The term “cyborg” has a variety of meanings, it could mean a human brain that is infused with machinery or it could mean humans that cannot seem to function without their technology. The futuristic cyborg has been shown in a variety of different forms, but all seem to have the same inability to show emotion. The Terminator, like C3P0 and R2-D2, 100% robot able to imitate human actions and reactions, but not emotions. The androids in Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? looked and acted like humans for the most part, but were unable to show emotion or empathy. What really makes a human a human is the emotions and imagination we all have. Using imagination we can foresee how our actions may create unlikable consequences. A machine, or cyborg, on the other hand is unable to imagine, it is only able to do what it was programmed to do. Even with the most advanced technology, emotions are impossible to replicate.
The possibilities of technology mixed with mankind can be frightening. Take a look at the technology available to the public today and how people misuse it. Cell phones and cars, both are wonderful advances in technology but when the wrong people use them together, the result can be catastrophic. Now imagine if humans had machine parts that were able to cause much more harm, would you really feel safe? Aside from being physically threatened by each other, think of how a machine appendage would be attached? Try this scenario:
There is a large manufacturer of machine bodies that would allow mankind to live for 200 years each, all one would have to do is sign a waiver stating you realize what you are doing and you will not sue this manufacturer. Turns out, this manufacturer has a contract with the governments of the world that the public is unaware of. The government funded this manufacturer as long as they would put a microscopic chip in the spine of the cybernetic body allowing the government to control all mankind as needed. You wake up your surgery and all things work great and you assume you can go on living your life for the next 200 years.
The problem here is the governments of the world now have control over the public. If war broke out, there would be no need for a draft, they would have these fighting machines that had a program already set in for fighting combat, all they needed was the consent of the human. I could see this being a problem because the majority of the American public, at least, tends to be pretty gullible and stupid. Cybernetics can be a wonderful thing as long as they can be controlled. Humans love to control each other, it is in our nature and society only proves it, for instance, management of a large corporation. Allowing a person to have machine parts may sound good at first, but it should not be surprising to find out the leaders of the program has an ulterior motive. .
Mankind is destined to destroy itself; technology is just an easier way to do it. The weaponry created during World War II is enough of destroy ourselves, from the 1940’s. It is now 2008 and technology is getting smaller and more discrete, we cannot be certain who are watching us and where. The concept of a government knowing more about us than we can acknowledge is a threat to mankind and can be used as just another tool to control humans. By allowing our bodies to become machinery, it is allowing other humans to mess with the inner workings of our individuality. Machines and technology are to make mankind more powerful over the elements, not each other.
