copyright institute for ethics and emerging technologies 2007 cyborgs today & in the future...

Copyright Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies 2007

Cyborgs Today & in the FutureTransvision 2007

James J. Hughes Ph.D.Author Citizen Cyborg

Executive Director, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies

Public Policy Studies, Trinity College, Hartford CT

[email protected]


The Enlightenment Project


Denis Diderot (1713-1784)

“D'Alembert's Dream” 1769

Machine minds are possible

Minds may be deconstructed and rebuilt later

Science can bring the dead back to life

Human-animal hybrids OK


Marquis de Condorcet 1744-1794

Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind

Reason liberates from church, authoritarianism, nature

Women’s suffrage Opposed to slavery Radical life extension Freedom from work

Marquis de Condorcet


Condorcet on H+

"Nature has set no term to the perfection of human faculties; the perfectibility of man is truly indefinite; and the progress of this perfectibility, from now onwards independent of any power that might wish to halt it, has no other limit than the duration of the globe upon which nature has cast us….."


Transcending the Body’s Limits

External devices: shoes, glasses, bicycles, exoskeletons

Chemical management: diet, drugs, gene therapy

Cybernetic augmentation: implanted devices, neural interfaces, nanomedicine

Redesign: reconstructive surgery, inheritable genetic engineering


JD Bernal (1901-1971)

Irish physicist, pioneered X-ray crystallography

1929, "The World, the Flesh & the Devil: An Enquiry into the Future of the Three Enemies of the Rational Soul” – first projection of cybernetic implants


Vannevar Bush (1890-1974)

Ran Office of Scientific Research and Development during WWII

Proposed NSF after war

Proposed memex in "As We Think" Atlantic Monthly, July 1945


Nathan Kline and Manfred Clynes

1960. “Cyborgs and Space,” Astronautics, Sept.

Monitoring and controlling the body/brain of the astronaut from ground control


Artificial Organs

Heart Assist Devices and Full Artificial Heart Replacements

Dialysis and Implantable Artificial Kidneys

Artificial Lungs


Artificial Pancreas

Diabetes growing rapidly

Realtime blood sugar monitoring

Automated release of insulin

Implanted


NanoTissue Engineering

Nanomaterials as scaffolding and mesh around which stem cells can grow tissues and neural bridges

Using electrical stimulation of cells through the mesh to control the growth of the tissue


Robert Freitas & Nanomedicine

Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing (IMM) in California,

former Research Scientist at Zyvex Corp. in Texas

author of Nanomedicine Vols. I & II

Designs for nanorobotic

• Red blood cells (respirocytes)

• T-cells (microbiovores)

• Cell-repair (chromallocytes)


Neuroprosthetics & NNI

NIH Neural Prosthesis Program Cochlear & retinal

implants Peripheral neural

prosthetics Brain implants

National Nanotechnology Program Ethical, Legal and Other

Societal Issues


Respirocyte

Artificial red blood cell 18 billion atom structure 300x the amount of O2

a RBC can carry


Prosthetic Limbs and Joints

Hip and kneee replacements

Arms and legsFingers


NBIC Convergence

Nano-Bio-Info-Cogno Program (2003-) Psychopharmacology Genetic engineering Nanotechnology Artificial intelligence Cognitive science

The accelerating convergence of all these for “enhancing human performance”


Implants for Depression & OCD

DepressionObsessive-compulsive

disorder


Deep Brain Stimulation for Seizures

1% of the population has seizure disorders, such as

Epilepsy Parkinsons Disease


Visual Impairments

8.6 million Americans have visual impairments

Includes glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy

Half a million are legally blind


Hearing Impairments

25 million people in the U.S. have hearing loss Of those, 2.4 million have severe to profound deafness 25% of those aged 65 to 74 have hearing impairments 40% over age 75 have hearing impairments


Loss of Body Control

About 750,000 people with cerebral palsy in the U.S.

About 75,000 quadriplegics in the U.S.

Lou Gehrig's Disease or ALS and muscular dystrophy each effects about 15,000 Americans

“Locked-in state”


Brain-Computer Interfaces


Brain Damage & Neuroprosthetics

Post-stroke brain injury is leading cause of disability in U.S.

One in 250 suffer from the effects of head injuries


NanoNeural Network

Self-replicatingTwo-way

communication with trillions of neurons

Networked inside and out

Perfect virtual reality, mind back-up, upload


More Basic Research Support Needed

Cognos Project and Neural Interfaces

Biocompatible nanomaterials

Medical nanorobotics


Legitimate Concerns: Safety, Efficacy, Access

Ensure technology is safe and effective

Make technology accessible to all


Ensuring Safety/Efficacy of Implants

FDA’s device regulatory office is small and overwhelmed

Verichip illustrates problem with enhancement/therapy distinction


Access to Implants Limited

Most people in the world who could benefit from implants do not have access to them


For more information

World Transhumanist Associationtranshumanism.org

Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologiesieet.org

Me: [email protected]

copyright institute for ethics and emerging technologies 2007 cyborgs today & in the future...

Documents

neural interfaces

implanted devices

bodys limitsexternal

reconstructive surgery

research scientist

perfectibility of man

h nature

human mind reason