• jdeath@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    Neil Harbisson is the world’s first officially recognised human cyborg

    fucking bullshit. stephen hawking couldn’t function or communicate without his chair & computer. you’re gonna say that doesn’t count? then i don’t trust your judgement

    • I think the term cyborg is reserved for actual replacement parts or implants. Because if you count Hawking using his chair, you’d have to conclude that whatever caveman that first used a tool is the real first cyborg.

        • jdeath@lemm.ee
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          1 month ago

          yep, same here except i think power-source makes a slight difference to the degree of cyborginess. maybe we need a scale. maybe something like:

          1. caveman with tools, self-powered
          2. ancient person using naturalistic propulsion methods (wind, animals) for vehicles (ships, chariots) etc
          3. engine (steam, electric, gas) powered entities (vehicles, factories, aircraft)
          4. direct nervous system integration for thought-based control
          5. shared consciousness
    • baduhai@sopuli.xyz
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      1 month ago

      I know somebody who has implated hearing aids. If they’re not a cyborg, I don’t know who is.

      • jdeath@lemm.ee
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        1 month ago

        hernia mesh brother! that’s a great idea, I’m stealing it! my man

    • Chozo@fedia.io
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      1 month ago

      I think generally, assistive devices like Hawking’s wheelchair/speech synth wouldn’t qualify one for the title of “cyborg”, since they’re replacing lost/damaged functionality, and didn’t grant him any abilities not already available to the average person. Whereas Harbisson’s modification is giving him additional abilities that he didn’t previously have and are outside of the typical human experience.

      • JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz
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        1 month ago

        Replacing lost functionality is also acceptable for a cyborg, but Hawkings simply didn’t replace any organic part of himself, he used external devices. Someone with cochlear implants or a total artificial heart totally should count as a cyborg though - they have integrated mechanical body parts (well, both are partly external I guess…)
        But it doesn’t really make sense that just because this version of a hearing implant doesn’t give you better than normal hearing, having an identical device that did would be the difference between being a cyborg or not.