Pros and Cons of Becoming a Cyborg: Trading Flesh for Metal
Since the beginning of time, man has attempted to avoid the inevitable. In his endless pursuit of perfection, man has tried to dodge the grim reaper. Death is certain; life is not. Yet through technological interventions, man is attempting to be godlike and live eternally. Through these same interventions, man is becoming transformed into a cyborg. Currently, the technology has not arrived so that a man will be able to have more metal in his body than he would have flesh. But if one could be a cyborg , if one could live longer, jump higher, store more info, and become more efficient would they? Would one become a cyborg if it meant no more pain, no more suffering, but in exchange would require thousands of dollars worth of hardware and hundreds of hours’ worth of surgery. Today I will explore some of the pros and cons of becoming a cyborg. I will also explore how people today like Stelarc have already taken steps and modified their own bodies to become cyborgs. I will also define some of the ethical and morals issues supporting and criticizing the transformation from flesh to metal, with the end result becoming a cyborg.
First of all, one must define what a cyborg is, and also clearly define what a cyborg consist of. A cyborg is a combination of man and technology. Robocop, The Terminator, Spock are all clear examples of what a cyborg is. A cyborg is a combination of human life and artificial intelligence. What about the elderly, would they be considered cyborgs? Yes, with pacemakers surgically installed within their bodies, the elderly, according to the definition, are considered to be cyborgs. So then, what the hell is a cyborg? One may believe the best place to locate a definition is the Webster’s New World Dictionary; it defines cyborgs as “a hypothetical human being modified for life in a hostile or alien environment by the substitution of artificial organs and other body parts. Using the basic definition will not be enough, it is too broad. One cannot really determine what a cyborg is and what a cyborg is not. For instance, suppose if people followed this definition that would mean that anyone wearing a watch, contacts, glasses, or using headphones would be considered a cyborg.
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Smarr, Janet. “Emperor Wu”. Making of the Modern World 12. Ledden Auditorium, La Jolla, CA. 17 Feb. 2012. Lecture.
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Haraway, Donna J. "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century". Simians, Cyborgs, and Women. The Reinvention of Nature. London: Free Association Books, 1991.
Religion is an interesting aspect in the Chinese context because of the part it played in history. Christianity did not spread as successfully in the East as it did in Europe and the isolated thoughts of the Chinese at the time. The fundamentals of Confucianism include and encourage humanities pursuit of knowledge and understanding of their self and...
Scientific studies have shown that there are physical and mental effects on the human body after using technology. Ac...
Some would say the attempt to make a robot is an attempt to 'play god' and to recreate man. Others would argue that robots might become so intelligent that they would take over and replace humans. There is no better example of this than the movie Terminator, which begins with a world ruled by machines who are trying to kill the remaining human population. The actual field of robotics however, has produced many products which we take for granted. The clock is a household item that was developed in the beginning stages of machine ...
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