into the implant, but that would require a much larger device. In the similar way experiments are proposed to be conducted to provide vision to blind people. In this method a camera is made to have an interface with the implant. This camera captures images and sends them to the silicon chip implant where the images are sent to the brain and processing takes place with this the image is seen by the blind person even without his eyes. IMPLANTATIOON PROCEDURE:
By using this technology not only blind people can be assisted but it may also be possible to capture signals responsible for happiness, ,pain,anesthesia etc .Experiments are also being conducted to establish wireless communication between two persons by placing similar chips ,that are capable of using the energy in the body and can transmit and receive impulse signals between them. If this experiment is proved to be possible then “cyborg” which was assumed to be a science fiction is no more a distant dream. With this technique there would be no use of any speech to communicate ,Just the impulses in the human body can be used convey the information between each other. Thoughtcommunication will place telephones firmly in the history books. Another Important application of cyborgs would be in curing diseases. If this type of experiment works, we can foresee researchers learning to send antidepressant stimulation or even contraception or vaccines in a similar manner. With this we can gain a potential to alter the whole face of medicine, to abandon the concept of feeding people chemical treatments and cures and
instead achieve the desired results electronically. Cyber drugsand cyber narcotics could very well cure cancer, relieve clinical depression. Experiment conducted by other scientists: In an experiment conducted by team at Emory University in Atlanta, which to great international interest has planted a transmitting device into the brain of a stroke patient. After the motor neurons were linked to silicon, the patient was able to move a cursor on a Computer monitor just by thinking about it. That means thought signals were directly transmitted to a computer and used to operate it, albeit in a rudimentary way. The Emory team is looking to gradually extend the range of controls carried out. ADVANTAGES: If this technology comes into existence then a wide variety of advantages can be achieved the following description gives an overview of advantages enjoyed by cyborgs. One of the most important advantage of cyborg technology would be giving artificial sight to blind people .
Fig showing a baby under gone a cyborg implantation. COMMUNICATION BETWEEN TWO CYBORGS:
But they should be provided with computer aided cameras. This technology would be implemented in almost all fields where human interaction is needed. for example consider a uranium plant or space research centre which requires a wide variety of sensors to inform about special tasks .In these places human intervention is highly needed because even if we use autonomous sensors Sometimes problems may crawl in. By using cyborg technology this problem would be more simple because if we interface humans with sensors then up to date information would be sent to the cyborg
for instantaneous analysis of the status where ever he is. Even in medical field cyborgs would be of great use because any disease could be analyzed in terms of the neural impulse signals. This technology would be also used to establish intercommunication between two or peoples without using speech. It is assumed that wide area access between any number of people can be achieved by using internet. This internet wouldsubstantially form a cyberspace establishing a community of cyborgs in the near future. In this way cyborgs may revolutionize the present technology and can be used in even more areas of the world. CYBER SOLDIER: Certainly, the military has already considered the possibility of the super-soldier, augmented by technology so that he has faster reflexes, deadlier accuracy, greater resistance to fatigue, integrated weaponry, and most importantly, lesser inclinations toward fear or doubt in combat. Such soldiers could be created through combinations of biochemical,bioelectronics, and DNA manipulation, which is already a great success. They might have available arsenals of new biological warfare components, synthetically generated within their own bodies
Negative consequences: The critics of bioelectronics and bio computing 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 augment their personal attributes as they see fit, while the majority of humanity will continue to suffer from plague, hunger. It's inevitable that there will be those who see the potential of a sort of master race from this technology. Certainly, the military has already considered the possibility of the super-soldier, augmented by technology so that he has faster reflexes, deadlier accuracy, greater resistance to fatigue, integrated weaponry, and most importantly, lesser inclinations toward fear or doubt in combat. Such soldiers could be created through combinations of biochemical, bioelectronics, and DNA manipulation, which is already a great success. They might have available arsenals of new biological warfare components, synthetically generated within their own bodies. But it's not clear that these 'cyborgs' would not turn on their creators. Indeed, there's no reason at all to think they would forever allow themselves to be controlled by inferiors. They could easily become a new sort of dominant caste, forcing the rest of untechnologized humanity into serfdom. Or perhaps they might decide simply to eliminate it.
For that reason, it's logical to suspect that one of the other dangers inherent in bioelectronics might be the ability to control and monitor people. 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. This would be a 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, 'cyborgs' might become highly dependent on the creators of these devices for their repair, recharge, and maintenance, thus placing them under the absolute control of the designers of the technology. Perhaps the most cogent arguments against this technology originate from people who foresee tremendous possible risks toward human health and safety. In this way cyborgs may lead many adverse consequences as predicted by the critics. CONCLUSION: Though bioelectronics has many advantages it may lead to negative arguments with the Invention of biological machines called “Cyborgs”. As many scientists have eloquently argued, once a technology is out there, you cannot make it go away. 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. When human beings are offered the chance to utilize computers and electronic technologies within their bodies to achieve the 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. 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. REFERENCES: * Crichton, M. (1990). Jurassic park. New York: Knopf. *Dirksen,P.(1987).GeorgeFredericKHandel(ca.1738)
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