The Speculist: Cyborgs

My friend Paul has been one for years. As has Stephen's father-in-law. And over the weekend, the Blogfather announced that his wife would be joining the ranks of the early-stage human/machine hybrids.

Glenn comments on the cyborgization of America:

Soon, probably within a decade or two, we'll see such devices becoming common, and multipurpose, and -- most importantly -- aimed at people who don't have anything in particular wrong with them. Perhaps a 'body computer?' It could measure heart rate, blood chemistry, diet and exercise levels, etc., and export its data to outside devices so that the owner, or a physician, could monitor the owner's health. Perhaps it could take preemptive action, releasing clotbusting drugs at the onset of a heart attack or stroke, or steroids in the event of an allergy attack, providing on-the-spot first aid for many serious problems. Still more advanced versions could fine-tune things in a variety of ways, until we gradually reach the stage in which our bodies are pervaded with nanodevices that maintain health and repair damage without our even thinking about them.

I'd like one of those now, especially if it could also treat migraine headaches. They're working on it! They're already working on vagus-nerve stimulation for epilepsy and depression, and even neural stimulation implants that promote female orgasms. (What, nothing for us guys?*) Since these devices are based on two things -- electronics and biological knowledge -- that are improving by leaps and bounds, we're likely to see a lot more of them, and we're likely to see them become cheap enough, and capable enough, and reliable enough that they'll attain widespread use. Which I favor, though not everyone will agree.

As we noted yesterday, developments on the biotech/nanotech front promise to make our integration of machine components as unobtrusive as possible. But yesterday's development raises an interesting question: what do you call a cybernetic organism whose cybernetic components are organic?

Orgcyborgs comes to mind, but maybe its a little clumsy. Perhaps we should reserve the term "cyborg" just for the organic cyborgs, and use the word borg to refer to the old-school mechanical cyborgs.

I'm just free-forming, here. Just kind of opening it up for discussion.

*Well, right, since guys wouldn't benefit from that at all. What guys need is something really useful -- maybe something to make us, I don't know, more regular. No, not punctual, I mean -- criminy, just forget it.

Comments

Cyborgs or not, we're already there. This whole fixation on machines or tiny little nano-bots doing tiny little work at the tiny little microscopic level -- how is it any different than the drugs we use now. Really, what are drugs but tiny little chemical machines, creating reactions at the molecular level. I mean, if we ever get a machine that small, we're never going to be able to tell the difference between it and the pills I pop on a daily basis to quell my headache, aide my sleep, lube my joints, and put the schwing back in my forewing. In this sense, we're all cyborgs. Take a look at Barry Bonds. That dude is a total cyborg. He has introduced an artificial agent into his body to make him stronger, make him faster, make him better than he was before. It didn't cost 6 million to make him into a super batsman, but you throw in the advertising and endorsement deals, you're probably talking 6 million easy (even in today's dollars). I know, there's probably a whole lot of nanographers out there that will explain the differences between drugs and nanobots to me. Save it, brother. You don't have to convince me. I'm just saying, "What's the difference?" It ain't Steve Austin, but it's awfully damn close. Perhaps a matter of few nanometers.

Posted by: blacknail | February 23, 2005 02:07 PM

Phil:

Was "steadfast" the word you were looking for?

:-)

If we envision nanobots as something similar to yeast, we would still need centralized processing power for an implanted body computer. I suppose this could be organic - our brains are impressive processors - but (at least at first) its more likely it will still be some form of integrated circuitry. Circuits can process faster than neurons, and they can easily talk to existing computers outside the body. Both to send info out and to receive new programming.

Imagine a device that could release single-celled bionanobots programed for specific tasks. These bionanobots could simply be our own cells "smarted up" (to use a technical term), or it could be some benign altered organism, or if an organic solution won't do, perhaps it could use respirocytes or something similar.

http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine/Respirocytes.html

Randall Parker weighed in a couple of years ago with the name "Robo Sapiens."

http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/001320.html

Posted by: Stephen Gordon | February 23, 2005 02:21 PM

The thing that bothers me about cybernetic implants that the kind with regular electronics are susceptible to EM pulses. I think it's a bad idea to make a large portion of the human race directly susceptible. What will happen when a person with implants is near a nuclear explosion or EMP bomb?

Posted by: Karl Hallowell | February 23, 2005 06:45 PM

You mention one obvious application in a previous story on natural nanobots (that is, yeast). Namely, a wearable sensor that detected certain dangerous environmental conditions (eg, high CO2 concentrations). Another idea would be to a monitoring system that determines if you experience any of a number of serious health problems and calls 911, and might even attempt to assist on the spot (eg, restart the heart in case of a heart attack).

Posted by: Karl Hallowell | February 23, 2005 06:53 PM

The Speculist

Live to see it.

Cyborgs

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