Kevin Warwick On Cyborgs
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Friday, 13 of August , 2010 at 1:45 am
Kevin Warwick was arguably* the world’s first cyborg in 1998 when he got an RFID chip implanted into his arm that allowed him to interact with computer systems using a part of his body. In this interview, he talks about the present and future of cybernetics.
The first part of the interview is pretty tame (except for the big about the brain cell controlled robots, which is very interesting), but then Kevin starts talking about how he had his nervous system hooked up to his wife’s nervous system and things get a little freaky. Good stuff.
[ Motherboard ] VIA [ BB ]
*If you choose to define a cyborg as a person who has some form of technology integrated into their bodies to enable them to interact with the world in a different way, as opposed to (and this may be more generalized) a human with electronic enhancements, in which case the first person with a pacemaker (a guy named Arne Larsson) might have been the first cyborg back in 1958.
Comments (4)
Category: Cybernetics
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Comment by The tribble
Made Friday, 13 of August , 2010 at 2:49 am
>Kevin Warwick was arguably the world’s first cyborg
Arguably
Comment by Zool
Made Friday, 13 of August , 2010 at 5:08 am
Kevin Warwick isn’t by far the first Cyborg but I think he is like the Terminator, because every time you think you’ve heard the last of him, he reappears!
Not only are pace makers way before his seemingly endless PR stunts, but also Cochlear Implants (of which over 188000 as of April 2009 have been done, with research also dating back to the 1950s).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlear_implant
Its not his endless need for attention that gets me, its the scary rubbish he says to get attention. All he needs is a Lobster on his head and he could be the Lady Gaga of robotics!
Comment by Evan Ackerman
Made Friday, 13 of August , 2010 at 11:48 am
Yes, hence the * after arguably. It all depends on how you choose to define cyborg, and he’s really only the first one in the narrow sense that he can use his cyborg bits to do things that a ‘normal’ human can’t. In other words, he’s an enhanced cyborg as opposed to a restorative cyborg.
Comment by The tribble
Made Saturday, 14 of August , 2010 at 3:28 am
>All he needs is a Lobster on his head and he could be the Lady Gaga of robotics!
That is by far the best description I’ve ever heard of him
