We the Cyborgs (of the Future)
A robot is a manmade contraption with a built-in intelligence; a cybernetic organism, or cyborg as everyone knows the term by, is made up of both mechanical and flesh body parts. The two definitions seem simple enough.
Human Intelligence Vs. AI and Their Future Together
In effect, cyborgs can have biological intelligence as well as artificial intelligence because of their unique makeup. And like many AI’s, a cyborg’s actions can be manipulated by a controller.
Apart from the points mentioned above, an AI of a certain caliber is able to process and spew out information at a significantly faster rate than the smartest person in the world could. That’s a shockingly rapid transfer of information. The human mind as it stands now may find that even thinking about this is overwhelming. But a cybernetic intelligence might not. However, the cons of these two types of alternate intelligence are equally alarming.
Elon Musk is one of those names which gets thrown around by the media a lot. It’s the millionaire/futurist’s opinion that a cybernetic relationship, or a merging of a biological intelligence (eg: a human brain) with an artificial intelligence, may stand a chance at competing with robots in the upcoming decades.
Over a year ago, the SpaceX CEO said that eventually, human beings of the present will become irrelevant in the future. Who’s to blame? We humans. If Musk is right in his prediction, our descendants could be living out their lives with an ordinary central nervous system (including a brain), but attached to this system would be a synthetic yet superior intelligence.
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Exploring Cyborgs
Today’s scientists have already been experimenting with transforming strictly biological organisms into cybernetic ones, sometimes called “biobots.” Some of the most effective tests in this field of study have been done on insects.
For instance, several scientific teams have been able to generate cockroach cyborgs via numerous methods, from connecting antennae to miniature electric backpacks to manipulating the creature’s comings and going via a brain-computer interface (BCI).
In the latter scenario, a human brain actually controls the movements of another organism. As far as the control of insects’ actions goes, the main success seen in tests is the manipulation of which direction the insect walks, say left as opposed to right or vice versa. Researchers in South Korea have even controlled the movements of a turtle using this BCI system. Sure, it sounds like the Vulcan mind meld. But it really has some powerful capabilities.
Cybernetic Humans and Possible Outcomes
I see several problems with the concept of human cyborgs. The most logical of these is brought to light by the question “Who would be controlling the human cyborgs?” The homo sapien biobots could be manipulated by full-fledged AI’s, the very entities we would (hypothetically) be competing with in the battle for “superior” intelligence.
Even if our cyborg children are not being manipulated at all, their lives could quickly become dull and tasteless. Common relationships would also be dry because the cyborgs would have no need to relate. Every cyborg would be aware of anything every other cyborg was.
There would be no room for explanations, self-expressions, or friendly debates. Our would-be cybernetic descendants might be alive, but they wouldn’t be truly living.
