Saturday 24 May 2008

Cyborgs

I was in the pub with a friend of mine recently and for some reason the term 'cyborg' came up. The tone he used to express this word suggested a sense of awe, as if the concept is still a thing of science fiction.

Most humans use technology to augment their natural deficits. Contact lenses and Glasses augment vision, Hearing Aids augment hearing, Dentures replace damaged teeth. Even breast implants could be considered a step towards the cybernetic. The term cyborg doesnt immediately require any electrical technology, just technology. I think we sometimes forget that items that dont require batteries(contact lenses, glasses, breast implants, etc) are technology.

The Cyborgs are Among US!

6 comments:

Darkwinter said...

Oddly tapping into a subject I'm incorporating into my sci-fi project at the moment.

The problem here is one of definition - while we certainly use technology to augment our abilities, that is not what occurs to me when I hear the term "cyborg". A cybernetic organism is one in which the technological is inseparably integrated with the organic - and the connotation is usually that this would entail electronics. A cyborg's continued existence depends just as much upon its technological components as upon its organic ones.

Asclepius said...

pacemaker

Darkwinter said...

Hmmm. Without knowing the exact way in which it works, I'd have to edge towards "yes."

Darkwinter said...

You'll like this:

Obsolete cyborg dies in power outage

OK, not the death itself - in fact her whole life was tragic. But "iron lung" now joins the list of things wot make you a cyborg.

Sage said...

I think the one thing that truly amazes me still is the cochlear implants that are done... to enable someone to hear again or for the first time with the aid of technology is truly something that deserves greater recognition in the medico-techno arena.

Asclepius said...

Now we can start adding prosthetics to the list -
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2832159720080529?pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true

at least for monkeys.....cyborg monkeys. I was never really a huge star trek fan, did the borg ever assimilate monkeys? :P