Social Impact Report
Document Author: John Doe
Submission Date: 9/04/2013

Executive Summary:

Cyborgs, seen in the ‘sci-fi world’ as humans with robotic parts on the outside of the body, have become a topic of great interest in the real world. Short for "cybernetic organism", the actual definition of a cyborg is a being whose physiological functioning is aided by or dependent upon a mechanical or electronic device, regardless of whether this device is within the body or an external component. A shorter, easier to remember definition is “a being who is made up of both biological and cybernetic parts.

After a thorough analysis of Cybernetics, it was found that: * Cybernetics will continue to be used to increase human efficiency * Cyborg technology will get cheaper and more common as more technologies are discovered * Humans rely on technology to such an extent that they could not live without it * There will always be people who dispute Cyborg use, but that won’t stop them from being used

Contents Executive Summary: 2 Introduction: 4 Part 1: A Critical argument of the use of Cyborgs in society 5 Part 2: An evaluation of the potential social impact of current and emerging technologies in my area 7 Part 3: A description of the role of technology from a personal perspective and a future scenario where this technology is evident 8 Conclusion: 10 Reference List: 11 Appendix: 12

Introduction:

The purpose of this report is to critically argue the use of Cyborgs within society, evaluate the potential social impact of current and emerging technologies in the area, describe the role of technology from a personal perspective, and create a future scenario where this technology is evident. Through this analysis I will gain the knowledge needed to achieve a greater understanding of this subject.
In this report I examine the social context of cyborgs and discuss the social implications of them. I then analyse who is impacted and how and how these social implications might affect real life in the present and real life in the future. Further on is the conclusion, followed by a reference list and an appendix.

Part 1: A Critical argument of the use of Cyborgs in society

The concept of the Cyborg has been around for centuries, so it isn’t surprising that in the modern day, we utilise Cyborg technology more than most people would realise. In fact if we didn’t make use of it today, it would leave a lot of people at a disadvantage. There are many uses for Cyborg technology and in this section I will tell you what some of them are.

Technically a person with a pacemaker is a cyborg, as this person would fit the definition of “a being with both biological and cybernetic parts”. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (2012) defined a pacemaker as ‘…a small device that's placed in the chest or abdomen to help control abnormal heart rhythms.’ This device uses electrical pulses to prompt the heart to beat at a normal rate. There are about 3 million people worldwide with pacemakers, and each year 600 000 of them are implanted. They can help a variety of people: people with heart disease, heart attack victims, heart murmur sufferers, etc.

Hearing aids are another incredibly popular cyborg technology. There are many types: the older external ones that fit on the inside of the ear which were designed to modulate and amplify sound for the wearer. The very old version that was bigger and fit on the outside of the ear, this worked by gathering sound energy and directing it into the ear canal. One of the newest hearing aid technologies is the cochlear implant. This one makes use of modern day technology as it is a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of synthetic sound to a person. As said by the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (2011) “As of December 2010, approximately 219,000 people worldwide had received cochlear implants”. The wearer hears differently to other people, but it can sometimes enhance their hearing to a point beyond what is considered normal hearing.

Prosthetic limbs are another cybernetic technology. There are many variations, ranging from above the elbow and below the elbow arms, to above the knee and below the knee legs. These can be cost effective and allow the wearer to walk like a normal person or in the case of arms, hold on to things like a normal person. But they are extremely limiting in that these qualities are about the only actions the prosthetics allow the wearer to perform. There are new high-tech prosthetic limbs that can cost tens of thousands of dollars, but they are extremely effective at restoring almost all previous functions of the limb. These are permanently integrated with the rest of the body, where movement of certain joints and digits commences when the amputee uses the right mental processes. They are more accurately called robotic limbs and can be related to a much more advanced robotic arm seen on Anakin Skywalker in the film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.

These types of technologies fit under the restorative cybernetics category, where the modifications generally work to make the person more normal, as opposed to the cybernetic enhancements category. This category is less about recapturing (Klugman 2001, p. 44) ‘lost function; the cybernetic enhancement allows an individual to do things that were not possible before.’ There are many cybernetic enhancements available, and some of them are as follows.

Google Glass (2013) ‘Google Glass is a wearable computer with a head-mounted display that is being developed by Google’. From an onlooker, it looks like the user is wearing a pair of glasses without lenses except for this tiny rectangular piece of glass in the corner. To make it easier to visualise, picture a sci-fi movie such as star wars or star trek. It’s likely you will see someone with a holographic visor near their eye who can somehow pull up many paragraphs of information at once. This scenario is now not so farfetched, with the added technologies of cloud computing and wireless internet, data can easily be sent from one device to another. At the same time, this Google Glass can also pick up data wirelessly. It acts as a phone, camera, video camera and search engine, and all possible commands are issued by voice control. This will give the wearer clear advantages over other people, such as video recording without having to hold a camera.

Plastic surgery is another form of enhancement. Although at times it is required to help the healing of wounds and burns, it is also a huge desirability to people who don’t think they look attractive enough. Through modifying the skin around almost any feature on the human body, plastic surgery can change how a person looks, their shape, etc. An online newspaper article created by Claire Bates had an interesting headline “15million people worldwide had plastic surgery in 2011”. This proves that plastic surgery is perhaps one of the most popular cybernetic enhancements in the world today. With the technology to do this, people’s identity’s can be completely changed in a single operation.

The military is in frequent need of cybernetic technologies, due to the constant demand for an army’s tech to be higher than the enemy’s. Plastic surgery could be used to create infiltration units, the person’s face wouldn’t be recognised creating a perfect disguise. Using Google Glass or similar technology could give soldiers an eye camera, so their commanders could see exactly what the soldiers see, in real time. There are also many exoskeleton suits that have been made to increase the strength, speed and endurance of soldiers, but due to their cost and limited power supply that can be fit into these suits, they are unfeasible to use. There are frequent new developments in this area making the suits more efficient to use, and once viable, they’ll create an almost unstoppable force.

Part 2: An evaluation of the potential social impact of current and emerging technologies in my area

This section will explain how the technologies mentioned in Part 1 impact society in the present, and possibly impact it in the future. The use of Cyborg technology will always be up for debate, but there are many current issues with the technologies we have now that can be analysed to create a greater understanding of Cyborg technology as a whole.

With technology getting better and better, new possibilities are created. For example, for people that are very ill, possibly terminal, there are technologies available that can prolong life. Pacemakers are one of them. They are usually inserted into the body so that when a problem occurs the pacemaker can jump in so to speak, but there are some cases where the person is completely dependent upon it. This can create social issues within society as these people may not want to continue living due to pain or depression, so it will be up to the person’s doctor as to whether or not they will deactivate the pacemaker. Similar situations occur with life support machines, as it is sometimes impossible to tell whether or not the patient would rather die than have their life prolonged. These social problems will continue to occur in the future and there is little we can do to stop it.

There are also social issues concerning hearing aids and cochlear implants. If a child is born deaf and is forced to wear one his entire life, the child would not know how to interpret sounds without one. It also creates a reliance on technology which would be hard to maintain, mostly because as the child grows the implant or the hearing aid would have to be resized. This is a very expensive process. There is also the fact that with hearing aids for example, it would be easy for a child to be alienated for looking different. The alternative to these implants or hearing aids is to teach the child from birth how to live with their deafness. The Powerhouse Museum calls this “pre-lingual”. This would be easier for a baby compared to an adult as they are still very adaptable.

There are many social issues that arise when discussing prosthetic limbs, as the person has to live with one for the rest of their life. Not only would this bring down his self-esteem, but he could be alienated by his peers. There is also the impact on his career to consider. If the man was a professional athlete in sprinting for example, he would be kicked out of the sport because he was different from the other sprinters. His family could be impacted by this, as the money paying the bills would disappear. In relation to society as a whole, situations like this could create the stereotype of ‘being a cyborg is bad’, and affect people who need, or could use a prosthetic. Perhaps they would rather sit in a wheel chair or use crutches as compared to looking like ‘one of them’. Being in a wheel chair for example limits your movement and using crutches can slowly destroy your shoulders, getting a prosthetic limb would be the logical choice if alienation and discrimination weren’t part of the decision.

Recently there has been debate and even some protests in relation to the new ‘Google Glass’ technology that has been spoken about in the previous section. The most widely known opposition to Google Glass is ‘Stop the Cyborgs’, a movement founded in response to the project. Stop the Cyborgs (2013) claims “The aim of the movement is to stop a future in which privacy is impossible and central control total.” They believe that there will be privacy issues for other people, saying that you won’t be able to recognise when you’re being recorded. This could make people feel uncomfortable when around wearers of these glasses.

Part 3: A description of the role of technology from a personal perspective and a future scenario where this technology is evident

When I think of technology, I think of something created by man to increase efficiency. When the word technology is used in the real world, people think iPhones, iPods, computers, spacecraft and the list goes on. The reason we think of these things when technology is mentioned is because they are the most exciting and the most commonly used modern technologies that we have. Imagine a world 200 years from now. If the world went from having no internet, to the internet being one of the most widely used technologies on the planet in 20 years, imagine how far we could get in 200 years, or how far we could fall. The following scenario is a depiction of what I think would happen if humanity could come up with unlimited power.

Scenario: It’s the year 2213. 100 years ago what was known as the age of Cold Fusion created an infinite amount of power for the entire world. Soon, technologies that were held back due to lack of power or power costs were implemented and utilised. By 2151 electricity had almost completely replaced petroleum as a fuel source for all vehicles, excluding those that required extra powerful fuel. In 2179, electricity was being used so efficiently that petroleum was no longer in use, allowing people to drive vehicles without restrictions. As spacecraft became cheaper and faster to use, more and more people were requesting transportation to Mars to settle permanently at the Mars One colony, a city of that reached 1 million people by 2180. In the same year, a technological revelation known as CFD’s (Cold Fusion Device) were being implanted those that could afford it. This device sent constant amounts of electricity throughout the body, but this electricity was special in the fact that it was able to keep the body running at a more efficient capacity, extending the average life expectancy of 102 years to 135.

2190. The increasingly aging population was now getting too intense for the Earth to handle. At a population of 13 billion, not all humans were being fed even in developed countries, and manmade foods were being developed. In 2195, in response to insatiable demand, the Earth Relocation Act was implemented by the EDF (Earthen Defence Force), a powerful equivalent of 2013’s United Nations. This act meant the relocation of all humans who couldn’t afford to pay their bills to a new settlement on Mars known as Freedom. By 2205 3 billion people had been sent to Mars, but Earth was still in a state of self-destruction. Although the planet’s population had lowered to almost 9 billion, the population was still not sustainable due to the overused farmland not producing enough livestock or vegetables.

2210. Rebellions were taking place on Mars as the red planet was unable to sustain the immense populations being sent from Earth, and living conditions were atrocious. Over a period of days, a military movement calling themselves the PF (People’s Fist) took control of the two spaceports on Mars and declared martial law. The EDF decided to cut all ties to the colonies on there as they believed there was nothing that the PF could do to them on Earth. Discarding the Earth Relocation Act realising its ineffectiveness, the EDF instead began to colonise planets outside the Solar System to try and get rid of the population.

2211. Small spacecraft were becoming affordable to the general public to try and inspire people to leave Earth and go to the new colonies themselves, with the one rule that no one was allowed to come into contact with the red planet. Of course this was impossible to monitor and within 6 months propaganda from Mars had reached so many people that riots were happening on the streets and governments were threatening to leave the EDF. Eventually the EDF was disbanded and the governments around the world started running themselves once again, but this did not help and only turned the people against each other.

2212. Nations were trying to find new ways to get ahead of the others as world war was looming. Soldiers were using exoskeleton suits to make themselves faster and stronger. Civilians were fleeing to other colonies afraid of their government’s destructive capabilities. Martial law was being declared throughout the world and prophets were running through the city streets screaming “The end is coming!” EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) grenades were being mass produced due to the theory that with so many people using CFD implants, a single EMP would destroy 10 people from the inside out.

2213. The world was literally burning in electromagnetic fire as World War III had begun. The amount of electromagnetic charges being deployed was causing thunder storms to be more destructive, more common and almost made it impossible for spacecraft to get through the Earth’s atmosphere. Millions would die in seconds as EMPs the size of nuclear bombs were being utilised as the newest military breakthrough. There wasn’t a single nation that was going well in the war and by the end of the year, 4 billion people remained. At this time it was realised that due to what was once the greatest breakthrough in history (Cold Fusion) had turned the world upside down. There wasn’t a limit to what anyone could do.

In the end, the amount of humans that lived in the whole galaxy was less than that of the world’s population in 2100.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, I have realised that technology will continue to grow as humanity continues to grow. Although Cyborgs will be seen as ‘inhuman’ at first, eventually we will all become Cyborgs in some way, whether it’s a cybernetic limb, or a pacemaker. I personally believe that this is for the best, as human beings want to become better faster than evolution will let them. I call this the theory of instant gratification.

Reference List:

Bates C 2013 ‘15million people worldwide had plastic surgery in 2011... but why ARE South Koreans so much more likely to go under the knife?’, Mail Online, 32st January, p. 1, viewed 6th of April 2013, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2271134/15million-people-plastic-surgery-world-just-year--SOUTH-KOREA-leading-way.html.

Circulation 2013, Statistics of Pacemakers, American Heart Association, U.S.A., viewed 5th of April 2013, http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/105/18/2136.full.

Dokko, S 2007, Cyborg DB, Description on Cyborgs, viewed 5th of April 2013, http://www.cyborgdb.org/dokko.htm.

International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons; UN; The Economist, 2011, Plastic Surgery procedures per 1,000 population, U.S.A., viewed 6th of April 2013, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2271134/15million-people-plastic-surgery-world-just-year--SOUTH-KOREA-leading-way.html.

Klugman, C 2001, ‘From Cyborg Fiction to Medical Reality’, Literature and Medicine, no. 20.1, p. 44.
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute 2012, Description of Pacemaker, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, U.S.A., viewed 5th of April 2013, http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/pace/.

National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders 2011, Description of Cochlear Implants, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S.A., viewed 5th of April 2013, http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/pages/coch.aspx.

Social and Ethical Issues of Cochlear Implants n.d., Powerhouse Museum, viewed 9th of April 2013, http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/hsc/cochlear/social_ethical.htm.

Stop the Cyborgs 2013, Stop the Cyborgs, weblog, viewed 9th of April 2013, http://stopthecyborgs.org/.

Uni Learning 2000, Tips on Report Writing, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, viewed 2nd of April 2013, http://unilearning.uow.edu.au/report/4b.html.

Wikipedia 2013, ‘Google Glass’, wiki article, 4th of April, viewed 5th of April 2013, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Glass.

Wikipedia 2013, ‘Powered Exoskeleton’, wiki article, 23rd of March, viewed 6th of April 2013, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powered_exoskeleton.

Wikipedia 2013, ‘Prosthesis’, wiki article, 23rd of March, viewed 5th of April 2013, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosthesis.

Appendix:

Table [ 1 ]: A graph numbering the amount of plastic surgery procedures per 1,000 population in the above countries.