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Cyborgs are a very common recurring motif within science fiction works such as books, movies, television, and so on. We see these cyborgs everywhere in this genre, but we only somewhat grasp the concept of humanity within cyborgs. A cyborg is an organism that consists of both artificial and natural components hence the full name “cybernetic organism.” For clarification, when I speak about cyborgs, I am referring to the organisms or beings that are artificially created rather than humans with cybernetic modifications. One key trait in cyborgs is their uncanny ability to replicate the thought processes and emotions of human being even though they aren’t human. My argument is that cyborgs, (more specifically the ones created artificially to look like humans) are in fact, not human at all, and I will explain why.
To begin, there are certain similarities in human beings that we are able to compare to cyborgs. One comparison between humans and cyborgs is the way signals are sent throughout their bodies. Both cyborgs and humans send low-impulse electrical signals throughout the body. Those signals are sent to the brain or central processing unit whenever the each of the five senses are stimulated in some way and evoke an emotional response. For example, if you touch something hot, the signal, that tells your brain that sensation of burning, travels to the brain via the nerves. For human beings, this is true; while cyborgs may have organically-created mechanisms similar to human nerves, as well as integrated circuits that pass the same type of electrical signals.
What it means to be human is not limited to physiological aspects such as the nerves and brains. There are other aspects besides organic materials that define a h...
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...part of us that is eternal. We as humans do not have a complete understanding of what a soul is or how we were created by God as both material being and spirit. We are not capable of replicating the human soul. The consequence, therefore, is that anything artificially created by humans will lack a true soul. Our dependence upon God as the Creator and Sustainer of human life on Earth is an integral part of our humanity. We are able to have a hope for the future even after we die because we are children of God. By grace we are allowed to live forever. That relationship with God as his image bearers, which robots and artificially-created cyborgs lack, should not be taken for granted. Our existence is due to God’s capability to create and redeem perfectly out of his love for us. That is the distinction that allows us to divide the line between human and non-human.
Organisms are limited by the structure of their bodies. Some creatures are capable to do great things because of the number of limbs they have, or the density of their skin. Humans in particular are extremely reliant in the capabilities that our bodies bring to us. Our bodies however, are not all dependable, as we can injure ourselves, and even lose parts of our body. To combat this loss of body, the great minds of our species have created false limbs to replace what we have lost. This great improvement to our lives is known as, the prosthetic. In recent years this technology has expanded into a new form, that combines prosthetics and robotics to make life for people
Noe, R. A., Hollenback, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2011). Fundamentals of human
Nowadays technology allows us to upload all the memory of a dead person on the computer and create a robot. But can we say the robot is a person? Or can we say the person is still alive? The robot indeed has memory, even the personality of this person before he passes on. But robots and human are different, human have flesh and blood, robots, however, are made by metal. Although it is technologically achievable that robots can react respectively toward different feelings such as pain and itch, these reactions are artificial and they are not real “feelings”, metal would not feel the same way as skin feels.
A major falling point of robots and machines when placed in a human’s position is that robots cannot improvise. Robots can only do what they are programmed to do. if Damasio is right, emotions are ‘improvised’ by the human brain even before someone is conscious of what they are feeling. Therefore it is even harder to make machines feel true emotions. An example of this exists in Ray Bradbury’s short story “August 2026.” A completely automated house survives after nuclear warfare has devastated the Earth. Cheerful voices go on announcing schedules and birth dates, the stove prepares steaming hot food right on time, and robotic mice keep the house spotless and free of dust- in eerie contrast to the barren and destroyed city surrounding it. The house lets nothing in, closing its shutters even to birds, but lets in a sick and famished stray dog, which limps into the house and dies. The robotic mice think nothing of the dead dog but a mess that needed cleaning up: “Delicately sensing decay at last, the regiments of mice hummed out as softly as blown gray leaves in an electrical wind. Two-fifteen. The dog was gone. In the cellar, the incinerator glowed suddenly and a whirl of sparks leaped up the chimney.” The house, seeming so cheerful, caring for its attendants, has no compassion or reverence for the dog. The mice were programmed to clean up messes, and nothing beyond. This is why in science
The only logical conclusion to derive from this observation is that what we consider to be ourselves is not our bodies. As a result, an individual’s personal identity cannot be rooted in just his or her body, unlike what body theorists would like to
Haraway’s cyborg is a blending of both materiality and imagination, pleasure and responsibility, reality and the utopian dream of a world without gender and, maybe, without end. We are all hybrids of machine and organism. The cyborg is our ontology, a creature in a post-gender world with "no origin story in the...
What does it mean to be human? Sure, one must have the usual physical features such as fingers, eyes, arms, hands, feet, etc., but what does it really mean? Must the human be able to speak? To take upon the actions of themselves? Whatever it means, it can be interpreted in any way from anyone. The physical attributes of any human can be compared to those of our evolutionary ancestors. However, it is possible to believe that there are many characteristics that make a human, but only six define the true, ideal human.
As further advances in robotic testing and programming continue to emerge, then robots will be able to perform more difficult tasks. This article depicts the problem of consciousness in which robots may have knowledge yet lack feelings or emotion. Though we as humans are conscious, robots are not capable of feeling emotions this distinction allows us to distinguish ourselves from robots who sometimes resemble us.
The traditional notion that seeks to compare human minds, with all its intricacies and biochemical functions, to that of artificially programmed digital computers, is self-defeating and it should be discredited in dialogs regarding the theory of artificial intelligence. This traditional notion is akin to comparing, in crude terms, cars and aeroplanes or ice cream and cream cheese. Human mental states are caused by various behaviours of elements in the brain, and these behaviours in are adjudged by the biochemical composition of our brains, which are responsible for our thoughts and functions. When we discuss mental states of systems it is important to distinguish between human brains and that of any natural or artificial organisms which is said to have central processing systems (i.e. brains of chimpanzees, microchips etc.). Although various similarities may exist between those systems in terms of functions and behaviourism, the intrinsic intentionality within those systems differ extensively. Although it may not be possible to prove that whether or not mental states exist at all in systems other than our own, in this paper I will strive to present arguments that a machine that computes and responds to inputs does indeed have a state of mind, but one that does not necessarily result in a form of mentality. This paper will discuss how the states and intentionality of digital computers are different from the states of human brains and yet they are indeed states of a mind resulting from various functions in their central processing systems.
... drawn. What makes us human? Through the examination of human evolution, both biological adaptations and cultural adaptations which are distinct to humans can be recognized. Biologically speaking, humans are unique in that they are bipedal, they have larger brain sizes, and longer leg length. When examining the cultural evolution of humans we have a complex language system, we live in communities, engage in symbolic behavior, and act through emotional impulses. While we are often considered to be superior to all other animals, it is important to recognize that while we are animals, we have very distinct characteristics and adaptations that separate us both biologically and culturally from all other animals.
Another possible positive ramification is that we can develop enhanced senses and cognitive function by the merging of biological (brains) and mechanical (robots) systems in cyborgs (6). Even though this sounds far-fetched and extraordinary, it has some serious drawbacks. For example, we as human beings are able to feel and experience things in life, such as love, through our senses (touch, taste, smell, etc.). If we are stripped of those senses via mechanical systems, then do we destroy this ability? And could these mechanical systems produce super human strength and possibly become destructive? I think so, as the movie “Iron Man” comes to mind. Where do we draw the line between what is a benefit verses what is a risk when it comes to cyborgs? Only time will tell.
What do you think would happen if you gave a child a cybernetic arm? He then proceeds to question the reader’s perception by asking, “…do transhuman really comprehend ultimate human goods?” He believes that a person who modifies their body with biotechnologies shouldn’t be considered human any more, simply because Fukuyama believes what makes a human, “Human”, is the fact that we have the ability to process emotions such as love, sadness, fear, anger, envy, gluttony, wrath, and happiness. Fukuyama believes that this is only possible through a normal blood body because we can only process those feeling the way we do because of the perception we apply to our self. If we lost that perception or altered it there is a possibility that we will lose the ability to feel those emotions. Fukuyama then repeats his question “Are trans human still human?” or are they empty shells of apocalyptic
... Since we are all unique, we all have a precise and specific “imprinting protocol” that makes us human. Finding our exact “imprint” is “the mystery of the human person” (Cortez, 93). But, “the emergence of higher-level properties and complex systems with novel properties. cannot be comprehensively understood in lower-level terms alone,” affirming that what defines a physical being as being “human,” or what delineates David as a “real boy” is ultimately abstract and unknown (Cortez, 94).
Another difference between the human brain and the computer is, the creativity of the human brain. For instance humans can create art, act in plays, or write stories and songs but computers can only help us in these activities not come up with them. While computers can help us solve math problems and find answers to certain questions it can never think of new solutions until they have been programmed into them. Furthermore computers cannot create new games or produce anything they desire like humans.
With the development of technology in the world, people are faced with many things they never saw and knew before. In this modern life, technology has affected a lot of people’s lives in many levels. Robots are considered as important products of technology. Robots were introduced by a writer, Karel Čapek, from the Czech word, robota, meaning “forced labor” or “serf”. Čapek used this word in his play, R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) which opened in Prague in January, 1921, a play in which an Englishman named Rossum mass-produced automata. The automata, robots, are meant to do the world’s work and to make a better life for humans; but in the end they rebel, wipe out humanity, and start a new race of intelligent life for the robots themselves (Asimov, 1984). Robot does not have a specific definition itself, every dictionary has a slightly different definition. “Deciding if a machine is or is not a robot is like trying to decide if a certain shade of greenish blue is truly blue or not blue,” said Carlo Bertocchini, the owner of RobotBooks.com. “Some people will call it blue while others will vote not blue,” (Branwyn, 2004). This essay will limit the meaning of robot as what defined in the Merriam Webster Dictionary (2004), robot is a machine that looks and acts like a human being, an efficient but insensitive person, a device that automatically performs especially repetitive tasks, and something guided by automatic controls. As the technology grows more modern each day, scientists and programmers are creating and improving the function of robots. Nevertheless, many people are still debating should robots be developed more and should robots be used in everyday life. I disagree that the further development of robots should be remain...