CYBORGS & AUGMENTED HUMANS
CYBORGS & AUGMENTED HUMANS
GLOSSARY
adjuvant Substance used in combination with an antigen treatment to improve its desired effect, for example, to enhance the speed and duration of an immune response. AI machine-learning algorithms have been developed that use statistical tools to predict outcomes, for example, to evaluate the prognosis in breast-cancer cases and recommend the best adjuvants.
augmented reality Brings elements of the virtual world into our perception of reality, adding information to what we see or experience and creating mixed reality. The aim is to bring computer-generated objects or information into the real world, which only the user can see. A doctor might use augmented-reality glasses to access your medical records while talking to you.
bioethicist A specialist who applies ethical questions to the field of life manipulation or preservation. This can include pharmaceutical drugs, wildlife conservation, or human health and treatment, such as abortion or euthanasia. In medicine, the autonomy of patients is a bioethical issue: do they have any freedom to choose their own treatment?
bio-hybrid Bio-hybrid robots (or biobots) are made by combining robotics with tissue engineering, adding muscle or cells to the machine structure. These devices can be stimulated electronically or with light, for example, to make the cells contract to bend their skeletons, causing the robot to swim or crawl. Bio-hybrid robots are often inspired by animals, such as jellyfish.
biomechatronics Machines that are made of mechanical parts, electronic parts and computer elements. Mechatronic engineers work on solving the integration of these various approaches. Today, a fourth component is added to the mix, the biological, and a new interdisciplinary study has emerged, which is probably the future of robotics: biomechatronics. This is the endeavour to build bio-hybrid robots that are human-like, and in which nerve cells or even neurons are connected to electronic and mechanical parts.
biomimetic Refers to the process of mimicking living plants or animals to emulate the way in which they solve problems or tackle tasks. Biomimetic robots are expected to exhibit greater competence than regular robots in environments where a certain element of improvisation is needed. The goal is to create machines that are semi-autonomous and flexible.
biotechnology Technology based on a living organism, which harnesses cellular and biomolecular processes to make a useful product, such as a vaccine, an antibiotic or a synthetic organism. Many forms of contemporary biotechnology rely on DNA technology. Biotechnology inventions can raise ethical concerns, for example, about life manipulation, food quality or privacy.
CRISPR technique Pronounced ‘crisper’, an abbreviation for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, a technology that since 2013 has allowed easy and precise genome editing. Scientists can rapidly recreate cells and biological models, for example, to produce mutations. Some people, especially in China, are having their genes edited using CRISPR, although this raises bioethical concerns.
dermal Relating to the skin. A key focus for the field of biorobotics is to work on the reproduction of skin-like envelopes, which would allow for a kind of sensing analogous to human or animal sensing. Dermal sensors, which would comprise dozens of sensing zones, are intended to mimic the role of skin receptors.
nanotechnology The study of extremely small things (1 to 100 nanometres) with the tools of chemistry, biology, physics or engineering in order to control individual atoms or small groups of atoms. Materials at this scale often have distinctive properties; the aim is to manipulate them into new forms and functions, for example, for medical purposes.
psycho-pharmacological To do with the study of the effects of drugs and other substances on the mind, including thoughts, sensations and certain behaviours.
synthetic biology Direct access to the genetic code of animals, plants or humans allows several types of DNA manipulation, through genetic engineering. Synthetic biology is the idea that we will transform nature via a re-coding of DNA structures, which will then reproduce naturally. One application is to make artificial food, such as synthetic meat.
HUMAN ENHANCEMENT
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How and why should we improve ourselves? This question might not be new, but the widespread use of biotechnologies in medical sciences gives it a sense of urgency. From computer brain implants to nanotechnology in cosmetic surgery, the debate is vigorous between those who think we should modify humans to ‘perfect’ them and those who believe it is unethical and dangerous. Human lives have always been exposed to the unbidden and to the latter it feels like sacrilege to control everything by manipulating our genes, brains, bones and muscles. Yet the World Health Organization defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’. This means that non-medical problems, such as ageing or shyness, may come to be defined and treated as matters for technological or chemical improvement. Transhumanists believe that being a modified cyborg is only the next stage of our evolution, as we go beyond our human limitations. Yet bioethicists point to security and societal side effects, such as increased inequality (richer people having easier access to enhancements which might make them even richer) and the pathologies of competitive pressure. Despite the controversy, human enhancement is becoming a major economic market.
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Augmenting human performance, appearance or behaviour through genetic science, medicine and technology is one of the most fascinating promises of current technologies. Is it for better or worse?
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What makes a human being authentic? Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is the perfect metaphor for reflecting on the societal effects of large-scale human enhancement. In the novel, citizens are engineered through artificial wombs, selective breeding and psycho-pharmacological substances, in a society divided into castes. People get what they want because they never want what they can’t think of.
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HANS BERGER
1873–1941
German psychiatrist who invented the electroencephalograph (EEG), which records brain activity; the idea that the brain is mainly an electrical device is key to current work on thought-controlled robots
ALDOUS HUXLEY
1894–1963
The British author of Brave New World was a critic of our modern democratic life, in which human enhancement seems to create extreme conformity
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Luis de Miranda
Aldous Huxley felt that a systematic enhancement of our social species could eliminate individual differences.
BIONIC PROSTHETICS & EXOSKELETONS
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A prosthesis is a functional replacement device that is used in exchange for a missing body part. Integrating these devices into the body and making them transparently controllable by the human is a complex task. Prosthetic devices make use of data coming from sensors located on the outside or the inside of a user’s body, to interpret the motion intentions of the user. Special techniques can be used to surgically reroute certain motor nerves to intact muscles. A popular type of sensor detects muscle activity, and is called a myoelectric sensor. Myoelectric sensors are widely used due to their robustness. Electrodes installed directly into the brain have been shown to be useful when carrying out complex tasks, such as grasping and two-handed control of two prosthetic arms. On the other hand, exoskeletons are wearable devices, which do not replace but augment the non-functioning limb. For example, a paralysed person can wear an exoskeleton to provide active or passive walking support. Several types of exoskeletons are manufactured, mainly for medical purposes. Unlike prosthetics, exoskeletons can be used for human performance augmentation. Sometimes dubbed powered suits, a huge application area for such exoskeletons is the military.
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Biomechatronic robotic systems are developed to replace or enhance human functionality, typically for mobility and manipulation. Prostheses are artificial limbs, while exoskeletons (orthoses) are used for human augmentation.
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Every year, the number of first-time stroke incidents worldwide is more than 15 million. Most stroke survivors require long rehabilitation therapies, which are physically demanding for them and for their therapists. Therefore, developing active exoskeletons for rehabilitation is an important research area. Another application for exoskeletons is medical care, where exoskeletons are worn by the nurses to help them lift and carry patients.
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ROBOTS FOR PEOPLE WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
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KEVIN WARWICK
1954–
British engineer, known as ‘Captain Cyborg’, who installed an electrode array on himself to remotely control a robot arm
HUGH HERR
1964–
American engineer, biophysicist and amputee, who designed a specialized prosthesis for his legs that allows him to perform rock climbing under neural commands
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Ayse Kucukylimaz
Humans have always had a problem with their bodies and the temptation to modify them.
INTELLIGENCE AMPLIFICATION
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As computing technology develops the capacity to imitate human cognition, two competing approaches have emerged. AI delegates cognitive processes solely to machines, while IA augments the brain to enhance its cognitive capacity. This might be by automatically translating languages, enhancing facial recognition or even turning on the lights with a thought. Just as we use technology to enhance strength, we can use it to enhance thinking, thus creating a collaboration between the brain and external devices or adjuvants. An early version of IA was developed in 1993 by American computer scientist Thad Starner (1970–), in the form of a wearable computer assistant called Lizzy. He used it so extensively that his PhD committee considered awarding his doctorate to the combined entity ‘Thad Starner and Lizzy’. For many people, their computer or smartphone performs a similar function today. The idealized version of IA is a computer and brain, directly linked. This idea rose to prominence in the 1960s, when J. C. R. Licklider theorized about coupling a computer system with a human brain via a direct neural connection. He suggested that mundane cognitive tasks would be offloaded to the computer, for example calculation or statistics, thus liberating brain time for more creative forms of cogitation and awareness.
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While artificial intelligence (AI) usually replaces human cognition for given tasks, intelligence amplification (IA) tends to enhance human cognition, by keeping the human brain in the loop.
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There is a concern that delegating parts of one’s cognition to a machine risks one’s thought processes being influenced by the unconscious biases of software programmers. While programmers often assume that their algorithms are neutral, we can already observe how they can perpetuate and amplify prejudices. For example, Google’s algorithms are more likely to show executive-level job opportunities to men than women since they determine ideal candidates based on historical data.
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SMART ASSISTANTS & ‘LITERATE’ MACHINES
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ROSS ASHBY
1903–72
British pioneer of cybernetics who defined ‘intelligence amplification’ as the use of technology to enhance human intelligence as opposed to a separate artificial intelligence
J. C. R. LICKLIDER
1915–90
American computer scientist responsible for some of the fundamentals of modern computing; he wrote a thesis on the merging of human intellect with artificial cognitive technology
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Lisa McNulty
If our brain was connected to the Internet, could it process information?
GENETIC ENGINEERING & BIOROBOTICS
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We are familiar with the idea – at least since the classic movie Blade Runner (1982) – that one day robots might be fully alive. The science of genetic engineering is already able to create organisms via artificial means using biotechnologies. The first genetically modified (GM) organisms were bacteria (1973); the first GM animal was a mouse (1974). In 2010, the first synthetic DNA genome was inserted into a cell that could replicate and produce proteins. Since 2013, the CRISPR technique has made it possible to easily manipulate the genome of many organisms. It seems that animal-like robots will be the missing link between the realms of biology and engineering. Scientists are using biomimetic approaches – that imitate nature – to create mechanical salamanders, dogs or spiders that move like real animals. From imitation to reality, there is just one step. In 2012, researchers from Newcastle University in the UK engineered protein cells from a Chinese hamster ovary to respond to visible light. It can convert an incoming optical signal to a chemical signal, which could then be converted into an electrical signal. Their goal is to create a swimming bio-hybrid robot: photosensitive engineered cells will be the ‘eyes’. The basic idea of biorobotics is that life is a combination of electrical exchanges, so there is continuity between animals and machines.
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Biorobotics is the attempt to build robotic devices with partly biological parts, produced via genetic engineering to simulate or merge with living organisms.
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Biorobotics is not only about making partly biological robots; it is also a therapeutic and medical field. Bioengineered parts could be created to cure diseases or injuries using artificial sensing skins, limb prostheses, dermally implanted sensors, cellular surgery or implantable devices. Wearable electronic tattoos that monitor bodily electric signals could cure sleep disorders or the heart activity of premature babies. The twenty-first century is likely to be the century of biorobotics.
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THE MERGING OF ROBOTS, AI & HUMANS?
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JAMES WATSON & FRANCIS CRICK
1928– & 1916–2004
American and British biophysicists famous for discovering the double-helix structure of DNA in 1953; knowing how DNA replicates was the first step towards its modification
JOHN CRAIG VENTER
1946–
American biotechnologist and controversial businessman, he was instrumental in the sequencing of a human genome in 2007. He now conducts research in synthetic biology
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Luis de Miranda
If everything is about electrical exchanges, even in our bodies of flesh, then we will easily merge with technology.
VIRTUAL REALITY
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We are familiar with being so absorbed in a movie that it feels we have been teleported into the story, alongside the protagonists. This is because our brain tends to identify what it sees and hears with reality. Back in 1838, Charles Wheatstone’s stereoscopic photos showed that the brain unifies the slightly different two-dimensional images from each eye into a single object of three dimensions. In the 1950s, Morton Heilig developed the Sensorama, an arcade-style cabinet stimulating all the senses. Today, virtual reality is associated with head-mounted displays (HMD), giving a stereoscopic 3D effect of a computer-generated milieu. You are immersed in a parallel world, and the movements of your head or body affect what you see, whether it’s a magic castle or a virtual shop. AI is now starting to be associated with VR to create a sense of improvisation that feels more personal to the user. Brain–computer interface technologies for VR and robotics are progressing quickly. Some computer engineers want to connect the headset to our brain so that the simulated reality responds to our emotions, intentions or even thoughts. This technology could be applied in health situations (re-embodiment after injuries), work environments (controlling a robot with a VR display) or in online shops (‘feeling’ a product on you before you buy it).
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Virtual reality is a computer-generated 3D simulation or recreation of a real-world environment, usually used in gaming, education, exploration or marketing experiences.
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Imagine walking down a street with extra information about your surroundings popping up in front of your eyes. If you combine the perception of the real world with superimposed elements of VR, you get ‘augmented reality’, which is different from virtual reality because it does not replace your familiar world entirely. Real objects are equipped with sensors and transmitters that communicate remotely with a headset device. One day, they could link directly to your brain via electronic waves and chips.
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CHARLES WHEATSTONE
1802–75
British inventor, considered the father of 3D and VR for his use of stereoscopy to understand how the brain perceives the world
MORTON HEILIG
1926–97
American pioneer in VR, he patented the Sensorama in 1962, an immersive 3D-view experience, which he hoped would be the cinema of the future
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Luis de Miranda
Given the time we already spend in front of 2D screens, it is likely that virtual reality will be very addictive.
MIND UPLOADING
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Every lesson learned is a transfer of mental content from one person to another. Will it be possible to transfer our consciousness in the same way? Everything we know is stored in the 90 billion neurons of our brain. Research projects such as the Blue Brain project aim to map these neurons, and to contribute to a complete map of the human brain. For the time being, we have only one such map, depicting the 300 neurons of the small worm Caenorhabditis elegans. Inventor Raymond Kurzweil believes complete brain uploads to a computer will be possible by 2045, making human minds immortal. The problem is that nobody knows how much of our consciousness is stored in the neural structure of our brains. It might be that there is some particular ‘mind substance’ or ‘soul’ that is necessary for the mind to work, as Descartes and many philosophers have believed. It could be that the electrical and chemical activity of the brain must also be captured, along with the neural structure, which would be technically difficult. Scientists have found strong correlations between brain structure and behaviour traits, such as anger or rule breaking. Such findings strengthen the argument that one day, by decoding brain structure, we might be able to transfer at least some aspects of human consciousness to a machine.
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What if we could upload our minds to a computer and live forever inside its memory – and perhaps, one day, find a second life in another body?
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Brain uploads bring with them a whole array of legal problems. For example, when we simulate the whole brain of a mouse in a computer, does this simulated brain also feel pain? Philosophers such as Tyler Bancroft have argued that such simulations should be granted animal rights and be protected from suffering. And if a dying man uploads his consciousness into a computer, should this simulation of his mind also inherit his property and social position?
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RAYMOND KURZWEIL
1948–
American computer scientist and futurist who has predicted that within the twenty-first century, computers will be able to operate in the same way as the human brain
CHRISTOF KOCH
1956–
American neuroscientist, known for his research into how consciousness can come about in information systems
RANDAL A. KOENE
1971–
Dutch neuroscientist and founder of a project that aims to advance mind uploading
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Andreas Matthias
What if we could upload our childhood mind and reconnect with it once we are an adult?
TRANSHUMANISM & SINGULARITY
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Computing power has increased exponentially over the past decades. Today, AI systems can do things that were considered science fiction 20 years ago. Computers can play chess and Go better than humans, they can diagnose diseases and drive cars. If computers keep getting faster and more intelligent, will there come a time where humans will look like primitive barbarians in comparison? From then on, computers will be able to design new computers without the help of humans, further increasing the gap between man and machine. Science-fiction writer Vernor Vinge coined the term ‘singularity’ for the time at which computers become more intelligent than humans. Should the singularity come about, there seem to be only two options for humans: first, we could accept our fate and live a life controlled by super-intelligent (and hopefully benevolent) AI systems. Alternatively, we could try to change ourselves to match the capabilities of our computers. This is the approach of transhumanism. With the integration of new sensors and computational modules into our bodies, and by interfacing our brains with computers, we might be able to develop new abilities that will fundamentally change the human condition. We might become immortal by uploading our minds into computers, or acquire the ability to instantly understand every human.
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If computers become more and more intelligent, they are likely to reach a point where their intelligence will surpass ours – but what will happen after that?
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Since the Renaissance, humanism has sought to emphasize the aspects of humanity that are shared. It assumes that what unites us is stronger and more significant than our differences. Transhumanism, in contrast, advocates improving the human condition through the use of technology. But these technologies are not available to all, and thus transhumanism is in danger of creating new inequalities between those who can afford access to its promised land and those who cannot.
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FM-2030
1930–2000
Belgian-born transhumanist philosopher, who adopted this name to free himself from what he considered ‘tribal’ mentality
HANS PETER MORAVEC
1948–
Austrian-born Canadian computer scientist, technologist and writer about transhumanism
NICK BOSTROM
1973–
Swedish philosopher who warned of the dangers that AI might pose, and emphasized the need for better control of AI systems
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Andreas Matthias
Transhumanists believe we need to mutate into a new species, made of flesh and digital parts.
