Cyborgs: A Technological Future

GAUTHAM DINESH KUMAR LALI

Technology is deeply ingrained into the daily lives of humans in the 21st century, but it was unnerving when I saw it ingrained into a person. He swept his hand across the RFID door lock (a digital lock that can be unlocked with a particular radio frequency) and it beeped. At first, there was confusion and then our heads turned to face each other and he said, “Oh, I have a chip in my hand that I use to unlock my phone. That’s why it beeped on the lock.” This was one of my first encounters with a person that had a technological implant, and in my mind, I was thinking, “That’s so damn cool.” It made me imagine the possibility of merging humans with technology and the numerous ways in which it could transform our lives. Imagine a future where your smartphone or your computer is a part of you, not physically as a whole device but in terms of computing and technological prowess. Your brain interfaces with the internet, smart contact lenses show you information and even augment what you normally see. You get notifications on the fly, and you no longer need to worry about remembering any information. How amazing would it be to go to work as a software developer, have a monitor in front of you, but also have screens augmented into your surroundings displaying your emails and tasks? Your work gets analyzed in real-time and powerful algorithms find the most relevant information that you need to get your work done. This may all sound like science fiction, but with the rapid advancement of technology, many things that were thought to be previously impossible are happening. Scientists often debate whether or not we should be embracing technological changes to our body but I say that we should all augment ourselves to prepare for the technological future. I am going to discuss the advancements being made in AI and robotics, how it can alter our control over the world and a possible future of augmented humans.

To understand what this future might look like, we need to first define what a cyborg is: a human augmented with machine parts to make it stronger, smarter and faster than the average human. However, they are often depicted as evil machines built for destruction and the killing of humans.That’s

fiction; reality is different. What we have actually experienced, for the most part, is cyborg technology helping us to have a positive impact in the form of human enhancement. Bionics has helped people to regain a lost part of their lives, artificial limbs are giving people back the ability to achieve the dreams that they believed they had lost. One such person is Jason Barnes, who was interviewed by The Guardian after breaking a Guinness World Record. He lost his arm in an accident and believed that he would never be able to play the drums again. But today he is recognized as the world’s fastest drummer, with a bionic arm that can hold more than one drumstick and play at frequencies that normal drummers can only dream of (“Jason BarnesAmputee Drummer”). Bionic limbs, in my opinion, are the kind of pioneering technology that has created speculation and advancement in the world of human augmentation. Starting off with helping humans with disabilities to live a normal life, we are now entering an era where bionic body parts are used to push the frontiers of human ability. Hugh Herr is an MIT professor whose legs were amputated after a climbing accident. He now designs bionic limbs and is creating ways for humans to not only control their artificial limbs but also receive information back from the limbs. This opens up a whole new domain of bionics, where your prosthetic no longer feels separate from you but operates as your own leg would. Herr, in his TED Talk, also speculates on the future possibility of entering an era where you wouldn’t just replace your lost limbs with artificial limbs but you could rather opt to have anything you wished for. Do you want to fly? Attach some mechanical wings. Do you want to breathe underwater? Add some gills. “During the twilight years of this century, I believe humans will be unrecognizable in morphology and dynamics from what we are today. Humanity will take flight and soar” (Herr). Bionics give humans the ability to extend the limits of their physical prowess and allow us to control our evolution in a way that has never been done before. However, we are not the only ones going to evolve as the development of AI and robotics technology accelerates. Research being done with artificial intelligence is creating another branch of evolution that involves enhancing the capabilities of algorithms and machine learning.

The underlying algorithms of many platforms are collecting petabytes upon petabytes of information that brings them closer to perfect accuracy in

their tasks. Jayshree Pandya, founder of a strategic security risk intelligence platform (RISK), describes the creation of “neuromorphic” chips that have been designed to mimic the human brain. These chips are embedded with machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence so that they can continuously change the ways in which they process data for learning, modeling, and pattern recognition. But with this development, she also fears creating a superintelligent species in the form of machines incorporated with artificial intelligence that could possibly supersede humans in cognitive ability. How are we to overcome this “intelligence explosion” if it occurs in the future (Pandya)? Once machines become smart, they will inadvertently learn how to make themselves even smarter, make decisions for themselves, and live in their own reality where their thoughts will be shaped not by the algorithms we designed but with the ones that they modified to suit their inputs and outputs. This could potentially lead to a struggle between machines and humans if there is even a slight chance of our realities conflicting with theirs. Since I see no slowdown in the rate of technological progress, I believe that we need to be prepared for a situation in the far future where we would have to enforce control over intelligent machines.

As robots get more intelligent it would become increasingly difficult to predict their actions. As depicted in the movie Ex Machina, a superintelligent robot created to satisfy the Turing test turns against its own creator and murders him. Machines interface with technology in a realm different from our physical world. It is a world of 1s and 0s, signals, and encryptions; a domain where a human needs to put in much more effort to understand and visualize. Interfacing with machines is not intuitive to humans and this will be a factor that will disadvantage us against robots. Whilst machines and AI are interacting directly with technological devices that we have created, humans would be typing code into a computer and then processing it in order to carry out our requests. If we are going to be masters of what we create, then we need to be masters in the domain of our creations. This mastery will only be achieved if we can take control of the technological world. Only if we augment ourselves to interface effortlessly with technology will we be able to hold the reins to our technological creations. The first steps of this augmentation are already taking place in our daily lives.

If we carefully examine our current lives, we can already see signs of us becoming cyborgs. In the book WTF? What’s the Future and Why It’s Up to Us, Tim O’Reilly explores how humans are already cyborgs. Smartphones and the internet have armed us with tools that we have incorporated into our lives. These tools have allowed humans to evolve from hunter-gatherers into farmers, and then from farmers into industrialists, and from industrialists into scientists and technologists. At each step of this process that has spanned over thousands of years, technology has been the factor creating the revolution. The iron plowshare and noria helped to transform ploughing and irrigation systems for farmers, the steam engine created industrial power and the transistor revolutionized computer technology which is why we all carry a computer in our pockets today (Buchanan). In his article “What Will Our Lives Be Like As Cyborgs” O’Reilly describes the ways in which technology has given humans the ability to rise above and beyond what we would normally be able to accomplish:

The marriage of humans with technology is what made us the masters of other species, giving us weapons and tools harder and sharper than the claws of any animal, projecting our strength at greater and greater distance until we could bring down even the greatest of beasts in the hunt, not to mention engineer new crops that produce far more food than their wild forebears, and domesticate animals to make us stronger and faster. (O’Reilly)

Technology has helped us produce more food, faster transport and more powerful machines. But now we are moving into another era, one that goes beyond just mere survival and into a realm of artificial evolution. Interfaces between the biological realm and the technological realm will dominate the platform creating human-machine interactions. In the scientific research article, “Cyborg Intelligence: Recent Progress and Future Directions”, the biological component of cyborg intelligence was divided into: perception and behavior, decision making, and memory and intention (Wu et al.). The artificial intelligence component was separated into: the sensor and actuator, task planning, and knowledge base and goal layers. These two components constantly interact and share information.

The ultimate goal for the future of BMI is to be able to train the AI with the information received from the biological component, allowing it to make better and better decisions and eventually provide users with the best actions to take based on its analysis. “[It] requires the biological and AI units to adapt to each other within the system and adjust their actions according to changing environmental situations, thus possessing enhanced learning, memory, and problem-solving capabilities” (Wu et al. 45). In one of their experiments, “Monkey Hand-Gesture Decoding”, microelectrodes placed in the brain of a monkey monitored the spikes in neuron activities created from hand movements. A machine learning algorithm then classified the different signals to interpret what kind of hand motion was made. This information was then sent to a robotic arm, which then replicated the hand action such as holding, grabbing, pinching, and hooking (Wu et al. 47). This experiment can go on to have huge impacts on the future advancements of cyborg technology. The process of the experiment involved decoding brain signals and transmitting them to a machine and this is exactly what we need to improve on. Imagine the same concept being applied to your laptop: you can type out pages and pages without ever actually touching the keyboard, browse the internet just by thinking about what you want to find and also keep track of all the information coming in and out of your devices. Although we have not accomplished this yet, as technology advances we would have the ability to form a symbiotic relationship with machines and the flow of information will be faster and greater than ever imagined. And we are already seeing signs of such advancement as entrepreneurs become more ambitious with BMI technology. Some companies have started using this technology to develop prototype products with some very interesting applications.

Notable companies, like CTRL-Labs and Neuralink, are jumping on the bandwagon of BMI technology to become pioneers in this field. O’Reilly explores the efforts of entrepreneurs in creating novel technologies that allow a brain-machine interface. In its bare essence, these companies want the same thing: send what your brain wants to the devices you want to communicate with. This can have many uses and, as I have noted earlier, many begin in the medical field. Sending and receiving signals between prosthetics and their owners will be the initial stages of this technology.

CTRL-Labs, recently acquired by Facebook, wishes to decipher each neuron signal from your brain to give you complete control over your digital life through non-invasive technology whilst Elon Musk, founder of Neuralink, wants to drastically improve the speed at which we interface with our technology using neural implants. CTRL-Labs is allowing users to control devices and robots without having to use much physical effort like moving around a mouse or typing into a keyboard but rather by using the natural motion of the human body. One such advancement that currently exists as a prototype is a smartwatch-like strap that deciphers the neural signals going to your fingers and allows you to control virtual objects as well as robots like a six-legged mechanical spider simply by moving your fingers (“CTRL Labs Makes It Possible”). Elon Musk, on the other hand, plans to have electrodes threading into the brain. Although this is still in its initial stages of development, the plans are to use these electrodes to treat any form of brain related disorders and damage. After that he wants to create a form of brain-machine interface that will allow users to control computers with their brains. In the long term he envisions a symbiosis of AI and the mind with a “high-bandwidth brain-machine interface” that will allow us to keep up with the progress of artificial intelligence (Gilbert). But when this technology is ready, will people be willing to accept it?

One of the main concerns with technological enhancement is privacy invasion. One scenario of this took over the media in 2013 when Google Glass was released. Google Glass is a wearable technology that allows users to record what they see at any time in addition to other personal assistant features. “The device was quickly banned at some restaurants, bars, and movie theaters, creating an unspoken social warning: Take it off if you don’t want to be creepy” (“Reality Check”). There was a public aversion to the technology as it infiltrated the freedom of people, creating uncomfortable social scenarios. But what if someone needs a bionic eye to allow them to see? Will they be met with the same rejection? Another potential moral problem that exists is “dehumanization” (“Reality Check”). Will people become less emotional and less empathetic as they begin to think like machines? I would argue that people are already using their phones and social media excessively and there has been greater connectivity than ever before. There has never

been a time in human history when you could miss someone and immediately get to see the person’s face and hear the person’s voice from miles away. If anything, technology has allowed us to break the barriers of space to get in touch with our loved friends and family. But will everyone be able to afford these technological enhancements? State of the art prosthetics sell for thousands of dollars and very few have the luxury of affording them. Gennady Stolyarov, a transhumanist writer says, “Some would express fear that emerging augmentations would create an arms race that threatens to leave behind those who choose not to be augmented. But this assumes everyone will seek to compete with everyone else” (“Reality Check”) I think it is evident that the affluent in society will have access to technological improvements associated with a cyborg future. However, I also agree with transhumanist writer, Gennady Stolyarov’s argument in The Rational Argumentator that the enhancement of humans will not involve an immediate ascent of the rich to cyborg dominance but rather a gradual growth whereby each class of society accepts the enhancements available to them at the time. Just like how the wealthy in society might be able to afford supercars whilst the not so wealthy people would have to drive ordinary cars. However, as production increases and costs decrease, more and more technology will be entering the market for consumers at a lower price. Hence, I believe, despite all the opposition, that cyborg technology will be even more prevalent in the future. This will unlock doors that were previously closed for the human species and our civilization.

What I envision will be the peak of human evolution is when we integrate ourselves so deeply with technology that it becomes impossible to form a distinction between humans and technology. Yuval Harari, in his book Homo Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind describes one possible future of humanity as one where the collective human race has cyborg abilities that allow us to access each other’s memories and live someone’s life as if it were their own. “Such a cyborg would no longer be a human, or even organic” (Harari 457). I would like to take this point further and ask you to imagine a future where humans are no longer bound to their physical bodies. If we can access the thoughts, memories, and experiences of everyone and everything on this planet then the level of consciousness and reality that we will be at is indescribable. We would form an amalgamation of “something intangible”,

something which can take any physical form and if we truly are just thoughts and memories transmitted as signals then we can indeed allow ourselves to be embedded into any avatar. Robots and machines with far greater physical abilities than humans can be inhabited and we will be able to do what is currently impossible. Just imagine being able to transfer a fraction of our human race as a species into a spaceship with some robots and send them off to explore the cosmos. Conditions that our physical bodies may not be able to withstand, such as the radiation on Mars, or the heat of Venus can now be explored by us in another form. And this would just be the beginning of things that we could possibly achieve.

Although some of my predictions range into the realm of science fiction, I think it is evident that the majority of our reality was once science fiction. Traveling faster than sound, talking to someone at the other end of the world instantly, being able to enter virtual worlds of your imagination and experience them, and now we are even modifying our DNA and replacing our limbs. All these things, just about 30 years ago, would have seemed impossible. They would have been portrayed in movies and books as magical or impossible feats. The power of technology allows us to turn that magic into reality. Now with bionic technology improving, AI becoming smarter and neuroscientists discovering more about our brain, I believe that a cyborg future will definitely be a reality and it will allow us to explore the world in all possible ways. For a future that will enable humans to coexist with machines and take complete advantage of technological advancements, I believe that we will need to augment ourselves and become cyborgs. One day, you won’t be reading this essay, instead, it would just be a part of you.

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