Cyborg

The term "cyborg" is short for "cybernetic organism", meaning a hybrid of human and machine. While in the sense of this definition even people with pacemakers are to be regarded as cyborgs, the term is usually used in futuristic scenarios to denote individuals whose abilities exceed the natural human capacity because of certain technologies or who have completely new abilities, such as infrared vision. The term "cyborg" does certainly arouse predominantly threatening associations due to pertinent depictions in works of science fiction. Particularly among followers of the technoprogressive movement of transhumanists, however, there are people who confidently see themselves as cyborgs and hope for future possibilities of enhancement through neurobionic implants.

The futurist Ray Kurzweil is a pioneer of transhumanism who predicts that the boundaries between humans and machines will soon become blurred:       

Kurzweil, R. (2006): The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. New York: Penguin.

Neil Harbisson, who, by his own account, is the first officially recognized cyborg, wants to support people in their development into cyborgs with his "Cyborg Foundation", founded in 2010.

Website of the Cyborg Foundation Online Version

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