Cyborgs Among Us

Sf writers and readers imagine cyborgs as completely mechanical creations with a human brain. In actuality, a cyborg is a being with both organic and electromechanical body parts. This video introduces viewers to a few individuals who fall into that category. One man featured here has an implanted prosthetic arm that is controlled directly through his brain. Another has lost his hearing but has programmable cochlear implants that directly stimulate the auditory nerve. Still another is profoundly colorblind but has a sensory antenna installed in his head that allows him to "hear" colors: colors of light are produced by waves of varying frequencies. A group of young experimenters have implanted magnetic chips under their skin giving them close to direct connections to computers or communications through technology such as Bluetooth. This program asks the question, if artificial sight and hearing and directly controlled prosthetic limbs already exist, how far are we from human-mechanical hybrids and what might their capabilities be?