The cyborg, or cybernetic organism, is “a person whose physiological functioning is aided by or dependent upon an electrical or mechanical device.”  In one sense, that sounds like everyone on this planet today, even if we don’t quite feel like a bionic human (as the Merriam-Webster Dictionary adds to the definition).   Cybernetics is a field concerned with communications and control systems in humans, particularly comparing biological and artificial systems.  Rooted in the Greek term for steering or the helmsman (kybernetes), the idea of cybernetics seems to point in a certain direction (i.e., the whole control systems thing).

A cyborg, then, is a living being to whom the field of cybernetics has been applied.  The OED adds the idea that this application of cybernetics to a human stretches the limitations of that being, making that which was once unattainable, possible for the creature via electronic or mechanical attachments or additions to the body.  Again, bionic humans.

It is obvious why the cyborg life would be so appealing.  The cyborg shakes off human limitations, doing things that are impossible for humans who are not similarly “upgraded.”  And I wonder sometimes just how far away we are from the day when this cyborg living becomes a reality. 

Of course, one could argue that such a day is already here, what with surgeries that can be performed remotely, or even devices as seemingly simple as hearing aids.  It would seem that the day of the cyborg is already upon us.

One aspect of cyborg living that science fiction writers from Isaac Asimov to David Zindell have dreamed of in their various works is the melding of a pilot with his or her vehicle, to the extent that the vehicle and its driver seem to become one.  That’s a dream that can seem very close to reality when you spend a day driving a well-made machine, especially when you consider how much further the machine takes you than you would have been able to travel in the same time on your own feet.

Cyborgs have always intrigued me, from the old Six Million Dollar Man TV series to the best The Matrix has to offer.  I’ve recently been working on a series of poems that considers the life of the cyborg, poking at the question of how different or similar we might be to that existence today, and exploring the hybrid nature of the cyborg existence.  The collection seems to have been coming together nicely of late, though I know there is still room for improvement.  It is good, though, to see one’s interests begin to take shape in a form that is pleasing.

 

© 2008 Shelly Bryant