Becoming Cyborgs

How Biotech Achievements Are Blurring The Line Between Human And Robot

- ​​​​​​​Matthew Flynn

In the 2014 case, Riley v. California, the Supreme Court ruled that police officers can’t search a cell phone that’s seized during an arrest without a warrant. In the ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts famously wrote, in part, that our cell phones “… are now such a pervasive and insistent part of daily life that the proverbial visitor from Mars might conclude that they were an important feature of human anatomy.”

Roberts’ point is very valid. We’re rarely without our smartphone within arm’s reach, and our connection to tech has only grown in the few years since the ruling. Now, we wear wristbands that track our steps and heart rate. Internally, pacemakers send electric pulses to help people with arrythmia maintain a steady heartbeat. Technology is inescapable at almost every turn in modern life and, for the most part, this is to our benefit.

But does all of this tech — wearable and internal — mean we are slowly becoming cyborgs and losing some of our humanity? And, with the development of high-tech implants that can negate disabilities or provide seemingly superhuman powers, is that a bad thing?

Transhumanism

Anticipating the technology that continues to develop and become omnipresent in society, the transhumanist movement was born. In transhumanist thought, rational processes help people create new technology which can then be used to improve the human body. Eventually the growth of technology will lead to the emergence of “transitional humans,” who are able to do more than what is typically considered human.