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Acyborg (/ˈsaɪbɔːrɡ/, aportmanteau ofcybernetic andorganism) is a being with bothorganic andbiomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 byManfred Clynes andNathan S. Kline.[1] In contrast tobiorobots andandroids, the term cyborg applies to a living organism that has restored function or enhanced abilities due to the integration of some artificial component or technology that relies on feedback.[2]
Alternative names for a cyborg includecybernetic organism,cyber-organism,cyber-organic being,cybernetically enhanced organism,cybernetically augmented organism,technorganic being,techno-organic being, andtechno-organism.
Unlikebionics,biorobotics, orandroids, a cyborg is an organism that has restored function or, especially,enhanced abilities due to the integration of some artificial component or technology that relies on some sort offeedback, for example:prostheses,artificial organs,implants or, in some cases,wearable technology.[3] Cyborg technologies may enable or supportcollective intelligence.[4] A related idea is the "augmented human".[3][5][6] While cyborgs are commonly thought of asmammals, including humans, the term can apply to anyorganism.
D. S. Halacy'sCyborg: Evolution of the Superman (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."[7]
In "A Cyborg Manifesto",Donna Haraway rejects the notion of rigid boundaries between humanity and technology, arguing that, as humans depend on more technology over time, humanity and technology have become too interwoven to draw lines between them. She believes that since we have allowed and created machines and technology to be so advanced, there should be no reason to fear what we have created, and cyborgs should be embraced because they are part of human identities.[8] However, Haraway has also expressed concern over the contradictions of scientific objectivity and the ethics of technological evolution, and has argued that "There are political consequences to scientific accounts of the world."[9]
According to some definitions of the term, the physical attachments that humans have with even the most basic technologies have already made them cyborgs.[10] In a typical example, a human with anartificial cardiac pacemaker orimplantable cardioverter-defibrillator would be considered a cyborg, since these devices measurevoltage potentials in the body, performsignal processing, and can deliverelectrical stimuli, using a syntheticfeedback mechanism to keep that person alive. Implants, especiallycochlear implants, that combine mechanical modification with any kind of feedback response are also cybernetic enhancements. Some theorists[who?] cite such modifications ascontact lenses,hearing aids,smartphones,[11] orintraocular lenses as examples of fitting humans with technology to enhance their biological capabilities.
The emerging trend of implanting microchips inside the body (mainly the hands), to make financial operations like a contactless payment, or basic tasks like opening a door, has been erroneously marketed as more recent examples of cybernetic enhancement. The latter has not yet seen significant traction outside niche areas inScandinavia and in actual function is little more than a pre-programmedRadio-frequency identification (RFID) microchip encased in glass that does not interact with the human body (it is the same technology used in the microchipsinjected into animals for ease of identification), thus not fitting the definition of a cybernetic implant.
As cyborgs currently are on the rise, some theorists[who?] argue there is a need to develop new definitions ofaging. For instance, a bio-techno-social definition ofaging has been suggested.[12]
The term is also used to address human-technology mixtures in the abstract. This includes not only commonly-used pieces of technology such asphones, computers, the Internet, and so on, but alsoartifacts that are not usually considered technology; for example, pen and paper, andspeech andlanguage. When augmented with these technologies and connected in communication with people in other times and places, a person becomes capable of more than they were before. An example is a computer, which gains power by usingInternet protocols to connect with other computers. Another example is asocial-media bot—either a bot-assisted human or a human-assisted-bot—used to target social media withlikes andshares.[13]Cybernetic technologies thus include highways,pipes,electrical wiring, buildings,electrical plants, libraries, and otherinfrastructural constructs.
Bruce Sterling, in hisShaper/Mechanist universe, suggested an idea of an alternative cyborg called 'Lobster', which is made not by using internal implants, but by using an external shell (e.g. apowered exoskeleton).[14] Unlike human cyborgs, who appear human externally but are synthetic internally (e.g., theBishop type in theAlien franchise), Lobster looks inhuman externally but contains a human internally (such as inElysium andRoboCop). The computer gameDeus Ex: Invisible War prominently features cyborgs called Omar, Russian for 'lobster'.
In 1994,Hans Hass formulated a scientific view of the human-machine hybrids he called "hypercells".[15] They can expand their biological cell body with artificial artifacts and thus expand their performance body. The theory of hypercells or "Homo proteus", as Hass called the human-machine hybrid to distinguishHomo sapiens, extends Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and deals with the course of evolution beyond humans.
In his 2019 bookNovacene,James Lovelock used the term "cyborgs" to refer to the next generation of beings who will become the "understanders of the future" and "lead the cosmos to self-knowledge". While acknowledging the organic component in Clynes' and Kline's definition, he proposed that these cyborgs "will have designed and built themselves from theartificial intelligence systems we have already constructed", and used the term cyborg "to emphasize that the new intelligent beings will have arisen, like us, from Darwinian evolution."[16]
The concept of a man-machine mixture was widespread in science fiction beforeWorld War II. As early as 1843,Edgar Allan Poe described a man with extensive prostheses in the short story "The Man That Was Used Up". In 1911,Jean de La Hire introduced theNyctalope, a science fiction hero who was perhaps the firstliterary cyborg, inLe Mystère des XV [fr] (later translated asThe Nyctalope on Mars).[17][18][19] Nearly two decades later,Edmond Hamilton presentedspace explorers with a mixture of organic and machine parts in his 1928 novelThe Comet Doom. He later featured the talking, living brain of an old scientist, Simon Wright, floating in a transparent case, and in all the adventures of his famous hero,Captain Future. In 1944, in the short story "No Woman Born",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.
In 1960, the term "cyborg" was coined byManfred E. Clynes andNathan S. Kline to refer to their conception of anenhanced human being who could survive in extraterrestrial environments:[1]
For the exogenously extended organizational complex functioning as an integratedhomeostatic system unconsciously, we propose the term 'Cyborg'.
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 develop. A designer ofphysiological instrumentation and electronic data-processing systems, Clynes was the chief research scientist in the Dynamic Simulation Laboratory atRockland State Hospital in New York.
The term first appears in print 5 months earlier whenThe 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.[20]
Thereafter, Hamilton would first use the term "cyborg" 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 2001, a book titledCyborg: Digital Destiny and Human Possibility in the Age of theWearable computer was published byDoubleday.[21] Some of the ideas in the book were incorporated into the documentary filmCyberman that same year.
Cyborg tissues structured withcarbon nanotubes andplant orfungal cells have been used in artificialtissue engineering to produce new materials for mechanical and electrical uses.
Such work was presented byRaffaele Di Giacomo,Bruno Maresca, and others, at theMaterials Research Society's spring conference on 3 April 2013.[22] The cyborg obtained was inexpensive, light and had unique mechanical properties. It could also be shaped in the desired forms.Cells combined withmulti-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)co-precipitated as a specific aggregate of cells and nanotubes that formed a viscous material. Likewise, dried cells still acted as astable matrix for the MWCNT network. When observed byoptical microscopy, the material resembled an artificial "tissue" composed of highly packed cells. The effect of cell drying was manifested by their "ghost cell" appearance. A rather specific physical interaction between MWCNTs and cells was observed byelectron microscopy, suggesting that thecell wall (the outermost part of fungal and plant cells) may play a major active role in establishing acarbon nanotube's network and its stabilization. This novel material can be used in a wide range of electronic applications, from heating to sensing. For instance, usingCandida albicans cells, a species ofyeast that often lives inside the humangastrointestinal tract, cyborg tissue materials with temperature sensing properties have been reported.[23]
In currentprosthetic applications, theC-Leg system developed byOtto Bock HealthCare, is used to replace ahuman leg that has beenamputated 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 naturalgait, as it would be prior to amputation.[24] A similar system is being developed by the Swedish orthopedic company Integrum, the OPRA Implant System, which is surgically anchored and integrated by means ofosseointegration into the skeleton of the remainder of the amputated limb.[25] The same company has developed e-OPRA, a will-powered upper limb prosthesis system that is being evaluated in a clinical trial to allow sensory input to thecentral nervous system using pressure and temperature sensors in the prosthesis' finger tips.[26][27] Prostheses like the C-Leg, the e-OPRA Implant System, and theiLimb, are considered by some to be the first real steps towards the next generation of real-world cyborg applications.[citation needed] Additionally,cochlear implants andmagnetic implants, which provide people with a sense that they would not otherwise have had, can additionally be thought of as creating cyborgs.[citation needed]
Invision science, directbrain implants have been used to treat non-congenital (acquired) blindness. One of the first scientists to come up with a workingbrain interface to restore sight was private researcherWilliam Dobelle.Dobelle's first prototype was implanted into "Jerry", a man blinded in adulthood, in 1978. A single-array BCI containing 68electrodes was implanted onto Jerry'svisual cortex and succeeded in producingphosphenes, 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-tonmainframe, but shrinking electronics and faster computers made his artificial eye more portable and now enable him to perform simple tasks unassisted.[28]
In 1997, Philip Kennedy, a scientist and physician, created the world's first human cyborg fromJohnny Ray, aVietnam War veteran who suffered a stroke. Ray's body, as doctors called it, was "locked in". Ray wanted his old life back so he agreed to Kennedy's experiment. Kennedy embedded an implant he designed (and named a "neurotrophic electrode") near the injured 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, Ray died.[29]
In 2002, CanadianJens 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, Naumann was able to use his imperfectly restored vision to drive slowly around the parking area of the research institute.[30]
In contrast to replacement technologies, in 2002, under the headingProject Cyborg, a British scientist,Kevin Warwick, had an array of 100 electrodes fired into hisnervous system to link his nervous system into the internet to investigate enhancement possibilities. With this in place, Warwick successfully carried out a series of experiments including extending his nervous system over the internet to control arobotic hand, also receiving feedback from the fingertips to control the hand's grip. This was a form of extended sensory input. Subsequently, he investigatedultrasonic input toremotely detect the distance to objects. Finally, with electrodes also implanted into his wife's nervous system, they conducted the first direct electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans.[31][32]
Since 2004, British artistNeil Harbisson has had acyborg antenna implanted in his head that allows him to extend hisperception of colors beyond the human visual spectrum through vibrations in his skull.[33] His antenna was included within his 2004passport photograph which has been said to confirm his cyborg status.[34] In 2012 atTEDGlobal,[35] Harbisson explained that he started to feel like a cyborg when he noticed that the software and his brain had united and given him an extra sense.[35] Harbisson is a co-founder of theCyborg Foundation (2004)[36] and cofounded theTranspecies Society in 2017, which is an association that empowers individuals with non-human identities and supports them in their decisions to develop unique senses and new organs.[37] Neil Harbisson is a global advocate for therights of cyborgs.
Rob Spence, a Toronto-based filmmaker, who titles himself a real-life "Eyeborg", severely damaged his right eye in ashooting accident on his grandfather's farm as a child.[38]Many years later, in 2005, he decided to have his ever-deteriorating and now technically blind eye surgically removed,[39] whereafter he wore aneyepatch for some time before he later, after having played for some time with the idea of installing a camera instead, contacted professorSteve Mann at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology, an expert in wearable computing and cyborg technology.[39]
Under Mann's guidance, Spence, at age 36, created a prototype in the form of the miniature camera which could be fitted inside hisprosthetic eye; an invention that would come to be named byTime magazine as one of the best inventions of 2009. The bionic eye records everything he sees and contains a 1.5 mm2,low-resolution video camera, a small roundprinted circuit board, a wireless video transmitter, which allows him to transmit what he is seeing in real-time to a computer, and a 3-voltrechargeableVARTAmicrobattery. The eye is not connected to his brain and has not restored his sense of vision. Additionally, Spence has also installed alaser-likeLED light in one version of the prototype.[40]
Furthermore, many people with multifunctional radio frequency identification (RFID)microchips injected into a hand are known to exist. With the chips they are able toswipe cards, open or unlockdoors, operate devices such asprinters or, with some usingcryptocurrency, buy products, such as drinks, with a wave of the hand.[41][42][43][44][45]
bodyNET is an application of human-electronic interaction currently[when?] in development by researchers fromStanford University.[46] The technology is based on stretchablesemiconductor materials (Elastronic). According to their article inNature, the technology is composed ofsmart devices, screens, and a network of sensors that can be implanted into the body, woven into the skin or worn as clothes. It has been suggested that this platform can potentially replace the smartphone in the future.[47]
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In medicine, there are two important and different types of cyborgs: the restorative and the enhanced. Restorative technologies "restore lost function, organs, and limbs."[48] 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)".[49] 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 ears, titledRebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human.[50]Jesse Sullivan became one of the first people to operate a fully robotic limb through anerve-muscle graft, enabling him a complexrange of motions beyond that of previous prosthetics.[51] By 2004, a fully functioningartificial heart was developed.[52] The continued technological development of bionic and (bio-)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 thetranshumanist movement, with its belief that new technologies can assist the human race in developing beyond its present, normative limitations such asaging and disease, as well as other, more general inabilities, such as limitations on speed,strength, endurance, andintelligence. 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 andpersonhood, in favor of definition in terms of upgrades, versions, and utility.[53][54]
Retinal implants are another form of cyborgization in medicine. The theory behind retinal stimulation to restore vision for those suffering fromretinitis pigmentosa and vision loss due to aging (conditions in which people have an abnormally low number ofretinal 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 the 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 aid people who have lost theirvocal cords. This experimental device would do away with previously used robotic-soundingvoice 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 itselectrical signals. The signals would then move to aprocessor which would control the timing andpitch of a voice simulator. That simulator would then vibrate producing a multi-tonal sound that could be shaped into words by the mouth.[55]
An article published inNature Materials in 2012 reported research on "cyborg tissues" (engineered human tissues with embedded three-dimensional mesh of nanoscale wires), with possible medical implications.[56]
In 2014, researchers from theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign andWashington University in St. Louis had developed a device that could keep aheart beating endlessly. By using3D printing andcomputer modeling, these scientists developed an electronicmembrane that could successfully replace pacemakers. The device uses a "spider-web like network of sensors and electrodes" to monitor and maintain a normalheart rate with electrical stimuli. Unlike traditional pacemakers that are similar from patient to patient, the elastic heart glove is made custom by using high-resolution imaging technology. The first prototype was created to fit arabbit's heart, operating the organ in an oxygen and nutrient-rich solution. The stretchable material andcircuits of the apparatus were first constructed by ProfessorJohn A. Rogers in which the electrodes are arranged in an s-shape design to allow them to expand and bend without breaking. Although the device is only currently used as a research tool to study changes in heart rate, in the future the membrane may serve as a safeguard againstheart attacks.[57]
Abrain–computer interface, or BCI, provides a direct path of communication from the brain to an external device, effectively creating a cyborg. Research into invasive BCIs, which use electrodes implanted directly into thegrey matter of the brain, has focused on restoring damaged eyesight in the blind and providing functionality toparalyzed people, most notably those with severe cases, such aslocked-in syndrome. This technology could enable people who are missing a limb or are in awheelchair the power to control the devices that aid 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.[58]
Deep brain stimulation is aneurological surgical procedure used for therapeutic purposes. This process has aided in treating patients diagnosed withParkinson's disease,Alzheimer's disease,Tourette syndrome,epilepsy,chronic headaches, andmental disorders. After the patient isunconscious, throughanesthesia,brain pacemakers or electrodes, are implanted into theregion of the brain where the cause of the disease is present. The region of the brain is then stimulated by bursts ofelectric current to disrupt the oncoming surge ofseizures. Like allinvasive procedures, deep brain stimulation may put the patient at a higher risk. However, there have been more improvements in recent years with deep brain stimulation than any availabledrug treatment.[59]
Automated insulin delivery systems, colloquially also known as the "artificial pancreas", are a substitute for the lack of naturalinsulin production by the body, most notably inType 1 Diabetes. Currently available systems combine acontinuous glucose monitor with aninsulin pump that can be remote controlled, forming a control loop that automatically adjusts theinsulin dosage depending on the currentblood glucose level. Examples of commercial systems that implement such a control loop are theMiniMed 670G fromMedtronic[60] and the t:slim x2 fromTandem Diabetes Care.[61] Do-it-yourself artificial pancreas technologies also exist, though these are not verified or approved by any regulatory agency.[62] Upcoming next-generation artificial pancreas technologies include automaticglucagon infusion in addition to insulin, to help preventhypoglycemia and improve efficiency. One example of such a bi-hormonal system is theBeta BionicsiLet.[63]
Military organizations' research has recently focused on the use 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 thepupa stage. The insect's motion would be controlled from amicroelectromechanical system (MEMS) and could conceivably survey an environment or detect explosives and gas.[64] Similarly, DARPA is developing aneural 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.[65]
In 2006, researchers atCornell University invented[66] a new surgical procedure to implant artificial structures into insects during their metamorphic development.[67][68] The first insect cyborgs,moths with integrated electronics in theirthorax, were demonstrated by the same researchers.[69][70]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'sMicrosystems Technology Office, is to develop "tightly coupled machine-insect interfaces by placing micro-mechanical systems inside the insects during the early stages of metamorphosis."[71]
The use of neural implants has recently been attempted, with success, on cockroaches. Surgically applied electrodes were put on the insect, which was remotely controlled by a human. The results, although sometimes different, basically showed that the cockroach could be controlled by the impulses it received through the electrodes. DARPA is now funding this research because of its obvious beneficial applications to the military and other areas[72]
In 2009 at theInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) MEMS conference in Italy, researchers demonstrated the first "wireless" flying-beetle cyborg.[73] Engineers at theUniversity of California, Berkeley, have pioneered the design of a "remote-controlled beetle", funded by the DARPA HI-MEMS Program.[74] This was followed later that year by the demonstration of wireless control of a "lift-assisted" moth-cyborg.[75]
Eventually researchers plan to develop HI-MEMS for dragonflies, bees, rats, and pigeons.[76][77] For the HI-MEMScybernetic bug to be considered a success, it must fly 100 metres (330 ft) from a starting point, guided via computer into a controlled landing within 5 metres (16 ft) of a specific end point. Once landed, the cybernetic bug must remain in place.[76]
In 2020, an article published inScience Robotics[78] by researchers at theUniversity of Washington reported a mechanically steerable wireless camera attached to beetles.[79] Miniature cameras weighing 248 mg were attached to live beetles of theTenebrionid generaAsbolus andEleodes. The camera wirelessly streamed video to a smartphone via Bluetooth for up to 6 hours and the user could remotely steer the camera to achieve a bug's-eye view.[80]
In 2016,Cybathlon became the first cyborg 'Olympics'; celebrated in Zurich, Switzerland, it was the first worldwide and official celebration of cyborg sports. In this event, 16 teams of people with disabilities used technological developments to turn themselves into cyborg athletes. There were 6 different events and its competitors used and controlled advanced technologies such as poweredprosthetic legs and arms,robotic exoskeletons, bikes, andmotorized wheelchairs.[81]
This was already a remarkable improvement, as it allowed disabled people to compete and showed the several technological enhancements that are already making a difference; however, it showed that there is still a long way to go. For instance, the exoskeleton race still required its participants to stand up from a chair and sit down, navigate aslalom and other simple activities such as walking over stepping stones and climbing up and down stairs. Despite the simplicity of these activities, 8 of the 16 teams that participated in the event drop off before the start.[82]
Nonetheless, one of the main goals of this event and such simple activities is to show how technological enhancements and advanced prosthetics can make a difference in people's lives. The next Cybathlon that was expected to occur in 2020, was cancelled due to thecoronavirus pandemic.
The concept of the cyborg is often associated with science fiction. However, many artists have incorporated and reappropriated the idea of cybernetic organisms into their work, using disparate aesthetics and often realising actual cyborg constructs; their works range from performances, to paintings and installations. Some of the pioneering artists who created such works areH. R. Giger,Stelarc,Orlan,Shu Lea Cheang,Lee Bul,Tim Hawkinson,Steve Mann,Patricia Piccinini. More recently, this type of artistic practice has been expanded upon by artists such asMarco Donnarumma,Wafaa Bilal,Neil Harbisson,Moon Ribas,Manel De Aguas andQuimera Rosa.
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 and 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.[83] He is presently performing as hisavatar from hissecond life site.[84]
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 pieceEmoter presented how society is now dependent on technology.[85]
Marco Donnarumma is a performance artist andnew media artist. In his work the body becomes a morphing language to speak critically of ritual, power and technology. For his "7 Configurations" cycle, between 2014 and 2019, he engineered and created sixAI prostheses, each embodying an uncanny configuration of the machinic with the organic.[86] The prostheses – designed together with a team of artists and scientists – are useless prostheses, paradoxical objects designed for the body, but not to enhance it, rather to subtract functions from it: a skin-cutting robot with a steel metal knife, a facial prosthesis which blocks the wearer’s gaze with a mechanical arm, and two robotic spines that function as additional limbs without a body. The prostheses have been created to act as performers with their own agency, that is, to interact with their human partners without being controlled externally. The machines are embedded with biomimetic neural networks, information processing algorithms inspired by the biologicalnervous system of mammals. Developed by Donnarumma in collaboration with the Neurorobotics Research Laboratory (DE), these neural networks endow the machines with artificial cognitive and sensorimotor skills.[87]
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.[88] For one year, beginning 15 December 2010, an image was captured once per minute 24 hours a day and streamed live towww
Machines are becoming more ubiquitous in the artistic process itself, withcomputerized drawing pads replacing pen and paper, and drum machines becoming nearly as popular as human drummers. Composers such asBrian Eno have developed and used software that can build entire musical scores from a few basic mathematical parameters.[90]
Scott Draves is a generative artist whose work is explicitly described as a "cyborg mind". HisElectric Sheep project generates abstract art by combining the work of many computers and people over the internet.[91]
Artists have explored the termcyborg 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 using varying mediums, from sculptures and drawings to digital renderings.Artists who seek to make cyborg-based fantasies a reality often call themselvescyborg artists, or may consider their artwork "cyborg". How an artist or their 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 a cyborg, often going byNorbert Wiener's cybernetic theory andManfred E. Clynes andNathan S. Kline's first use of the term, would likely argue that most cyborg artists do not qualify to be considered cyborgs.[92] Scholars considering a more flexible description of cyborgs may argue it incorporates more than cybernetics.[93] Others may speak of defining subcategories, or specialized cyborg types, that qualify different levels of cyborg at which technology influences an individual. This may range from technological instruments being external, temporary, and removable to being fully integrated and permanent.[94] 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,[95] seeing how their work will sometimes revolve around other purposes outside of cyborgism.[92]
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,[96]augmented reality[97] and QR codes[98] are bridging the disconnect between technology and the body. Hypothetical technologies such as digital tattoo interfaces[99][100] would blend body modification aesthetics with interactivity and functionality, bringing atranshumanist way of life into present day reality.
In addition, it is quite plausible for anxiety expression to manifest. Individuals may experience pre-implantation feelings of fear and nervousness. To this end, individuals may also embody feelings of uneasiness, particularly in a socialized setting, due to their post-operative, technologically augmented bodies, and mutual unfamiliarity with the mechanical insertion. Anxieties may be linked to notions of otherness or a cyborged identity.[101]
Sending humans to space is a dangerous task in which the implementation of various cyborg technologies could be used in the future for risk mitigation.[102]Stephen Hawking, a renowned physicist, stated "Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden global warming, nuclear war ... I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space." The difficulties associated with space travel could mean it might be centuries before humans ever become a multi-planet species.[citation needed] There are manyeffects of spaceflight on the human body. One major issue of space exploration is the biological need for oxygen. If this necessity was taken out of the equation, space exploration would be revolutionized. A theory proposed by Manfred E. Clynes and Nathan S. Kline is aimed at tackling this problem. The two scientists theorized that the use of an inverse fuel cell that is "capable of reducing CO2 to its components with the removal of the carbon and re-circulation of the oxygen ..."[103] could make breathing unnecessary. Another prominent issue isradiation exposure. Yearly, the average human on earth is exposed to approximately 0.30 rem of radiation, while an astronaut aboard the International Space Station for 90 days is exposed to 9 rem.[104] To tackle the issue, Clynes and Kline theorized a cyborg containing a sensor that would detect radiation levels and a Rose osmotic pump "which would automatically inject protective pharmaceuticals in appropriate doses." Experiments injecting these protective pharmaceuticals into monkeys have shown positive results in increasing radiation resistance.[103]
Although the effects of spaceflight on our bodies are an important issue, the advancement of propulsion technology is just as important. With our current technology, it would take us about 260 days to get to Mars.[105] A study backed by NASA proposes an interesting way to tackle this issue throughdeep sleep, ortorpor. With this technique, it would "reduce astronauts' metabolic functions with existing medical procedures."[106] So far experiments have only resulted in patients being in torpor state for one week. Advancements to allow for longer states of deep sleep would lower the cost of the trip to Mars as a result of reduced astronaut resource consumption.
Theorists such asAndy Clark suggest that interactions between humans and technology result in the creation of a cyborg system. In this model,cyborg is defined as a part-biological, part-mechanical system that results in the augmentation of the biological component and the creation of a more complex whole. Clark argues that this broadened definition is necessary to an understanding of human cognition. He suggests that any tool which is used to offload part of a cognitive process may be considered the mechanical component of a cyborg system. Examples of this human and technology cyborg system can be very low tech and simplistic, such as using a calculator to perform basic mathematical operations or pen and paper to make notes, or as high tech as using a personal computer or phone. According to Clark, these interactions between a person and a form of technology integrate that technology into the cognitive process in a way that is analogous to the way that a technology that would fit the traditional concept of cyborg augmentation becomes integrated with its biological host. Because all humans in some way use technology to augment their cognitive processes, Clark comes to the conclusion that we are "natural-born cyborgs."[107] ProfessorDonna Haraway also theorizes that people, metaphorically or literally, have been cyborgs since the late twentieth century. If one considers the mind and body as one, much of humanity is aided with technology in almost every way, which hybridizes humans with technology.[108]
Given the technical scope of current and future implantablesensory/telemetric devices, such devices will be greatly proliferated, and will have connections to commercial, medical, and governmental networks. For example, in the medical sector, patients will be able to log in to their home computer, and thus visit virtual doctor's offices, medical databases, and receive medical prognoses from the comfort of their own home from the data collected through their implanted telemetric devices.[109] However, this online network presents large security concerns because it has been proven by several U.S. universities that hackers could get onto these networks and shut down peoples' electronic prosthetics.[109]Cyborg data mining refers to the collection of data produced by implantable devices.
These sorts of technologies are already present in the U.S. workforce as a firm inRiver Falls, Wisconsin, called Three Square Market partnered with a Swedish firm Biohacks Technology to implantRFID microchips (which are about the size of a grain of rice) in the hands of its employees that allow employees to access offices, computers, and even vending machines. More than 50 of the firm's 85 employees were chipped. It was confirmed that theAmerican Food and Drug Administration approved of these implantations.[110] If these devices are to be proliferated within society, then the question that begs to be answered is what regulatory agency will oversee the operations, monitoring, and security of these devices? According to this case study of Three Square Market, it seems that the FDA is assuming a role in regulating and monitoring these devices. It has been argued that a new regulatory framework needs to be developed so that the law keeps up with developments in implantable technologies.[111]
In 2010, theCyborg Foundation became the world's first international organization dedicated to help humans become cyborgs.[112] The foundation was created by cyborgNeil Harbisson andMoon Ribas as a response to the growing number of letters and emails received from people around the world interested in becoming cyborgs.[113] The foundation's main aims are to extend human senses and abilities by creating and applying cybernetic extensions to the body,[114] to promote the use of cybernetics in cultural events and to defend cyborg rights.[115] In 2010, the foundation, based inMataró (Barcelona), was the overall winner of the Cre@tic Awards, organized by Tecnocampus Mataró.[116]
In 2012, Spanish film director Rafel Duran Torrent, created a short film about the Cyborg Foundation. In 2013, the film won the Grand Jury Prize at theSundance Film Festival's Focus Forward Filmmakers Competition and was awarded US$100,000.[117]
Cyborgs are a recurring feature ofscience fiction literature and other media.[118][119]
The US-based companyBackyard Brains released what they refer to as the "world's first commercially available cyborg" called the RoboRoach. The project started as a senior design project for aUniversity of Michiganbiomedical engineering student in 2010,[121] and was launched as an availablebeta product on 25 February 2011.[122] The RoboRoach was officially released into production via aTED talk at theTED Global conference;[123] and via the crowdsourcing websiteKickstarter in 2013,[124] the kit allows students to usemicrostimulation to momentarily control the movements of a walking cockroach (left and right) using aBluetooth-enabledsmartphone as the controller.
Other groups have developed cyborg insects, including researchers atNorth Carolina State University,[125][126]UC Berkeley,[127][128] andNanyang Technological University, Singapore,[129][130][131][132][133] but the RoboRoach was the first kit available to the general public and was funded by theNational Institute of Mental Health as a device to serve as ateaching aid to promote an interest inneuroscience.[123] Severalanimal welfare organizations including theRSPCA[134] andPETA[135] have expressed concerns about theethics andwelfare of animals in this project. In 2022, remote controlled cyborg cockroaches functional if moving (or moved) to sunlight for recharging were presented. They could be used e.g. for purposes of inspecting hazardous areas or quickly finding humans underneath hard-to-access rubblesat disaster sites.[136][137][120][138]
In the late 2010s, scientists created cyborg jellyfish using a microelectronic prosthetic that propels the animal to swim almost three times faster while using just twice themetabolic energy of their unmodified peers. The prosthetics can be removed without harming the jellyfish.[139][140]
A combination ofsynthetic biology,nanotechnology andmaterials science approaches have been used to create a few different iterations of bacterial cyborg cells.[141][142][143] These different types of mechanically enhanced bacteria are created with so called bionic manufacturing principles that combine natural cells with abiotic materials. In 2005, researchers from the Department of Chemical Engineering at theUniversity of Nebraska, Lincoln created a super sensitive humidity sensor by coating the bacteriaBacillus cereus with gold nanoparticles, being the first to use a microorganism to make an electronic device and presumably the first cyborg bacteria or cellborg circuit.[144] Researchers from the Department of Chemistry at theUniversity of California, Berkeley published a series of articles in 2016 describing the development of cyborg bacteria capable to harvest sunlight more efficiently than plants.[145] In the first study, the researchers induced the self-photosensitization of a nonphotosynthetic bacterium,Moorella thermoacetica, withcadmium sulfide nanoparticles, enabling the photosynthesis ofacetic acid fromcarbon dioxide.[146] A follow-up article described the elucidation of the mechanism of semiconductor-to-bacterium electron transfer that allows the transformation of carbon dioxide and sunlight into acetic acid.[147] Scientists of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at theUniversity of California, Davis andAcademia Sinica in Taiwan, developed a different approach to create cyborg cells by assembling a synthetic hydrogel inside the bacterialcytoplasm ofEscherichia. coli cells rendering them incapable of dividing and making them resistant toenvironmental factors,antibiotics and highoxidative stress.[148] The intracellular infusion of synthetichydrogel provides these cyborg cells with an artificialcytoskeleton and their acquired tolerance makes them well placed to become a new class ofdrug-delivery systems positioned between classical synthetic materials and cell-based systems.
The intimate control of insects with embedded microsystems will enable insect cyborgs, which could carry one or more sensors, such as a microphone or a gas sensor, to relay back information gathered from the target destination.
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