Would you want to be a cyborg
I think you would
We already enhance ourselves
Let’s begin with this, if you have ever taken Adderall, Vyvanse, or Ritalin, you are using technology to enhance yourself. The technology you are using is a human made synthesized drugs, and you are using it to enhance your cognitive ability by increasing the activity of neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine and dopamine. You may not agree with people who take these cognitive enhancers, but I doubt you think they are less human. And on the flip side, if you have ever taken these drugs, I bet there was a point when you thought “wow, I’m like a super human.”
Now, lets talk about merging with technology
Is a cyborg still a human?
A veteran loses his arm in the line of duty. Is this veteran with an amputated arm less human because he has one arm? I do not believe so. He has the choice of living with a stump of an arm, or getting a prosthetic arm. Would the use of a prosthetic arm make him less human? No, and if you believe it does than tell that to this girl, who after receiving a prosthetic arm, was able to hug her father for the first time in her life..
So, we agree that a prosthetic arm does not make someone less human. But what if that prosthetic arm was neural-interfaced to his brain…
What if the prosthetic allowed him to control the arm and his fingers, significantly restoring his ability to manipulate his environment. Now the questions starts to become does the prosthetic make him MORE human? After all, the main differentiation between homosapians and other animals are our enlarged neocortex (human brain) and our opposable appendages (thumbs) which allow us to manipulate our environment. But still, I believe the answer is no. Finally, what if that neural-interfaced prosthetic arm not only afforded him almost fully restored use, but also, through use of sensors on the prosthetic, creates electrical pulses that the interface can translate into sensation in the brain. In other words, what if this neural-interfaced prosthetic arm allows you to “feel,” just as if you had a real flesh and bone arm.
At this point, the question is firmly framed as, does having a neural-interfaced prosthetic that allows you to feel sensation and manipulate your environment make you more human than if you had no prosthetic at all?
Still, I do not believe that having this prosthetic makes you more human, just as I do not believe that having one arm makes you less human. However, it is interesting to note that the use of a neural-interfaced prosthetic makes you by definition, a cyborg.
If a prosthetic that affords you the sensation of touch, and the ability to control extremities and thus, your environment makes you a cyborg, than I do not think it can be argued that at least in this case, being a cyborg makes you less human than if you had a functionless nerve-dead stump as an arm. Also, I would assume that if you were in this veterans situation, you would want a prosthetic arm instead of a stump. Further, I would assume that you would want a prosthetic arm you can control and that allows you to feel, am I right?
Did you just say you would want to be a cyborg?
Oh, and by the way, MIT has created a neural-interfaced prosthetic that allows you to feel, and the FDA has already approved the first mind-controlled prosthetic arm.
FYI, the opening kick of the 2014 World Cup was performed by a paraplegic who, assisted by a neural-interfaced exoskeleton, rose out of his wheelchair, walked ten steps, and kicked the ball. If you still think that humans merging with technology (cyborgs)is weird and wrong, go tell that paraplegic that he is less human because he has mind-controlled robotic legs and that he should stay in his wheelchair.
The wheelchair, by the way, is a technology we created to enhance our capabilities
But, if you are starting to see where I am going with this, then ask an elderly loved one, whose independence and quality of living are diminished by their declining mobility, and who can no longer live alone due to the risk of falling, if they would like to have their mobility, independence, and quality of life significantly restored through the use of mind-controlled robotic legs.
Welcome to the future
In the coming years, as technology exponentially advances, we will increasingly merge with the technology we create. We will do this to enhance our abilities and improve our quality of life. Headlines like Paraplegic to Kick Off Soccer World Cup After Medical Miracle is evidence that Sci-Fi concepts such as Cyborgs are actually accepted and praised when they enter society.
I will say this now. Within 30 years, we will have millions, if not billions, of nano-bots throughout our body and brain.
These nano-bots will make us healthier and smarter, they will come into our society from a good place. Think about it; we are already comfortable putting technology in our body.
- Pacemakers have been around for decades.
- Cochlear implants help the deaf to hear.
- Deep Brain Stimulation helps Parkinson’s patients mitigate symptoms.
- Soon, Retina Implants will help the blind see.
Think nanobots in our body are too big a jump from Cochlear and Retina implants? Again, the evidence is in the headlines. Does “Targeting Tumors using Silver Nanoparticles” and “Nanotech Methods Boosts Conventional Cancer Treatments in Pre-Clinical Trials” sound bad? I don’t think so.
“We are already comfortable putting technology in our body”
Come to think about it, this more intimate merging warrants its own article, so we’ll come back to this later. Till then, I’ll leave you with this to ponder…
Does merging with technology really make us less human, or does it allow us to enhance the qualities that we as humans value?
If you enjoyed the story, please recomend it or share it with a friend! Click the link in Further Reading if you really want to have your mind blown
