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Cyborgs - Cybernetic Organisms
A cyborg is a cybernetic organism (an organism that is a
self-regulating integration of artificial and natural
systems).
The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline
used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating
human-machine systems in outer space.
D. S. Halacy's Cyborg: Evolution of the Superman in 1965 featured
an introduction by Manfred Clynes, who wrote of a "new frontier"
that was "not merely space, but more profoundly the relationship
between 'inner space' to 'outer space' -a bridge...between mind and
matter."
The cyborg is often seen today merely as an organism that has
enhanced abilities due to technology, but this perhaps
oversimplifies the category of feedback.
Fictional cyborgs are portrayed as a synthesis of organic and
synthetic parts, and frequently pose the question of difference
between human and machine as one concerned with morality, free
will, and empathy.
Fictional cyborgs may be represented as visibly mechanical (e.g.
the Borg in the Star Trek franchise); or as almost
indistinguishable from humans (e.g. the Cylons from Battlestar
Galactica).
These fictional portrayals often register our society's discomfort
with its seemingly increasing reliance upon technology,
particularly when used for war, and when used in ways that seem to
threaten free will.
They also often have abilities, physical or mental, far in advance
of their human counterparts (military forms may have inbuilt
weapons, amongst other things). Real cyborgs are more frequently
people who use cybernetic technology to repair or overcome the
physical and mental constraints of their bodies.
While cyborgs are commonly thought of as mammals, they can be any
kind of organism.
According to some definitions of the term, the metaphysical and
physical attachments humanity has with even the most basic
technologies have already made them cyborgs.
In a typical example, a human fitted with a heart pacemaker or an
insulin pump (if the person has diabetes) might be considered a
cyborg, since these mechanical parts enhance the body's "natural"
mechanisms through synthetic feedback mechanisms.
Some theorists cite such modifications as contact lenses, hearing
aids, or intraocular lenses as examples of fitting humans with
technology to enhance their biological capabilities; however, these
modifications are no more cybernetic than would be a pen, a wooden
leg, or the spears used by chimps to hunt vertebrates.
Cochlear implants that combine mechanical modification with any
kind of feedback response are more accurately cyborg
enhancements.
The prefix "cyber" is also used to address human-technology
mixtures in the abstract. This includes artifacts that may not
popularly be considered technology.
Pen and paper, for example, as well as speech, language. Augmented
with these technologies, and connected in communication with people
in other times and places, a person becomes capable of much more
than they were before.
This is like computers, which gain power by using Internet
protocols to connect with other computers.
Cybernetic technologies include highways, pipes, electrical wiring,
buildings, electrical plants, libraries, and other infrastructure
that we hardly notice, but which are critical parts of the
cybernetics that we work within.