Cyborgs: Expanding or Limiting Life?

The word “cyborg” may bring thoughts of fear or thoughts of wonder and amazement to different people. But where did the word “cyborg” come from? It all started when Manfred Clynes used the word to describe “an emerging hybrid of man’s machines and man himself” in 1960 (Madrigal, 2010). Clynes and Nathan S. Kline had a different idea of what cyborg meant when they created it. The definition included the fact that it could be any organism, not just humans, that had an artificial technology that is dependent on feedback. Clynes said, “You could even say that if you’re riding a bicycle or wearing spectacles, that fits the cyborg concept,” because “there’s feedback there. You don’t have to go into space! (Smith, 2010).

Today, that concept has transformed to mean humans with bionic parts attached to their body, and most media will have you believe that they are dangerous. However, we forget that we have cyborgs all around us, but we may not be viewing it that way. Take hearing aids, for instance. They are a piece of technology that is on the body and is used to improve hearing. Is that not a cyborg, too?

Figure 1: What people originally thought a cyborg would consist of.

Cyborgs in Society

Today, many people who are considered cyborgs are because they were born, or developed a condition that makes them not considered “normal.” So, the technology that is attached to them, helps them to experience the same things as those who do not have this condition. This is problematic because of how society views the idea being “normal.” But, I think the problem people have with cyborgs lies with when people want to enhance these capabilities, beyond what is typical. There tends to be more normality with people who use cybernetic technology to provide a human function, instead of furthering it.

I think that the increased use of these technologies to enhance our experiences is showing how technology is becoming more and more apart of our daily lives. As prosthetics increase in their capabilities, or as people can see with technology, it makes me wonder what will happen if these technologies cease to exist. We begin to rely more on technology, but if there is a blackout, or a failure in the technology, this increased dependence will be affected. The same goes for our phones that we are constantly using, but what about the people who need these technologies to hear or walk?

I don’t think there is an issue, necessarily, with people wanting to use technology to create new experiences. However, the high rate that technology is produced creates issues when it comes to the law. This is something that is affecting the internet, because even in 2019, there is not a clear system that is creating regulations, which has been talked about in all of my digital studies classes. I think that this can be problematic when people are trying to create cybernetic additions that could make them run faster (affects sports), see through walls (privacy), or have enhanced hearing (privacy.) These may be stereotypical examples, but they raise very real questions that affect policies in the world.

Cyborgs Role in Art

I found it interesting how something so technology-based would have an influence in art. Neil Harbisson, an artist, was born with achromatopsia, which is a form of colorblindness that only allows him to see in shades of grey (Ustik, 2018). He has a sensor that is attached to his head that translates the vibrations of colors to allow him to hear color. This means that he has trained himself to know the sound of each other, and his interpretation of color is sound, alone.

Not only does he just live this way with color as sound, he has turned it into art. He has even reversed the process to interpreting words and lyrics into what colors they would look like (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Harbisson created an image displaying what Justin Bieber’s song, Baby, looks like in color.

Another cyborg activist, Moon Ribas, has cybernetic implants in her feet that allows her to “pick up the vibrations of earthquakes happening all over the planet,” which she then turns into dance (Ustik, 2018). Art is able to display things that we would have never imagined, because of cyborg technology.

AI and Cyborgs

The topic of cyborgs reminds me of my discussion on the topic of robots and design. AI and algorithms are all around us. They are programmed to notice patterns and respond accordingly. This causes them to appear to think critically, which is innately a human concept. This makes me wonder if the immersion of technology on our bodies, will one day overpower us. A technology so smart, that it no longer needs our human bodies.

With various disciplines adopting technology in their fields, specifically Augmented reality and Virtual reality, when will people begin to prefer these experiences. The medical field allows students to experience what it is like to perform a surgery, and advertisers use augmented reality to gain the attention of their target audience. If you’ve ever seen Ready Player One, you will know that there could be one day where people live the best parts of their life in a virtual setting. Will they have these googles attached to their heads to become a cyborg living in a virtual world?

The original goal of a cyborg was “to provide an organizational system in which such robot-like problems are taken care of automatically and unconsciously, leaving man free to explore, to create, to think, and to feel,” (Madrigal, 2010). It is not wrong to want to have experiences that the normal human can’t have, but at what cost? Will we lose our humanity? I think at the very least we should spend equal amounts of time furthering technology as we are experiencing the other opportunities that life offers.