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"the [science fiction] writer should be able to convince the reader (and himself) that the wonders he is describing really can come true...and that gets tricky when you take a good, hard look at the world around you."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Cyborg | ||
| A cybernetic organism - man in union with machine |
Steve Austin lost three limbs in a catastrophic crash - can they rebuild him? Using the latest in bionics, scientists were able to replace (and in some cases, augment) his natural legs and arm with mechanical prosthetics that were controlled by Austin's brain, just like his remaining natural human arm.
| Steve Austin at this moment was the only true cybernetics organism living. Cyborg, they called him in the laboratories. And whatever his reaction, it was a measure, successful or otherwise, of their theories and labors. |
| Technovelgy from Cyborg,
by Martin Caidin. Published by Random House in 1972 Additional resources -
|
When Austin reports that he feels pain in his new legs, it is not phantom limb pain; he really does receive feedback of a sort from the bionic legs.
Compare to the cyborg collar from A Specter is Haunting Texas (1968) by Fritz Leiber, the cyborg pilot from The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966) by Robert Heinlein and the cyborg dolphin from Johnny Mnemonic (1981) by William Gibson.
It has also been suggested that the first cyborg story (which did not use the word "cyborg") was The Man Who Was Used Up, a 1839 story by Edgar Allen Poe, about a general who was mostly prosthetics.
The word "cyborg" is a contraction of "cybernetic organism" and was coined in 1960 by Dr. Manfred Clynes for a NASA conference.
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Cyborg-related
news articles:
- Your Can-Crushing Bionic Hand Is Ready, Steve Austin
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| Neuralink Will Allow Humans To Communicate With ... Animals? |
| 3D Printed Organs From Space |
| Health Kiosk Has No Human Doctor |
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'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...'
'...I saw a nice black heavy-looking cloud sailing by just now, and I can get the electrical machine out in five minutes to draw it down.'
'From a distance it could resolve the cosmic rays reflected from various substances.'
'The answer to the dumb student's prayer.'
'He had travelled the space-lanes of the solar system for the greater part of his life...'
'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
'Telepaths had their sensitiveness enlarged to an immense range by the pin-sets, which were telepathic amplifiers adapted to the mammal mind.'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
