cyborg

cyborg, term blending the words cybernetic and organism, originally proposed in 1960 to describe a human being whose physiological functions are aided or enhanced by artificial means such as biochemical or electronic modifications to the body. Cyborgism is a common theme in science fiction and, as technological advances bring such enhancements closer to real-world feasibility, an increasingly important area of inquiry for futurologists.

When high-tech modifications of the body appear in science fiction and fantasy entertainment, it is often to endow a character with superhuman abilities. In Martin Caidin’s novel Cyborg (1972), for example, the astronaut Steve Austin is rebuilt with nuclear-powered prostheses following a devastating crash. Caidin’s book led to a popular television series, The Six Million Dollar Man (1973–1978).

(Read Ray Kurzweil’sBritannica essay on the future of “Nonbiological Man.”)

Science fiction also considers the darker side of the cyborg, treating it as a metaphor for the dehumanizing and threatening effects of technology. Movies such as RoboCop (1987) and the first Star Wars trilogy (1977, 1980, 1983) have central characters that are so much machine that their humanity appears to have been crowded out. In RoboCop, a severely injured police officer is rebuilt to serve as a robot-like law enforcement tool. The cyborg struggles to regain its memories and reclaim its humanity from its corporate handlers. In the Star Wars trilogy, the galactic emperor’s chief enforcer, Darth Vader, is a cyborg striving to enslave the galaxy’s inhabitants under the emperor’s rule.

(Read Yuval Noah Harari’s Britannica essay on the future of “Nonconscious Man.”)