Cyborgs

03/03/13 • 59 min

Picking up where What if... we could all become cyborgs?, a show Andy produced for the BBC World Service, and last week's episode both left off, Andy and Will discuss cyborgs, hive minds, extending the senses, and the alleged emasculating effects of smartphones.

Bionic eyes; artificial synæsthesia; lab rats with brain implants sense invisible infrared light; powering an artificial heart; Google Glass; Sergey Brin: Smartphones are ‘emasculating’; Steve Mann (Will mentioned the hit-and-run anecdote in this article but didn't realise it was the same man who was assaulted in McDonald's); the many strands of Ghost in the Shell; brain hacking; typing with twenty fingers; Nigel Shadbolt and AIs for the elderly; the Borg; the Ood; Intercontinental mind-meld unites two rats; Rats ARE like the Borg; faint memories of a Dark Angel plotline; Lab-grown human brains could control robots, says Kevin Warwick; aaaaaaand rat kings.

Tracklist

The Six Million Dollar Man theme
Faded Paper Figures – Information Runs On
Scott Matthew – Lithium Flower (from the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex soundtrack)
Pet Shop Boys – Always On My Mind
Kraftwerk – The Robots

Rat King: King Rat by Cle0patra Window Color Sound Sculpture 6 by Dennis Skley

Send feedback and comments to [email protected].

Tracklist

The Six Million Dollar Man theme
Faded Paper Figures – Information Runs On
Scott Matthew – Lithium Flower (from the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex soundtrack)
Pet Shop Boys – Always On My Mind
Kraftwerk – The Robots

Rat King: King Rat by Cle0patra Window Color Sound Sculpture 6 by Dennis Skley

Send feedback and comments to [email protected].

Previous Episode

Gaming Science Fiction vs. Modern Science Fact (with Cam Robinson)

Cam Robinson hosts GameSpot's The What If Machine, where he explores how close the wonder of modern science fact can bring us to gaming science fiction. He joins us to discuss cybernetics, autonomous robots, nanotechnology, and more, with his choice of excellent tunes.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution, implants, augmented reality, Call of Duty, Noel Sharkey on The Life Scientific, ethical risks of robotics, Crysis 3, wipE'out", levitation, Punch the Custard (Will misremembered how the hit detection works), space travel, and Cam’s recommendation of the one recent game non-gamers should play.

Tracklist

Radiohead – Paranoid Android
Nine Inch Nails – Discipline
AC/DC – TNT
Sabrepulse – City at Speed
Muse – Space Dementia

levitating magnet by Camilla Hoel

Send feedback and comments to [email protected].

Next Episode

The Human Side of Science (with Oliver Marsh)

Oliver Marsh studies science-media interactions at the department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, occasionally performs at Bright Club, and blogs about “the human side of science”. He joins Andy in the studio for the final episode of season 6!

Tracklist