DailyDirt: Cyborgs All Around Us
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Technology is becoming ever more essential in our daily lives, but as long as the devices we use are still separate things outside of our bodies, we haven’t yet fully adapted to technology. However, as technology gets a bit more advanced, it won’t seem too strange to start implanting technology in ourselves. If you wear contact lenses, maybe you think you’re a pioneer. But there are far more extreme examples, and some folks are really taking it to the next level.
- Artificial hearts have been under development for decades, but one that adjusts blood flow based on physical activity allows a 75yo Frenchman to perform everyday tasks normally — without becoming breathless or exhausted easily. The Carmat artificial heart is powered by a lithium-ion battery and contains membranes from a cow heart to improve biocompatibility. The technology has come quite a ways from the Jarvik-7 that was implanted in Barney Clark in 1982. [url]
- Transhumanists are exploring the world of do-it-yourself cyborg technologies. Some well-known cyborgs like Kevin Warwick and Steve Mann are just the tip of the iceberg of people who are willing to implant various objects/devices in their bodies. [url]
- The Cybathlon, the first international olympics specifically for athletes with prosthetics, will be held in Switzerland in 2016. There will only be six events, and unlike the traditional olympics, competitors will be encouraged to achieve superhuman abilities (if possible) with technology. [url]
If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
Filed Under: artificial heart, bionic, carmat, cybathlon, cyborgs, hmi, implants, jarvik-7, kevin warwick, prosthetics, steve mann, transhumanism
Comments on “DailyDirt: Cyborgs All Around Us”
dick cheney's heart pump....
didn’t cheney have no pulse because his heart pump just pumped continuously? how did that affect his ability to exert himself…?
Re: ... wait, what?
Cheney has a heart?
Re: dick cheney's heart pump....
The powers of Hell compel him.
a bit of trivia
The Jarvik-7’s inventor, Robert Jarvik, married famed professional genius Marilyn vos Savant, whose IQ score of 228 (as a young child in the 1950s) is not only a world record, but puts her in the top mega-zillionth percentile of utter smartness. The fact that she’s accomplished practically nothing in her life other than radiating her intelligence on humanity is further proof that were we all as smart as Marilyn vos Savant, none of us would have to actually produce anything for a living.
Re: a bit of trivia
Intelligence is one of many factors that contributes to our ability to innovate. However, it’s ‘utter and complete dedication’ to ones’ goals in life that ultimately brings us to the next phase…
In fact, many historical figures who have made what our lives our today lived long and hard pitiful lives and often died as a cost.
In other words, intelligence has nothing to do with a persons ability to conquer the impossible which is why most if not all IQ tests are bogus.
Re: Re: a bit of trivia
In other words, intelligence has nothing to do with a persons ability to conquer the impossible which is why most if not all IQ tests are bogus.
Actually ALL IQ tests ARE bogus for a much simpler reason.
All that they measure is the correlation between the person setting the test and the person taking it.
If the person taking the test has a better answer to a question than the person who set it then the score will be lower!
A real innovator is highly likely to come up with different – sometimes better – answers than the test setter could think of and so will score lower.
Re: Re: Re: a bit of trivia
“Actually ALL IQ tests ARE bogus for a much simpler reason.”
What you say is true, but I think there’s an even simpler reason that they’re all bogus: we can’t really define what intelligence actually is, and and you can’t meaningfully measure something that you don’t understand.
Back in the 90s I had one Colombian childhood friend that had a battery powered pacemaker whom I used to play soccer with.
If he’s still alive or has lived long enough to make upgrades to prolong his life, I’m unaware of. But I was always impressed by his will to live and to be like everyone else despite the dangers of dying at any moment – Battery failure etc…
We have been cyborgs since day one
Language is technology, cooking is technology, clothing is technology. Tools and techniques of any kind are purposeful extensions of our bodies and/or minds. We are and allways will be ‘cyborgs’, forever fated to the process and reward of creating a better version of ourselves.
Re: We have been cyborgs since day one
You hit the nail on the head here.
Required reading
Cyborg by Martin Caidin. Classic SF they turned into a TV show. Sorry, two TV shows.