In this section I will discuss the different projects that are trying to physically merge the human body and technology. Are we the last generation of 'pure' humans, or is that generation already long gone? Read the definitions of Cyborg Technologies and decide for yourself.
I will look at the scientific approach to cyborgs; what were the people that introduced the notion, Clynes and Kline, trying to achieve?
Would it be possible one day to abandon our bodies and move permanently into the cyberspace, in a way described by William Gibson in 'Neuromancer'? Will it be possible in the future to link our brains directly thus making language obsolete? I have summarised the visions of Charles Laughlin, whose essay 'The Evolution of Cyborg Consciousness' considers the (im)possibilities of 'downloading' the human consciousness into a machine and the impact technology has on us. Finally I will look at the ideas of the Australian body artist Stelarc, whose work has inspired even the big wigs of NASA.
There are many different ways in which we can see ourselves to be cyborgs ranging from prosthetics to the science-fiction imagery of post-humanity. The Cyborg Handbook calls these technologies that act directly on our bodies the cyborg technologies. It offers a list of definitions that give an idea of the different ways we are intermingling with technology (1. p.3)
Probably the most obvious way technology is used in our bodies is to restore some of the functions we have lost. For example if your heart doesn't beat as regularly as it should, you can make it work like a new one by using a pace maker. If you lost a limb for some reason, it can be replaced with a prosthesis.
Technologies can also work to patch up things that are missing from the body. This is what The Cyborg Handbook calls normalising cyborg technologies. If you are born with bad eye sight, contact lenses will help you to see like a person with a 20/20 vision. Normalising technologies help disabled people to lead a more normal life.
Ju Gosling is a disabled person who considers herself to be a cyborg. A brace that she uses for her impairment has relieved her pains and has extended her physical abilities. It has allowed her to live independently. Read all she has to say in:
http://users.netmatters.co.uk/ju90/cylife.htm
Clynes and Kline's approach is something the Cyborg Handbook calls reconfiguring cyborg technologies. That means creating a kind of post-human that is able to live in unearthly environments such as space, or perhaps underwater. The closest to an unearthly environment we are so far is the cyberspace. Interacting with other people in the Internet is probably the the only way we can consider to be posthumans so far.
Enhancing cyborg technologies are about building the Terminator and the RoboCop for real. The people working on these technologies aim at creating a superhuman, a human that can think and react faster and is as near to invincible as possible. Cyborg Handbook claims that these are the technologies that military and industrial research is most interested in, ultimately trying to download the human consciousness into an immortal computer. This is something which is discussed in the websites below.
I would add another category that is not discussed in the Cyborg Handbook. This could be called the 'aesthetic' cyborg technologies that we use to carve our bodies according to the cultural ideals of beauty. Anne Balsamo discusses the cultural implications of these technologies in her essay 'On the Cutting Edge: Cosmetic Surgery and New Imaging Technologies.' (3. p.56) She states that especially the female body is seen as fragmented, and the parts that are not perfect can be 'fixed' with plastic surgery. ( 3. p.57)
In the 1960's NASA scientists Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline proposed the word 'cyborg' to represent a mechanically altered human being who could survive in the physically challenging environments outside the earth. In their essay 'Cyborgs and Space' they stated that 'altering man's bodily functions to meet the requirements of extraterrestrial environments would be much more logical than providing earthly environment for him in space.' (1. p.29)
The idea was that the bodily functions could be automatically regulated 'leaving man free to explore, to create, to think, to feel' (1. p.31) Drugs would keep the astronaut awake when the flights are shorter and it was more useful that he does not sleep. During long flights it would be better if the astronaut was asleep and in a state of hypothermia, thus saving oxygen and food. Drugs would also help him to cope with low gravity, magnetic fields, pressure and radiation. (1.p.31-33)
So in that sense the technology entering the body of Clynes and Kline's cyborg was mostly chemicals that regulate the bodily functions. 'Cyborgs and Space' got a good reception and NASA went on to commission a whole study of cyborgs . The study concentrated on similar areas as the ones introduced by Clynes and Kline; dealing with hypothermia, cardiovascular modules, drugs and artificial organs. (1. p.75-81)
We can only ask how successful these studies have been, since according to The Cyborg Handbook, the agency has 'seemed almost allergic' to the term cyborg and instead preferred to use other terms such as bionic, teleoperators, human augmentation and biotelemetry. (1. p.8)
Indeed at least I didn't find much about cyborgs in the vast site of NASA apart from the studies made in the 1960's. Perhaps you are luckier.
Also check the biorobotics laboratory.
http://rcs.ee.washington.edu/BRL/
Laughlin's Cyborg Consciousness
Charles Laughlin discusses the emergence of human brain with machine intelligence. Many of his arguments are closely linked to Cyborg Anthropology, that is the way in which technology affects us and our culture. He states that we think we change our environment to suit us, but we also use technology to change ourselves. He argues that technology has an impact on the mind and the body. This causes an interface problem, which is already quite complicated with normal prosthesis, but becomes extremely difficult when dealing with direct brain-computer interface.
'Cyborg Consciousness is not, nor will it ever be, a simple matter of "downloading" human consciousness out of a brain and into a machine'. (5.)
However Laughlin demonstrates that the development, or the 'evolution' of human-machine interface points to the direction that there is no reason why technology wouldn't eventually be directly in touch with the nervous system. He outlines four different stages that demonstrate the extent the technology penetrates the body. First stage is the extension of the body with tools, the second is the augmentation of both skeletal and motor systems in the body. In the third stage technical penetration reaches the nervous system. The final stage occurs when technology replaces or alters such attributes as emotion, imagination and intentions. He argues that the complexity of the brain will be augmented, extending its capacity, thus making us capable of processing more information.
An interesting point that Laughlin presents is the cultural implications of the cyborg. He proposes that the development of the cyborgs has a profound effect on how we communicate. If human brain could be directly linked to another brain, it would make language obsolete, since feelings and thoughts could be transferred directly without being turned into words first. Sounds very Gibsonesque, don't you think?
Read the whole story:
www.carleton.ca/~claughli/cyborg.htm
Laughlin is not the only one considering the subject. You can find similar stuff from the Mind Uploading Homepage. It is quite technical, and basically agrees, that at present we are pretty far from uploading our minds.
http://metalab.umc.edu/jstrout/uploading/MUHomepage.html
Obsessed with getting wired up?
http://ftp.eff.org/pub/Net_Culture/Cyborg_Anthropology/cyber_modification.article.html
Stelarc is an Australian artist who creates 'Human/Machine interfaced art'. In his art Stelarc calls for improving and reworking the whole body, by replacing natural organs with artificial ones. 'If I have a heart that wears out after 70 years, this to me is an engineering problem. We should start to re- engineer the body' (8.). In Virtual Futures Stelarc introduces the ideas behind his work. He states that:
'The body needs to be repositioned from the psycho realm of the biological to the cyber zone of the interface and extension...Strategies towards post-human are more about erasure, rather than affirmation- an obsession no longer with self but an analysis of structure.' (9. p.116)
The body for Stelarc is 'no longer an object of desire, but an object for designing.' He uses his body art to illustrate the possible post-human body.
Stelarc's performances are described by the ID-magazine to involve 'sensory deprivation, suspending himself mid-air, wiring his body for sound, filming his insides and hooking himself up to a robotic "third hand".'(8.) He discusses the third hand in Virtual Futures as well. He describes the hand to be 'an addition rather than a prosthetic replacement [that is] capable of independent motion, being activated by EMG signals of the abdominal and leg muscles.' (9. p.118) According to the ID-magazine, his third hand interested NASA enough for them to invite him to lecture their scientists about how it worked. (8.)
The work of Stelarc encourages us to rethink our attitudes towards technology and our bodies. Visit his homepage, where you can download some of his stuff.
