Report

1. INTRODUCTION

'CYBORG' is actually a science fiction shortening of 'cybernetic organism'. The idea is that, in the future, we may have more and more artificial body parts—arms, legs, hearts, eyes and so on—till one might end up finally as a brain in a wholly artificial body Weiner (1948) first introduced the concept of Cyborg. A "Cyborg" means a human being who is technologically complemented by external or internal devices that compliment or regulate various human body functions. In other words a cyborg is constituted by part-machine-part-human systems.

DEFINATION: Cybernetics is a theory of the communication and control of regulatory feedback. The term cybernetics stems from the Greek kubernetis meaning "Steersman". It is a field consists of Biology, Electronics,

Mechanical and Information Technology.

Anyone who has seen the movie Terminator starring Arnold Schwarzenegger knows what a 'cyborg' looks like—patently human, just like you and me. But beneath the familiar exterior, it is a cold and logical machine that thinks in algorithms and displays a strength and precision way beyond human capabilities.

2. COMMUNICATION CHANNELS Modems, brains, and atoms all have communication channels and all can form networks. It will here be shown that in principle, the organization of the brain and computer is similar to that of the atom in their basic I, II, III architecture.

Communication channels in the atom, brain, and modem Origination Communication medium Destination I. Transmission II. Medium & communication III. Received at from Source Transmitter sends Modem microwave communication

Brain Soma sends message

channel Travels via empty space to satellite dish which send again through medium of space to receiver Sent over axon to synaptic

destination in form sent Travels over cables to be reconstructed as same communication sent

knob where shot as

Next received by dendrite

neurotransmitter through a

and travels to next soma

space called synaptic cleft Received by neutron which Atom Protons send W+

Travels via inter-nuclear space somehow analyzes and along wave function

recognizes W+ and emits W-

The modem: A communication channel has a source, coded message, transmission medium, destination, and decoded message. Computer modems send coded messages over phone lines to Servers or Providers .These messages are sent via the medium of open space in the form of microwave transmissions to satellites thereby connecting to the Internet. They continue to a receiving Server or Provider, and through phone line to a destination computer-modem. There the original message is decoded i.e. reconstructed on the monitor. TV's work in the same manner sending optical and sound image as electrical impulses in the form of radio waves instead of wave functions used in atoms.

The brain: In the brain, the message is sent from or received by the soma (central bulb containing the nucleus of neural cells in the nervous system). The soma has

cylindrical input and output channels: dendrites and axons. Input is delivered by dendrites. Output is carried by axons (more in a minute).

Neurons fire some 50 to 200 times per second which is the number of times each ion moves up and down. Signals have wave lengths and there are between 50 and 200 waves per second.

When the signal traveling through the axon reaches the last station (as it were) at the end of the line i.e. the synaptic knob, like a cannonball shot through a cannon, the message is shot or transmitted in the form of neurotransmitters through a small open space (as microwaves through the medium of space) called the synaptic cleft. The message is received by dendrites which carry the message to its soma where it is responded to (1) or not responded to (0). One neuron can have as many as 106 or 7 analog gates and can fire that many times in a single response to that many other neurons. Nerve impulses travel some 120 meters per second.

The atom: While a stand-alone computer's "brain" is within its case where all activity occurs, the atom has four types of cases, not just one: the electron shell, the nuclear shell, the individual shell of the nucleons, and while quarks within a nucleon are generalized, not individualized, they share gluons between themselves.

There are differences: The difference between a computer and the brain is that the computer is like a hard-wired brain where the circuits never change. Messages

always travel the same circuits in computers: however, the same neurons do not always fire in the brain – that is the difference. The atom, behaves in a manner similar to the brain (or vice versa) in the sense that the actual circuits (messenger particle wave functions) are always changing. There are millions of atoms in large proteins that are tuned-into each other via sophisticated communication channels broadcasting through the medium of inter-atomic space like microwave communication broadcasts through empty atmospheric space. Transmission from atom to atom is predominately through empty space. Atoms, then, are rather sophisticated pieces of electronic machinery in their organization performing deductions on, calculations on, and interacting intelligently with their environment.

3. BRAIN - COMPUTER INTERFACING (BCI) Cybernetics, bionics and brain workings are top priority research areas. Brain implants have for long been subjects of sci-fi horror tales in which governments use them to control populations. The first brain implants were surgically inserted in 1874 in the state of Ohio, U.S.A., and also in Stockholm, Sweden. Brain electrodes were inserted into the skulls of babies in 1946 without the knowledge of their parents. In the 50's and 60's, electrical implants were inserted into the brains of animals and humans. Mind control (MC) methods were used in attempt to change human behavior and attitudes. Influencing brain functions became an important goal of military and intelligence services. Thirty years ago brain implants showed up in x-rays the size of one centimeter. Subsequent implants shrunk to the size of a grain of rice. They were made of silicon, later still of gallium arsenide. Today they are small enough to be inserted into the neck or back, and also intravenously in different parts of the body during surgical operations,

with or without the consent of the subject. It is now almost impossible to detect or remove them. Today's microchips operate by means of low-frequency radio waves that target them. With the help of satellites, the implanted person can be tracked anywhere on the globe. Such a technique was among a number tested in the Iraq war, according to Dr. Carl Sanders, who invented the intelligence-manned interface (IMI) biotic, which is injected into people. The U.S. National Security Agency's (NSA) 20 billion bits/second supercomputers could now "see and hear" what soldiers experience in the battlefield with a remote monitoring system (RMS). When a 5-micromillimeter microchip is placed into optical nerve of the eye, it draws neuroimpulses from the brains that embody the experiences, smells, sights and voice of the implanted person. Once transferred and stored in a computer, these neuroimpulses can be projected back to the person's brain via the microchip to be re-experienced. Using a RMS, a land-based computer operator can send electromagnetic messages (encoded as signals) to the nervous system, affecting the target's performance. With RMS, healthy persons can be induced to see hallucinations and to hear voices in their heads.

Figure 1: Sensor implanted in Brain

Every thought, reaction, hearing and visual observation causes a certain neurological potential, spikes, and patterns in the brain and its electromagnetic fields, which can now be decoded into thoughts, pictures and voices. Electromagnetic stimulation can therefore change a person's brainwaves and affect muscular activity, causing painful muscular cramps experienced as torture. The NSA's electronic surveillance system can simultaneously follow and handle millions of people. Each of us has a unique bioelectrical resonance frequency in the brain, just like we have unique fingerprints. With electro-magnetic frequency (EMF) brain stimulation fully coded, pulsating electromagnetic signals can be sent to the brain, causing the desired voice and visual effects to be experienced by the target. The NSA's Signals Intelligence can remotely monitor information from human brains by decoding the evoked potentials (3.50HZ, 5 miliwatt) emitted by the brain.

4. PROJECT CYBORG In the UK two internationally renowned professors, in the department of Cybernetics at the University of Reading, Brian Andrews and Kevin Warwick, together with the eminent neurosurgeon Peter Teddy have just taken a step closer to this dream. The team has come together from different branches of Cybernetics and Neurosurgery. Kevin Warwick specializes in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics and Brian Andrews in the field of Biomedical Engineering, Neural Prostheses and Spinal Injuries. Peter Teddy has a long involvement with neural implants and is the head of Neurosurgery at Oxford. A sophisticated new microelectronic implant has been developed that allows two-way connection to the nervous system. In one direction, the natural activities of nerves are detected and in the other, nerves can be activated by applied electrical pulses. It is envisaged that such neural connections may, in the future, help people with spinal cord injury or limb amputation. The microelectronic chip implant, shown in figure 4, comprises an array of fine spikes with sensitive tip electrodes. These spike electrodes are extremely thin, similar in dimension to a human hair. They can safely penetrate nerve tissue and allow the activity

of axons close to each tip to be recorded or stimulated i.e. the array chip allows a twoway interface. The device has been inserted into the median nerve of a healthy volunteer -Professor Kevin Warwick. In this way the basic safety and function of the device can be established before it is explored further in patients. The median nerve contains a mixture of many individual sensory and motor axons. The sensory axons conduct signals generated by skin receptors in response to temperature and pressure changes applied in the region of the thumb, index and middle fingers and palm.

Figure 4: Diagram of Implant

Motor axons that are located within the median nerve conduct signals from the spinal cord to muscles, such as the thenar muscle group located at the base of the thumb. The array was inserted into the median nerve such that the sensitive tips of the microelectrodes were distributed within the nerve trunk.

Some electrodes can pick up signals from sensory axons whilst others pick up mainly motor axon signals. Others pick up a mix of the two. The array is connected to an external amplifier and signal processing system through fine wires passing through the skin. A main objective, at this stage, is to demonstrate clinical and technical feasibility of implanting the array safely, with minimal discomfort for a prolonged period without infection.

Now recording nerve signals from individual axons with sufficient fidelity to allow them to discriminate them from background noise. In a series of tests, specific sensory stimuli (for example light touch, vibration heat etc.) will be carefully applied to various points on the skin whilst recording the microelectrode signals. These signals will be computer analyzed in an attempt to identify the type of receptors being excited. In other tests, Professor Warwick will contract his thenar muscles to generate controlled movement and force whilst the corresponding activity from the microelectrodes will be examined to determine if motor and sensory activity can be adequately separated. Two examples are given below to illustrate the sort of applications we have in mind. Even after spinal injury the nervous tissue below the lesion is usually alive and operating even though it is disconnected from the brain i.e. signals are still being naturally generated by sensory receptors and transmitted to the spinal cord but are not perceived by the brain. Similarly, signals are still being put out by the spinal cord and causing muscles to contract. However, these contractions are reflexive and not voluntarily controlled contractions. Tetraplegics cannot voluntarily move or feel their hands; microelectrode arrays could in principle be inserted into the median and radial nerves.

Muscles that control the hand could be activated using electrical pulses to microelectrodes close to the axons innervating those muscles. Electrical pulses could be generated precisely using a microcomputer as part of some future neuroprosthesis. Receptors in the patient’s skin and muscle will fire as the hand opens, makes contact and grasps an object. The receptor signals would be detected by the microelectrodes positioned close to their axons and fed out to the controlling microcomputer which, in turn, would automatically regulate the degree of activation of muscles, so as not to grip the object too tightly or loosely. It may also be possible to feed back sensory signals picked up by microelectronic arrays in the hand and impose them onto sensory pathways above the level of the lesion using another array. These arrays may even be inserted into the motor cortex to provide brain signals for the control system, just as Weiner had envisaged. Other potential applications in spinal cord injury are envisaged, including, devices to improved bladder and bowel control and perhaps facilitate standing and walking in paraplegics. Amputees still have living nerves in their stumps into which microelectrode arrays could be inserted. These nerve stumps still relay voluntary signals to amputated muscles and are still capable of conducting sensory signals that previously originated in the amputated skin and muscles. For the amputee, miniature force, pressure and temperature sensors can be built into the artificial limb. These sensors could be connected to a control microcomputer which would in turn generate and apply pulses to electrode tips that have been previously associated with the appropriate sensation. If a hand amputee, wearing such prosthesis fitted with miniature pressure sensors in the index finger tip were to touch or press on object, the fingertip sensor would generate an electrical signal proportional to the applied pressure. This pressure signal could then be acquired by a microcomputer, which would then apply stimulus pulses to sensory nerve fibers within the stump using a microelectrode array to recreate realistic sensation of pressure at the index fingertip.

It is also possible to speculate that such devices could be used in the future to extend the capabilities of ordinary humans, for example enabling extra sensory input and to provide new methods of communication with machines or other humans. Although this may sound, to some, rather alarming, futuristic and more the domain of Cyborg science fiction, it is emphasize that the short term goals of our work are aimed at developing useful clinical applications within present day ethical constraints It should be emphasized that although an exciting step has been taken it is still very early days. The examples we have indicated are speculative at this, stage and although we are cautiously optimistic, a great deal of work remains to be done to determine if the approach is practical. Furthermore, significant technical development is required to make these devices available to patients.

5. CURENTLY USED BIONIC DEVICES

Most of current prosthetic technology is based on human electrophysiology or more specifically electromycography (EMG), which is the measure of electrical activity of skeletal muscle.

The Boston Elbow

The most popular prosthetic bionic arm is The Boston Elbow. It is an artificial arm that is powered by battery and controlled by signals originating from the amputee's muscle stump. Such a control process is called mycoelectric. The electrodes are located in the socket of the prosthesis, which detect the electrical charges accompanying the contraction of the muscles in the stump. These signals are processed and interpreted by a resident computer in the prosthesis which transmits appropriate commends to the motor nerves in

the arm either to flex or to extend the arm in question. The elbow moves at speeds that are relative to the amputee's muscle contraction. Artificial Heart Several models of Artificial hearts have been introduced with some success, and some are still under clinical trials. Popular models of Artificial hearts developed include 'Liotta heart', 'Jarvik-7', and 'Jarvik 2000'. All these models have been implanted in live patients and met with varied success. The latest model of artificial heart is the 'AbioCor' which is termed as the first fully implantable artificial heart. After implantation, the device does not require tubes or wires to pass through the skin. Power to drive the prosthetic heart is transmitted across the skin, reducing chances for infections. This device has both external and internal control units which constantly interact. The device can adjust its rate of function in accordance with the patient's activity and also has a monitoring system. Just like a natural heart, it has two ventricles (pumping chambers). It draws power from a battery pack. The next sets of devices are those which come closest to the FUC's. These involve the introduction of a human-neural integration. These third generation devices can control or alter the nerve signals to monitor or correct any of the many physiological processes. Some of these devices are described below.

Artificial leg with feedback mechanism It is also a prosthetic device equipped with pressure and temperature sensors. These sensors give a feedback to a responsive part of the body through a network of electrodes implanted. Such feedback mechanisms are important, especially in the leg prosthetic as it helps to keep posture and in maintaining balance, thus preventing injury to the person.

7. FUTURE FANTACY The Futuristic cyborgs (FUC) are totally fabricated and they bear no resemblance to any of the real world. These cyborgs live in a fantasy world where they are capable of extraordinary feats and are also equally matched by their opponents. They usually have higher responsibilities of saving the planet and the galaxy from destruction. The FUC's are totally merged into a human-machine interface. In such representations, they can transform into war machines as seen in the cartoon series "CENTURIONS"(1985) and “POWERRANGERS "(1993). Their personalities can also be uploaded into various machines. There is neither any special importance nor there is any importance to human character. The whole idea is that they are literally born as cyborgs and their whole world compliments their nature.

These are the cyborgs that truly portray the human spirit by offering glimpses into the question of irreversibility of cyborgation. The Teen Titans, a teenager reconditioned cyborg, finds it difficult to fit in with the normal human society since the society is not yet ready to accept the cyborg as a human being. Similarly, if the ROBOCOP wishes to return to a fully human being/life then it is also not possible. They are forced to remain a cyborg. Such ethical dilemmas offer a rare preview of what the cyborg would really appear emotionally, if their superhuman fantasy role is stripped off from them. For the reluctant cyborgs, the cyborg body is a prison. Fantasy has led to several other radical views also. The most important view may be found from STELARC (2000). He has suggested the following points for consideration in the process of cyborgation. 1. An amplified body, which would have a series of choreographed lights emanating from the body whenever a physiological process takes place. 2. A third arm that could be used as an addition and controlled by muscles in other parts of the body, 3. Concepts of introducing body to internet so that remote activation can be carried out.

Fantasy also dictates the use of a cyborg body to provide all kinds of pleasures, including implants to accelerate various emotions. Various representations of the cyborg of fantasy offer us a varied insight into human character and identity. While some cyborgs are superheroes, others are also reluctant participants of cyborgation. These show varied vies of current human tendencies towards modern technology i.e. whether, in the future, such technological extension of cyborgation will be accepted as a normal technological process! Also, the cyborgs of fantasy offer several insights into gender description. Usually, the female cyborg is more masculine in character as in the case of character called "MOLLY" in William Gibson's "NEUROMANCER". But, in all the fantasy cyborgs, neither the human biology is forgotten totally nor is there any construction of a social system around it. But, the society and the cyborg are seen in fantasy roles as complimentary to each other.

To quote Steven hawking;” In contrast with our intellect, computers double their performance every 18 months. So the danger is real that they could develop intelligence and take over the world.”