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There's been a great misconception of what a cyborg is
in popular culture, especially things like 'The Terminator'
which describes a cyborg as a malicious, evil thing.
In no way it's meant to be that.
But Hollywood's cyborg bears little resemblance to reality.
And far from being a science of the future,
cyborg technology is firmly routed in the here and now.
It focuses less on creating realistic robots,
more of blurring the boundaries between technology and human beings.
A cyborg basically is a redesign of a human organism
to allow it to function better
in an environment that that organism chooses.
I see cyborgs as being an evolutionary step-on from humanity,
a technologically, evolutionary step-on, as it were.
Some people believe we have always been cyborgs -
a growing fusion of technology and humanity.
To get to grips with today's use of the word
it helps to go back to its nautical imagery.
The word 'cybernetic' was coined by Norbert Wiener in 1948
to describe the emerging science of control and communication
within living and artificial organisms.
Wiener coined this term based on the Greek word 'kybernetes'
which refers to a helmsman on a ship.
This verb also shows up later on as the word 'govern'.
Cybernetic systems are systems that are self-governing,
self-communicating, they don't involve outside control.
So does steering a boat make you a cyborg?
The body uses the boat to travel on water.
And the boat takes the body beyond its natural capabilities.
The body communicates with the boat.
The boat responds.
This blurring of boundaries between human and machine
means together they are cyborg.