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gentlemen we can rebuild him
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better than he was before better
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stronger in two fingers
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human augmentation is often considered
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the stuff of science fiction cyborgs
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will walk there at the same day we have
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flying cars in vacation destinations on
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other planets
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however cyborgs are already among us
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anyone with some sort of technology in
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their bodies is basically a cyborg this
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means people with pacemakers hearing
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aids and the like with the rapid
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improvement of Bionic technology
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prosthetics are bringing us closer to
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the common cyborg image and much sooner
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than you might think
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an important question arises when
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discussing the progress that bionics
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technology is experienced when will
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these limbs be able to outperform their
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natural human counterparts and this
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question is a matter of when not if
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bionic limbs have progressed by leaps
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and bounds in the past several years
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before people with missing limbs were
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ashamed of their prosthetics now
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high-tech limbs boost the confidence of
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those who wear them I had the honor of
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attending the open bionics panel at San
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Diego comic-con this year two of the
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speakers at the panel were Samantha
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Paine CEO of open bionics and Tilly a
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ten-year-old girl born with our arms who
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works with a company just hear her talk
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about her experience with having a
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bionic arm the lucky few who get to wear
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a state-of-the-art prosthetic like Tilly
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love the technology because it makes
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them unique while life may have taken a
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limb from them or maybe they never had
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that limb to begin with bionics allows
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for these people to have normal lives
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and be proud of who they are the
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controversy regarding bionics isn't
00:02:03
whether we should allow the disabled to
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have hands that function like a natural
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hand but whether we should allow for
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people who are perfectly healthy to
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enhance themselves already people are
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body hacking or having selective
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surgeries done to implant devices into
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themselves they consider another form of
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self-expression
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take Neil Harvison for example he was
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born completely colorblind so he worked
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with a team of researchers to have an
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antenna installed in his head which
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allows for him to hear color via bone
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conduction other examples of body
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hacking include a man who had a
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microchip installed in his hand so we
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could start up his motorcycle at will an
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artist who has a device in her arm which
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vibrates whenever it is
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earthquake in the world and people who
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have led is implanted under their skin
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ethical issues arise depending on how
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far the body hacking community takes
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their efforts as prosthetics become more
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advanced and more stylist they may spark
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feelings of envy and able-bodied people
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having a robotic arm is coal what
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diehard sci-fi nerd wouldn't one look
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like Luke Skywalker both Samantha pain
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and bertolt Meyer professor of
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psychology at the Chamonix University of
00:03:06
Technology in Germany fear that people
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will consider removing their limb so
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they can get a cyborg arm is it ok for
00:03:13
perfectly healthy people to take
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advantage of enhancements that were
00:03:16
meant for the disabled well this lead to
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a new style fad or well let's take us to
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a new era in human development the
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Augmented age transhumanism is the
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belief that humans are not at their
00:03:29
final stage of evolution and we can
00:03:32
surpass our current state through
00:03:33
technological advances and augmentation
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according to an article by dr. Francesca
00:03:38
Ferrando of Columbia University there
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are three types of transhumanism
00:03:42
libertarian transhumanism which states
00:03:44
that we should trust the free market to
00:03:45
allow us access to human enhancement
00:03:46
technology Democratic transhumanism
00:03:49
which demands equal access to
00:03:51
technological enhancements in order to
00:03:53
avoid classist racist or sexist articles
00:03:55
regarding the acquisition of those
00:03:56
augmentations
00:03:57
the third type extra anism was created
00:04:00
by philosopher and futurist max Moore he
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describes this as perpetual progress
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self-transformation
00:04:06
tactical optimism intelligent technology
00:04:09
open society regarding information in
00:04:11
democracy self direction and rational
00:04:13
thinking transhumanism will take us to a
00:04:15
place where those who wish to become
00:04:17
harder better faster stronger will have
00:04:19
to keep Billy to do so as dr. Andrea D M
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lane points out this mindset of self
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improvement in self actualization could
00:04:26
lead us towards realizing Nietzsche's
00:04:28
ubermensch or Superman humanity could
00:04:31
benefit greatly from such advancements
00:04:32
but who will own this technology writer
00:04:35
Frank Swain addresses this issue in his
00:04:37
article how I became a cyborg he had
00:04:40
asked his audiologist if it was possible
00:04:42
to make adjustments to his hearing aids
00:04:43
as head of the clinic but the
00:04:45
audiologist expressed that the hearing
00:04:47
aids would only be set up by qualified
00:04:48
technician Swain sites of 2007 writing
00:04:51
in the Journal of medical ethics
00:04:53
which suggests that ownership does not
00:04:54
necessarily mean sovereignty and by
00:04:56
consenting to having an implantable
00:04:58
device placed the patient is indirectly
00:05:01
giving up the right to autonomous
00:05:02
control of the device this question is
00:05:05
also addressed in the Deus Ex franchise
00:05:07
the video games the Deus Ex universe
00:05:09
envisions a dystopian future in which
00:05:11
humans can get a wide variety of
00:05:12
augmentations ranging from high
00:05:14
fashioned Bionic arms to Bionic eyes
00:05:17
that can zoom but corporations exercise
00:05:19
their control over these devices as a
00:05:21
means of maintaining their power even if
00:05:24
issues of ownership are cleared up
00:05:26
possibly the biggest obstacle against
00:05:28
transhumanism is social acceptance many
00:05:31
religious authorities are opposed to
00:05:33
transhumanism because they see it as an
00:05:34
attempt to perfect something God created
00:05:36
not only this but they believe
00:05:39
transhumanism is a pursuit to attain
00:05:40
immortality and the evidence doesn't
00:05:43
really disprove this line of thinking
00:05:45
transhumanist Jannetty Stolyarov says it
00:05:48
will be wonderful to get to a world in
00:05:49
which all death is optional right now
00:05:51
essentially all of us are sentenced to
00:05:53
the death penalty even though most of us
00:05:54
have done nothing to deserve it
00:05:55
hue hare believes that at the rate
00:05:58
Banach technology is improving we can
00:06:00
eliminate disability by the end of the
00:06:01
century this is certainly a matter of
00:06:03
playing God religious beliefs aren't the
00:06:06
only reason for opposing the coming of
00:06:07
the Augmented age with society's track
00:06:10
record for accepting differences all
00:06:12
we've been ready for cyborgs how can we
00:06:15
be if we still can't completely handle
00:06:17
such cosmetic differences as skin color
00:06:20
personally I agree with the
00:06:22
transhumanists in that human
00:06:24
augmentation will bring about positive
00:06:25
change for Humanity and the global
00:06:27
community in may be a long road to
00:06:29
acceptance but in the end if so much
00:06:32
good that bionic and cybernetic
00:06:33
technology can do the augmented age is
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an age that I certainly look forward to
00:06:38
being a part of it
