Archive for Cyborg / Transhumanism

Cyborg Camp YVR 2013 is happening on May 11, 2013 in Vancouver

April 13, 2013 cyberpunk Cyborg / Transhumanism, Events, Futurism No comments

Cyborg Camp YVR 2013 conference in VancouverCyborg Camp 2013 will be held in MAKe’s warehouse in Vancouver BC, Canada. CyborgCamp is a not-for-profit conference about technology and how it affects humanity. Topics such as the the Internet of Things, future of communication, anthropology, cyborg technology, psychology, and social media will be discussed in the event. There will also be an art gallery and interactive installations/wearable computing.

 

When: May 11, 2013 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM (PDT)
Where: MAKe, 257 East 7th Avenue, Vancouver BC, Canada

 

Speakers:

Amber Case – Director, Esri R&D
Shane Luke, VP of Product, Recon Instruments
Michael Smit, CEO Invoke Media / Invoke labs
Ben Bashord, Experience Architect
Alex Beim, Founder of Tangible Interaction
Kharis O’Connell, Director of User Experience, Global Mechanic
Ryan Betts, Director of User Experience at Bazinga

 

Click here for more details about the speakers and their subjects of expertise. A map of the venue can be found here.

Cyborg Camp YVR 2013 is organized by The Holon Group in association with MAKe. Tickets are sold for CA$ 75 at Eventbrite.

 

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Real-life cyborg Neil Harbisson and the Cyborg Foundation

March 19, 2013 cyberpunk Cyborg / Transhumanism No comments

real-life cyborg Neil Harbisson and his eyeborg“Cyborg Foundation”, the short documentary by Spanish director Rafel Duran Torrent won the $100,000 Grand Jury Prize in the Focus Forward Filmmaker Competition at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The short film features 30-year-old Neil Harbisson, the first man to be officially recognized a cyborg by a government (his device is included in his passport photo).

Harbisson was born with achromatopsia, a condition where a person is completely colorblind. In 2004, he collaborated with the computer scientist Adam Montandon to have a head-mounted camera called eyeborg implanted in his skull. The eyeborg converts colors into audio waves in real-time, allowing Harbisson to “hear” the colors he sees. Harbisson calls this unique perception “sonochromatism”. The device can detect 360 colors that the human eye can normally perceive, as well as infrared and ultraviolet light.

In 2010, Neil Harbisson and Moon Ribas founded the Cyborg Foundation, an international non-profit organization that aims to help humans become cyborgs, promote the use of cybernetics as part of the human body, and to defend cyborg rights. The foundation has also experimented with other sensory devices, such as an “earborg,” which converts sound into color, and a “speedborg,” which lets people detect movement through vibrating electronic earrings.

For Harbisson, what makes him a cyborg is not the union between the eyeborg and his head but the union between the software and his brain — his body and technology have united.


Image credit: TEDGlobal 2012 (Own work) | CC-BY-SA-3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Video credit: focusforwardfilms | Youtube

 

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Free to attend: 2nd Advancing Humanity Symposium at Stanford University, March 23, 2013

March 10, 2013 cyberpunk Cyborg / Transhumanism No comments

Advancing Humanity Symposium by the Stanford Transhumanist AssociationFor those of you who are interested in transhumanism and are located near Stanford University, you may want to check out the upcoming second-annual Advancing Humanity Symposium. The event is hosted by the Stanford Transhumanist Association and is free and open to the public.

Nine speakers, divided into three panels, will each present a distinct perspective on how emerging technologies and disruptive innovation may shape the near future of humanity.

When: Saturday, March 23, 2013, 10:00am-5:00pm in PDT

Where: Cubberley Auditorium, 485 LASUEN MALL, Stanford, California 94305

 

Schedule:

Defining Human – 10AM

Neil Harbisson (Cyborg Foundation) “I Listen to Color”
- www.goo.gl/NWVT8
Gregory Stock (Author of Redesigning Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future) “To Upgrade is Human”
- www.goo.gl/kYLNU
Natasha Vita-More (Humanity+) “How to Build a Better Being”
- www.goo.gl/Yh8Q1

Lunch Break – 12PM

Pioneering Ventures – 1PM

Stuart Armstrong (Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute) “Space Exploration and Colonization”
- www.goo.gl/Ibxa9
Alex Lightman (Author of Brave New Unwired World) “Why Every Stanford Student Should be a Transhumanist”
- www.goo.gl/DwtDB
Dickson Despommier (Columbia’s Environmental Health Sciences Department) “Vertical Farming and the Future of Urbanization”
- www.goo.gl/Y43FS

Representing the Future – 3PM

Giuseppe Vatinno (Italian Parliament) “One Giant Leap for Transhumanist Politics”
- www.goo.gl/YL5Au
Maria Konovalenko (Russian Longevity Party) “Catalyze or Die Trying”
- http://goo.gl/xi89d
Micah Daigle (Collective Agency) “Resilient Individuals and Syntropic Systems”
- www.goo.gl/flxYE

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/338219042964586/

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The bionic man named Rex and the man he is modeled after

February 11, 2013 cyberpunk Biomedical Engineering, Bionics, Cyborg / Transhumanism, Robotics No comments

A recent Channel 4 documentary titled How to Build a Bionic Man demonstrated the most advanced synthetic organs, limbs, and blood, through the construction of a 6.5-foot tall bionic man named Rex (short for ‘robotic exoskeleton’).

The program featured the social psychologist Bertolt Meyer and Rex — the first complete bionic man created by Shadow Robot Company’s Richard Walker and Matthew Godden using almost $1 million-worth of cutting edge body parts borrowed from leading laboratories and manufacturers. Rex has camera-equipped glasses, a cochlear implant, a battery-powered artificial heart, pancreas, kidney, spleen, trachea, legs, lungs, and synthetic blood made up of nanoparticles.

Rex the bionic man has fully-functional artificial organs

Bertolt Meyer was born without a left hand and now wears an i-Limb Ultra prosthetic hand. He was also the model for Rex’s face. In an interview with Telegraph, Meyer stated that he freaked out when he first saw Rex and felt awkward seeing his face on the mechanical man.

While assembled by roboticists, Rex is, strictly speaking, not a robot. He’s not a cyborg either. His parts are all man-made but fully-functional — each of them can or soon can replace a human being’s natural body part or internal organ.

Rex is currently on display at London’s Science Museum as part of the free exhibit How Much of You Can Be Rebuilt? until March 11, 2013.

Image and video credit: Channel4News / Youtube

 

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Death of a Cyborg, the updated version of the “The Last Mourning”

January 17, 2013 cyberpunk Cyborg / Transhumanism No comments

Remember the Cyberpunk version of M.C. Escher’s “Drawing Hands” that I posted last November?

The Canadian digital artist Debra Mason (more popularly known online as Shorra) has created an updated version of William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s “The First Mourning”. Shorra’s version is called Death of a Cyborg. “The First Mourning” or “Premier Deuil” in French was painted by William-Adolphe Bouguereau in 1888. It depicts the moment when Adam and Eve found the body of their son Abel, who was killed by his brother Cain.

Death of a Cyborg, Shorra's updated version of the "The Last Mourning"

 

Here’s the original version for reference:

"The First Mourning" painted by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

 

I like what Shorra did with her version. It is not overdone, which would have looked out of place given the style of the original painting. The cyborg details match the color scheme and overall tone of the painting. The new version retains the feelings of the original.

You can check out her other works of art at her Web site. A good mix of fantasy and whimsy. She also does commissions and restorations.

 

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Terminator? This Bebionic prosthetic hand is pretty sweet

December 12, 2012 cyberpunk Bionics, Cyborg / Transhumanism No comments

This bebionic3 prosthetic hand looks awesome as well as functional. Just watching this demo video is very entertaining. Here, the hand shows off its 14 grip patterns and how it handles everyday tasks, such as spreading butter on a slice of bread with a knife, clicking a computer mouse, stirring a cup of coffee, plugging in a USB stick, and writing a note.


Video credit: BebionicUK | Youtube

The beBionic v3 (BB3) hand and wrist prosthetic is designed and built by UK firm RSL Steeper. It is controlled by the muscles and moves to interpret the user’s will. It can even be used for doing delicate tasks, such as picking up an egg.

The hand is made from carbon fiber and is covered with a silicone skin. The silicone gloves come in 19 lifelike shades. A futuristic, badass-looking black glove is also available.

bebionic3 prosthetic hand flesh coloredBebionic v3 prosthetic hand black glove

Nigel Ackland lost his hand in an industrial accident years ago. Here he is demonstrating his bebionic3.


Video credit: jonmillsswns | Youtube

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