If you are reading this (and you know you are) you are a cyborg. Also, it is probable that without meaning to, you created a wormhole today. Please use your power for good, not evil
Of course, all of this hinges on your acceptance of Amber Case's definition of cyborg, which doesn't require surgical integration of mechanical and electronic parts into the body, so long as you are using technology to extend your physical or mental self. I think that's kind of pushing it, but the increasing friendliness and interdependence we as humans have with our technology today (do YOU know your mom's phone number? Yeah, me neither), joined with the desire to create all-encompassing super-gadgets and integrate them into everything is setting the stage for true cybernetic organisms.
Just the fact that so many people feel 100% comfortable walking around with their bluetooth headsets on (like it's a piece of status-enhancing jewelry), as if it doesn't make them look like a freaking dork (FYI, it totally does) tells me that technology grafted onto or embedded in people's bodies for similar convenience is not far off. We are already putting artificial hips, breasts, knees, and hearts into ourselves... so we know the reasons can stem from self-improvement, to repair, to vanity.
Anyways, Amber Case (a cyborg anthropologist, tech consultant and founder of CyborgCamp, a conference on the future of humans and computers) is implying that the fact that we extend ourselves mentally into machines makes us cyborgs, even though we aren't technically using them in the same manner as an artificial limb, challenging what we consider a prosthetic.
Challenging the definition of prosthesis in this way- anything that extends us physically or mentally is prosthetic- will probably lead to more comfort in accepting next steps into a world where Surgically embedded prosthetic machines are widespread as well. She certainly has a very tech-friendly worldview, despite her initial misgivings about how technology is mutating the human condition. The robots will probably use her as an ambassador when they are ready to take us over...
3 comments:
I've never thought about us having mental prosthetics. That bit about ambient intimacy kinda blew my mind.
This is a sign of things to come. Thank you, Ghetto Manga for spreading the truth about automaton aggression.
@ Prior M- :dap: that's how I do it. Stay tuned.
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