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!
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
If found please return to medicine.
- Asclepius
- A Nurse staggering through the mundane and the insane. This blog documents some of my day to day experiences at work. In the interests of patient confidentiality I have to withhold names and locations. All of the opinions expressed herein are my own and do not reflect the opinions or of the NHS who to my knowledge do not read or approve any of my posts.
Blog Archive
- December (1)
- March (2)
- February (4)
- January (1)
- November (3)
- July (2)
- June (5)
- February (1)
- January (1)
- December (2)
- October (1)
- May (1)
- April (1)
- March (4)
- February (5)
- January (6)
- December (1)
- November (3)
- September (1)
- August (4)
- May (1)
- April (7)
- March (4)
- February (3)
- January (2)
- December (3)
- November (6)
- October (3)
- September (4)
- August (6)
- July (9)
- June (9)
- May (13)
- April (11)
6 comments:
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.
pacemaker
Hmmm. Without knowing the exact way in which it works, I'd have to edge towards "yes."
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.
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.
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
Post a Comment