Are We Becoming Cyborgs?

We'll soon be able to build the perfect prosthetic arm, but would you be willing to upgrade your healthy limb for a robotic replacement? And what do biological improvements mean for the future of sports? Are we becoming cyborgs? Jonathan Strickland explores these ideas in this episode of Fw:Thinking.

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[dogiz]

A random fan of the opposite team hacks the basketball player's arm and makes him hit himself in the nuts.

[moxiemags]

I'm guessing you were referring to your mad man rant about farming in space?! Haha it was hysterical! Love the new episode!

[PERTEKofficial]

I'd definitely go for the implant that allows for seeing outside the visible spectrum. That sounds really cool.

[nathanatramp]

I'm a sport shooter and, like racing and other technology-heavy sports, the question of human achievement is easily solved with the implementation of divisional play. For instance, in IDPA pistol shooting, there are 3 divisions (classes) of competition. For those shooting standard service pistol, very few gadgets or accouterments are allowed, compared to custom service pistols. If found in breach, the shooter's score just moves up in class, evening the playing field without disqualification.

[moxiemags]

These videos are soooo awesome. Every week I think "this one's my favorite" until the next week's episode come out :-)

[ahkeeltimothy]

This channel has to be my favorite channel on Youtube.

[beepIL]

Just because we can reach better results using cybernetics, doesnt mean nothing will be fun anymore,
the game will evolve to still offer a challenge, you can shoot 3 at any point in the court? add a gymnastic drill to it to add more points, or have the ball act with changing kinetic movement, so you have to spin it properly at each throw...

you think the advantage is gained but the task remains the same, the task will never remain the same, it would be as challenging as we can deal with, if we can deal with more, the bar will rise higher...

[anshpassi]

what song did you use at
the title (at the beginning)

[jnickence]

Okay, you got me with "restore point". That's intriguing. "Groundhog Day", anyone?

[JonathanStrickland]

That one got some chuckles too, but the specific moment I'm talking about is in another upcoming episode. You'll know it when you see it.

[kOfTheQ]

The issue with any mechanical enhancement to the body, is force. If it is out of line with what the rest is able to handle, damage occurs. Normal damage occurs in everyday use and leads to muscle growth; but with mechanical assistance, this force can be much greater and needs to be kept in check.

[Ron_DeForest]

I was wondering... I know they have a sensor they can implant in the brain that allows us to control a robotic arm... I want to know if they implanted a sensor into someone that has their arm to see all the activity in the brain that allows us to move our hand and arm... By doing that you'd think it would make artificial arm programming easier and allow the arm to move with more realism...


I've looked up artificial muscles and was wondering if they made an arm with that technology... A combination of these three technologies would give someone a much more realistic artificial limb... Any thoughts?

[JonathanStrickland]

I feel the same way! But then I keep getting to do cool stuff like juggle in slow motion or get a robot arm. There's an upcoming episode I can't wait to see that had the whole crew giggling while we shot it.

[mcbeaumarchais]

As far as physical capabilities are concerned, I think that prosthetics which enhance human potential would actually render obsolete many of the sports we play today. That might strike many people as something to avoid; people like their football. But they would only become obsolete because we will have invented more intense, more interesting, more entertaining sports to play, sports that would not be possible with our current, flabby human bodies which leave so much to be desired.

[ST]

I genuinely believe, that in the future metal will at least partially replace flesh.
Flesh is weak, fragile and requires a top of maintenance, metal is strong, upgradable,
and if constructed right can last for a very long time.
But when that happens, the society itself will change. Our values will need to be carefully re-evaluated.
Its not going to be as simple as saying get over it. To cross that bridge, people as a species will need to
take an incredible leap of faith. Because in the end, how can you be sure that the you the will be augmented will still be really you. That's my personal problem with robotization or more likely cybernetization.
Besides, will we be capable of experiencing the pleasures we currently accustomed to. Can we still get pleasure from: tasty food, a relief of cool air on hot skin, the warmth of fire on a cold day, sex?

[duno]

we're not becoming cyborgs, we're slowly turning into cybermen.

[Rampster]

"You get to live on after your human shell dies"
Hmmm.
Sounds like something I have heard about before...

[JonathanStrickland]

It's definitely more science fiction than fact right now. Building an interface that works seamlessly with our minds would be a huge challenge. For one thing, I can't imagine we would ever build a one-size-fits-all approach, meaning every case would be unique. But then, if you told me about smartphones back when I was a kid I would have called you crazy.

[videogiocatore]

When i think about enhancing yourself with robotics i can't ignore the fact that there will be hackers and twitchers about that. And that would be fucking, really fucking dystopical and awesome.

[TheTwistedbeaver]

the problem with the basketball example would be, without a solid base for the armature to be mounted on, the arm wouldn't be able to do "enough" to get "nuffin but net".... moving the arm would depend on the movement of the body and the rest of the person, which would then change the movement of the arm again, which would then change the movement of the person (instinctively), infinite feedback loops :(

how about controlling the nerve impulses TO the arm. giving your real arm computer accuracy