The cyborgs among us

Michael Hubbard, Santa Fe, Texas — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 02:08:15 GMT

Keep it up!

The cyborgs among us

Alan Boyle — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 03:45:51 GMT

I completely forgot that we put up a very cool story about space cyborgs last week. Space historian Roger Launius thinks that's the most likely way we'll begin our up-close-and-personal exploration of other stellar systems:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17278968/

Frankly, I think it'll be easier to come up with a sufficiently intelligent exploration robot first, with cyborgs or genetically altered humans (with their DNA tweaked so that they can hibernate for hundreds of years?) bringing up the rear.

I call such space-optimized humans "Astrans," and we've referred to the idea in this story (plus interactive look at the past and future of our species):

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7103668/page/6/

You might want to check out this quiz as well:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3078046/

I realize this is far afield from present-day bionic arms and legs, but I couldn't resist going for the gee-whiz angle.

The cyborgs among us

John Nelson — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 14:33:50 GMT

Alan,
You probably will not want to post this but...
It's inevitable to wonder how sex will get handled.

The cyborgs among us

JC, Riverton, CT — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 14:35:48 GMT

God bless you Alan. This is one of my favorite topics. It is also possible, for quadriplegics especially, to live a virtual life through the use of remotely controlled intelligent robots. That is, while the Asimo Mk 10 will be able to function on its own, a human will be able to piggyback, via VR suits and headgear, to remotely operate the android - acting as a sort of "soul" of the machine.

And far from creating a situation where two different intelligences are fighting for control, it would be more like the intelligence that we call instinct that takes over when your brain doesn't have the luxury of contemplating imminent danger. That is, if the person is about to walk the remote cyborg over a cliff, it can stop itself from doing so.

The military is already doing this with UAVs and the HAVS system.

The future will offer various levels of human cybernetic integration.

The cyborgs among us

Matthew D., Dallas Tx. — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:23:41 GMT

Another one of the excellent fruits of realizing that biophysical processes are still complex arrangements of elementary physical processes, like electrical impulses to muscles.

Excellent science.

-Exno.blogspot.com

The cyborgs among us

Loren, SF Bay Area, CA — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 18:26:42 GMT

Nothing wrong with a little gee-whiz, Alan. Things like that beat heck out of reading the latest casualty reports from Somewhere-stan.

The cyborgs among us

Lynnea Urania, Santa Ana, CA — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 03:25:40 GMT

Never thought of all those as cyborgs. I had delegated the term to the transhumanists who actually want to become "cyborgs" or even a different species entirely. But why not? And perhaps we had better listen to their experience. I understand that a convention of transhumanists a year ago invited transsexual groups to a convention they were going to have in Berkeley because, they said, the legal struggles transsexuals face are what they expect to face in the near future themselves. Yes. Perhaps we should listen closely.

The cyborgs among us

Dennis McClain-Furmanski — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 19:24:41 GMT

I seem to recall an extremely similar story on 60 minutes quite some years ago. The paralyzed woman "rode" a motorized stationary bike while an Apple II recorded her muscle signals. These were later played back, allowing her to walk. She had planned to get married, and said she wouldn't until she could walk down the aisle by herself. A couple weeks later, Dan Rather reported on the CBS news that she did in fact walk down the isle herself using this technology, months before anyone expected her to. I recall this vividly because this was only one of two times I saw Rather cry on camera, the other being as the Apollo 8 astronauts read Genesis I after the first pass behind the moon.