Sunday, November 7, 2010

Will the real Cyborg please stand up?


We all know the influence cyberpunk and industrial design has on cybergoth fashion. Computer circuits, post-humanism, trans-humanism, robotics… but did you know that these mere fashion accessories just may herald the first wave of cyborgs? 
 Hot topics: dressing mechanical is a big part of the cyber goth fashion, but how long before the rest of humanity takes the next step and become the future?
I recently read about the artist and musician Neil Harbisson –the man considered by many to be the world’s first officially recognised cyborg. No, Neil does not wear artificial limbs or battery-powered prosthetics, but something far more exotic—an eyeborg! The eyeborg is a device that allows him to—get this—experience colours through soundwaves! Neil is unable to see colours as he suffers from sonochromatopsia, a condition that limits his vision to black and white. Neil wears the eyeborg frequently, and even features the piece in his official passport photo, thus deeming this technology as a legitimate mechanical extension of the human body. 
 I, Robot: Neil with his Eyeborg on.
Incredible stuff, huh. So next time you’re playing make believe and walking down the street with some cool, but ultimately fake, cybergoth head-piece, you might just bump into someone who’s the real deal. Maybe cyber goths are paving the way towards a cyber future, but sooner or later our numbers will grow as the technology progresses and the cybers you see might not be part of a subculture, but an emerging mainstream ready to plunge head-first into real life transhumanism...


 
 This ain't no dream: the eyeborg component on a quartz head
You can read more about Neil and his Eyeborg at his official website here.
PS. What do you guys think about all this? Is Neil just another Internet crackpot or does he really represent the first of a new generation? If the future's already here, what kind of robotic component will you wear? And what needs to be made commercially available next?








26 comments:

  1. Will the real slim shady, please stand up, that music video was awesome.

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  2. wow thats kinda weird the eye thing that sends soundwaves O.o

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  3. Oh man, I need one of those eyeborgs, STAT!!!

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  4. that is intense! I love it

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  6. I should have been a cyborg for Halloween

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  7. I think with advances in technology more and more things like this will be doable. I can't wait for them.

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  8. I never thought about it that way...

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  9. Awesome finds on the pictures, very interesting to look at!! Wish I had the courage to wear something different like that!

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  10. As long as there are no cylons.

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  11. If anything most of the fad robotic parts you can get now are to new/ RFID chips and such, but I can see thin the future where we would be merged with bionics or some crap liek that.

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  12. Very cool and good for him! If the guy can't see in color and this allows him to, then that is wonderful.

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  13. I love that he has it on his passport photo! Usually the government get far too over health and safety and would ask him to remove it.Good for him!

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  14. @RatsRunThisTown -- I know what you mean. Nothing is normally allowed to 'obstruct' passport photos, yet they eventually considered the Eyeborg as an extension of himself. Weird, huh!

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  15. That's really cool, wonder how much something like that costs

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  16. I wouldn't mind being a cyborg like Jet Black from Cowboy Bebop. :D

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