MEET ‘MR ROBOT’
KEVIN WARWICK IS AN AUTHOR, ENGINEER,
DEPUTYVICE-CHANCELLOR(RESEARCH)AT
COVENTRYUNIVERSIT Y,CYBORGAND
ALL-ROUNDCYBERGURU.Whatis cyberneticsbeingusedforatthe
moment?
Intermsoftherapythere’squitea bithappening.
Lookingatpeoplewithcochlearimplants,for
instance,therearethousandsandthousands.The
lastimplantI had– thebraingate– hasbeenused
forfourdifferentpeoplewhoareparalysedfrom
theneckdown.It allowsthemtocontrolrobotic
hands– onewomanhasbeenabletofeedherself.
Butit’smostlyhappeningintheUS.Howdoesit feeltohaveanimplant?
It feltlikeme.Yourbrainadapts.I controlleda
robothand:I wasinNewYorkandthehandwasin
Reading,butit feltlikeme,likeI hadanotherhand.
Whenit wasgrippinganobjectI couldfeelthe
pressure.It didn’tfeelweird.Whereit didfeel
strangewaswhenI thoughtaboutit afterwards
andyoustarttothink,‘wow’.You’vespokeninthepastaboutcybernetics
beingneededtohelpuscompetewiththe
dangersofadvancedAI,is thathowyoustillfeel?
AlanTuringsaid:“whatis machineintelligence?It’s
somethingthat’squitedifferentthanhuman
intelligence.”ThatwasthepointtheymadeinThe
Terminator,‘youcan’tbargainwithit’– it thinks
differentlytohumans.Thingshavegoneeven
fasterthanI thoughttheywouldintermsofAI.
You’vehadpeoplelikeElonMuskandSteven
HawkingtalkingaboutthethingsI wassayingin
thelate1990s,whichis thatAIcouldbedangerous
if wegointhewrongdirectionwithit.Whatcouldtheultimateevolutionofthistech
looklike?
CuresforAlzheimer’s– there’sa numberof
possibilitiesonthat,butalsothedirect
communicationofthoughts.Whatweare–
fundamentally– is a brainanda spinalcolumn,
anda lotofthereasonwedieis becausesomething
happenstoourbody,whichis justtheretocarry
ourbrainaround.Wemighthaverobotbodiesin
the future. We should be doing more research into
keeping our brains alive outside our bodies
because then we don’t even need to worry about
things like cancer.Enhancing the human body
FROM ARTIFICIAL HEARTS TO NEW LIMBS, THIS IS THE TECH NO MODERN
Q& A CYBORG CAN BE WITHOUT.BRAIN IMPLANT
Small computers can now be
implanted into human brains to
keep chronic seizures at bay.1. VIDEO C AMER A
A tiny camera set into the
bridge captures images and
sends them to a computer.‘HEARING COLOURS’
Artist Neil Harbisson
mountedanelectronic
antennatothebaseofhis
skullthatturnsfrequencies
oflightintovibrationshis
braininterpretsassound,
allowinghimto‘hear
colour’.REPLACEMENT HEART
American company BiVACOR
is developing a bionic heart
which propels blood around
the body.BACK-PAIN TREATMENT
A next-generation implant has been
implanted deep into a patient’s back
to stimulate their spinal cord to
override pain signals.LIMBREPLACEMENTS
Cyberneticreplacements
formissingordamaged
armsandlegsaregiving
amputeesa wholenew
leaseonlife.BUILT-INCOMPASS
Scientistshavecreateda
chestimplantthatlets
yousensewhichdirection
you’refacing.ArtificialEyes
SOMEPATIENTSAREBEING FITTED WITH
NEWEYESTOGIVETHEMSIGHT.5. ELECTRODE
Finally, an elecrode
stimulates cells in the brain’s
visual cortex, allowing the
cyborg to see.4. RECEIVER
This picks up the
signals and sends
them via a wire to an
electrode on the brain.3. TR ANSMIT TER
The antenna sends the
signals wirelessly to a
reciever implant under the
cyborg’s skull.2. COMPUTER
This converts images
into signals and
sends them to an
antenna on the
glasses.DISCOVERPOPSCIENCE[ 016 ]