World's First Cyborg Speaks Out

[MrGalactus]

A) Why and how are any of his rights being infringed upon here?

B) Does he really count as a cyborg? He can't control any machinery with his mind, and without his enhancement, he'd only be colourblind, not dead. By this standard, anyone who's had lasik surgery, a stomach staple, or a pacemaker is a cyborg.

I'll do this for the whole thread if I have to. Lasik surgery and stomach staples are not cybernetic. Therefore, no cyborg.

What would we count as cybernetic?

Logic-driven mechanisms, such as circuitry. The definition can easily be looked up, how is it hard to do one's own learning instead of prompting further forum dialogue?

So we're going with the exact definition of the word, rather than man + machine = cyborg? Fair enough.
There is an argument to be made for people like Nigel Auckland and Dean Kamen being cyborgs. They both have robotic appendages controlled only by thought. That's a communicative/control process between biological and electronic subjects.

 

[Darth_Payn]

And what's the first thing he did with this amazing gift? He made a painting of Justin Bieber's song. How delightful.

I'm very disappointed in you, Mr. Jensen. You had a prime opportunity to say "At least he asked for this," and instead you make a Justin Beiber joke. For shame. And you call yourself a Deus Ex fan...I'd have half a mind to ask you to relinquish your profile pic. ;P

OP: This is really awesome. However, it will open a whole new can of worms about cybernetic people's rights, fear of both their power and propagation (hope I spelled that right) from humans who don't want/need to alter themselves, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Still....this is pretty cool.

Some one already used the "I didn't ask for this" joke before Adam did, so if he did it, it would be too obvious.

It's all fun and games until someone develops Cyber Brain Sclerosis.

Ah, the 1st GitS joke on the thread. Nice. I'd like to know how soon until we can plug things into the backs of our heads to connect to our brains?
But back on topic: good for this guy! The first man to augment his body to overcome disability and lead the way for others. Sign me up!

 

[Nieroshai]

A) Why and how are any of his rights being infringed upon here?

B) Does he really count as a cyborg? He can't control any machinery with his mind, and without his enhancement, he'd only be colourblind, not dead. By this standard, anyone who's had lasik surgery, a stomach staple, or a pacemaker is a cyborg.

I'll do this for the whole thread if I have to. Lasik surgery and stomach staples are not cybernetic. Therefore, no cyborg.

What would we count as cybernetic?

Logic-driven mechanisms, such as circuitry. The definition can easily be looked up, how is it hard to do one's own learning instead of prompting further forum dialogue?

So we're going with the exact definition of the word, rather than man + machine = cyborg? Fair enough.
There is an argument to be made for people like Nigel Auckland and Dean Kamen being cyborgs. They both have robotic appendages controlled only by thought. That's a communicative/control process between biological and electronic subjects.

That's basically what I mean. It's counterproductive to call anything else a cyborg. All it has become in a lot of circles is talking about the ubermensch again without being racist, and everyone wants in on the label. Mind if I begin a little tale?

Spoiler: No? Alright.

Going to UAT, I had a sociology professor who spent an entire month on the implications of "the cyborg." She spent most of that time telling us two different things, one of which was how becoming cyborgs is our next step along the line to technological singularity. The second thing: every damn mother-loving one of us is apparently already a cyborg. Have a peg leg? You're a cyborg. Wear glasses? You're a cyborg. Wear clothes? You're a cyborg. Take medicine? You're a cyborg. If it can in any way be called a technology and it interacts with your body, you are apparently a cyborg. The argument that shut the entire class down: if this is true, there never HAS been a normal human, because we've always used some form of technology and some form of medicine. Therefore, if everyone's a "cyborg," no one's a cyborg, and all we're doing as a scientific community is circle-jerking over how superior we are.
This was about when we finally stopped talking about cyborgs, and I hear she didn't spend nearly as long on it the next semester. We may be heading in the direction of universal augmentation, but this is a case where words matter and we're letting wishful thinking trump science by calling it science.

 

[Nieroshai]

And what's the first thing he did with this amazing gift? He made a painting of Justin Bieber's song. How delightful.

I'm very disappointed in you, Mr. Jensen. You had a prime opportunity to say "At least he asked for this," and instead you make a Justin Beiber joke. For shame. And you call yourself a Deus Ex fan...I'd have half a mind to ask you to relinquish your profile pic. ;P

OP: This is really awesome. However, it will open a whole new can of worms about cybernetic people's rights, fear of both their power and propagation (hope I spelled that right) from humans who don't want/need to alter themselves, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Still....this is pretty cool.

Some one already used the "I didn't ask for this" joke before Adam did, so if he did it, it would be too obvious.

It's all fun and games until someone develops Cyber Brain Sclerosis.

Ah, the 1st GitS joke on the thread. Nice. I'd like to know how soon until we can plug things into the backs of our heads to connect to our brains?
But back on topic: good for this guy! The first man to augment his body to overcome disability and lead the way for others. Sign me up!

No. Bad for this guy. He's claiming a title without matching it. He's late by a few decades. An uncle of mine is kept alive by a cybernetic device in his chest. The issue of this thread, should we accept it, is how this poser is jumping on the cyber ubermensch bandwagon and championing "cyborg rights" via a shameless ploy for our attention.

 

[Darth_Payn]

And what's the first thing he did with this amazing gift? He made a painting of Justin Bieber's song. How delightful.

I'm very disappointed in you, Mr. Jensen. You had a prime opportunity to say "At least he asked for this," and instead you make a Justin Beiber joke. For shame. And you call yourself a Deus Ex fan...I'd have half a mind to ask you to relinquish your profile pic. ;P

OP: This is really awesome. However, it will open a whole new can of worms about cybernetic people's rights, fear of both their power and propagation (hope I spelled that right) from humans who don't want/need to alter themselves, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Still....this is pretty cool.

Some one already used the "I didn't ask for this" joke before Adam did, so if he did it, it would be too obvious.

It's all fun and games until someone develops Cyber Brain Sclerosis.

Ah, the 1st GitS joke on the thread. Nice. I'd like to know how soon until we can plug things into the backs of our heads to connect to our brains?
But back on topic: good for this guy! The first man to augment his body to overcome disability and lead the way for others. Sign me up!

No. Bad for this guy. He's claiming a title without matching it. He's late by a few decades. An uncle of mine is kept alive by a cybernetic device in his chest. The issue of this thread, should we accept it, is how this poser is jumping on the cyber ubermensch bandwagon and championing "cyborg rights" via a shameless ploy for our attention.

OK, after reading comments from both sides, we have to hammer out a rock-solid definition for what a cyborg is, like how much of your body is replaced with machinery and for what purpose.

 

[Nieroshai]

And what's the first thing he did with this amazing gift? He made a painting of Justin Bieber's song. How delightful.

I'm very disappointed in you, Mr. Jensen. You had a prime opportunity to say "At least he asked for this," and instead you make a Justin Beiber joke. For shame. And you call yourself a Deus Ex fan...I'd have half a mind to ask you to relinquish your profile pic. ;P

OP: This is really awesome. However, it will open a whole new can of worms about cybernetic people's rights, fear of both their power and propagation (hope I spelled that right) from humans who don't want/need to alter themselves, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Still....this is pretty cool.

Some one already used the "I didn't ask for this" joke before Adam did, so if he did it, it would be too obvious.

It's all fun and games until someone develops Cyber Brain Sclerosis.

Ah, the 1st GitS joke on the thread. Nice. I'd like to know how soon until we can plug things into the backs of our heads to connect to our brains?
But back on topic: good for this guy! The first man to augment his body to overcome disability and lead the way for others. Sign me up!

No. Bad for this guy. He's claiming a title without matching it. He's late by a few decades. An uncle of mine is kept alive by a cybernetic device in his chest. The issue of this thread, should we accept it, is how this poser is jumping on the cyber ubermensch bandwagon and championing "cyborg rights" via a shameless ploy for our attention.

OK, after reading comments from both sides, we have to hammer out a rock-solid definition for what a cyborg is, like how much of your body is replaced with machinery and for what purpose.

Simple: a CYBernetic ORGanism is any organism physically augmented by a logic-driven device. A cochlear implant is a cybernetic implant, therefore Rush Limbaugh is a cyborg. A pacemaker is a cybernetic implant, so Dick Cheney is a cyborg. Hair plugs are merely transplanted hairs, so Joe Biden is not a cyborg since there is no cybernetic equipment involved. To be a cyborg, a cybernetic device must be integrated with your corporeal, organic form.

 

[Mau95]

Interesting, but how does that work then? Does the stuff he sees start making noises all the time?

Wow, pretty damn amazing.
Maybe in the future well be able to make blind people "see" with sounds, like bats do, or something...

So, where are my Biotic Amps then, huh?

Or with, you know, eyes or something. Which they are already having success with.

 

[mrjoe94]

The little antenna looks silly, especially with his haircut, but this is beautiful. I for one would without a doubt enhance my senses and my body through cybernetics, but of course people with disabilities come first.

I wouldn't be surprised if Military forces came first and we just don't know it yet. I'm okay with that, because that means we have guinea pigs before they put it on a disabled person who may actually have use for it.

 

[ckam]

Oh, this is a pretty nice idea. I like it.

 

[Altefforr]

Oh dear, not long before we're calling "cyborg" a discriminatory term...
More like, "partially mechanised individual"!
And my spell check doesn't even recognise "cyborg". COME ON!!
Capthca: "we are the future". Ominous...

It's the singularity man... Prepare for 2040, or some other slightly ominous date.

I think a good thread for us to discuss would be, "If humanity was faced with destruction, or transferring our consciousness into cyborgs/robots; would you be a martyr and die an organic, or make the jump to hyperspace?"