Since the sci-fi movie RoboCop hit the screen in 1987 everyone has an idea about cyborgs. What few people know is that the first real cyborgs already walked on our planet in the late 1950s.

The term cyborg was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline who used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. Wikipedia [1] defines cyborgs as humans with bionic or robotic implants. According to this definition everyone with a pacemaker is a cyborg.

Peter Weller as Police Officer Alex Murphy, also known as RoboCop

In 1958 the first pacemaker was implanted in a human body. Since then pacemakers have become commodities and can be networked thanks to transtelephonic monitoring (TTM), which was introduced in the 1970s. By now, advances in medicine have enabled already a number of science fiction’s bold visions – and there is more to come yet.

The first cyborg? Arne H. W. Larsson (1915 – 2001), the first recipient of an implantable pacemaker in 1958.

So far implants and related advances in medicine were focused on restoring lost bodily functions of organs and limbs. The next step is enhancing capabilities beyond just function restoration. Evidence of performance optimisation can be found in the Paralympics, where sprinters with artificial legs are almost as fast as normal high performance athletes.

Retinal implants and augmented vision

A promising field for future cyborgization are retinal implants [2], currently being developed by a number of private companies and research institutes worldwide. These implants electrically stimulate the retina via nerve endings and can transmit images directly to the optical centre of the brain. Retinal implants aim to restore at least a minimal vision of people suffering vision loss due to degenerative eye conditions or even people that are blind since birth. Experiments have shown that even people who are blind since birth can perceive patterns when the respective nerve endings are electrically stimulated.

Medicinal progress on vision restoration in the next years will possibly reach a level of perfection comparable to artificial limbs. Extrapolating these advances could mean that augmented natural vision with artificial images projected directly into the brain may become possible in one or two decades.

Irish-British artist and musician Neil Harbisson, who in 2004 became the first person to wear
an eyeborg, a device designed to allow people perceive colour through sound waves. The inclusion of the eyeborg on his passport photo has been claimed by some to be official re­cognition of Harbisson as a cyborg.

Augmented cognition

At the beginning of the 21st century, the US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) brought cyborg technology to a new level. In 2001 DARPA launched a research programme on augmented cognition, with a focus on real-time monitoring of cognitive states via physiological sensors [3]. Augmented cognition aims at providing disruptive human-computer interaction capabilities. Application areas include personal assistance to enhance human performance, adaptive interfaces helping humans to operate complex machines, and decision support.

Neuroscience begins to understand the human brain, cognition and human behaviour in complex dynamic environments. Technology and engineering have started to develop and implement the concept of a brain-computer interface, and starts to deliver wireless and wearable interfaces. Although all applications are still in the experimental phase, this research field has made significant leaps forward. In particular progress is made in both directions: on the one hand controlling or communicating with a machine via brain commands, and on the other hand augmenting the brain’s cognition with external information.

Ultimately this technology will support humans to operate complex machines in complex environments and reduce or eliminate the probability of human errors in safety-critical environments, like aircraft operations or power plants. Furthermore it could provide the means to teach humans complex facts in a short time and aid the rehabilitation of damaged human brains.

Cerebral interfaces

United States patent 7177678 [4] describes a bi-directional cerebral interface system including a housing mechanism spaced at least partially in a cavity formed in the subject's skull. The system includes a communication mechanism with one or more sensors embedded in the subject's brain. It connects a control mechanism to the subject's brain and a communication link connecting the control mechanism to an external device for transmitting or receiving information related to detecting, predicting, controlling, or aborting abnormal brain activity of the subject as well as an output mechanism.
Considering the advances in neurosciences described above, the cerebral interface will be the logical connection of the human brain to the Internet.

Conclusion

Augmenting human vision and cognition will enable services and applications that transcend the border between the real and the virtual world. History teaches us that what is technologically possible will also be implemented, irrespective of any ethical concerns. Thus, it is time to start a wide societal debate on the opportunities, risks, and limits of cyborg technologies.

Fast on artificial legs: South African Paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius

References:
[1] http://www.augmentedcognition.org/history.htm
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retinal_
implant
[3] http://www.augmentedcognition.org/history.htm
[4] http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7177678.html