{ "schemaVersion": 1, "id": "texto-cyborg", "language": "en", "canonical": "https://paynalton.tech/en/works/cyborg/", "title": "Cyborg", "summary": "Identity, memory and personal continuity in networks and computers.", "author": "Paynalton", "format": "essay", "year": 2010, "source": "https://montanaplateada.blogspot.com/2010/02/cyborg.html", "partial": false, "topics": [ { "title": "Philosophical reflections", "url": "https://paynalton.tech/en/topics/lectura-categoria-reflexiones-filosoficas/" }, { "title": "Philosophical reflection", "url": "https://paynalton.tech/en/topics/lectura-reflexion-filosofica/" }, { "title": "Philosophy of Technology", "url": "https://paynalton.tech/en/topics/lectura-filosofia-de-la-tecnologia/" }, { "title": "Digital Identity", "url": "https://paynalton.tech/en/topics/lectura-identidad-digital/" }, { "title": "Memory", "url": "https://paynalton.tech/en/topics/lectura-memoria/" }, { "title": "Death", "url": "https://paynalton.tech/en/topics/lectura-muerte/" } ], "body": "What is a cyborg??

According to [Wikipedia](http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciborg):
\n\n> The term was coined by [Manfred E. Clynes](http://es.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Manfred_E._Clynes&action;=edit&redlink;=1 \"Manfred E. Clynes (aún no redactado)\") and [Nathan S. Kline](http://es.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nathan_S._Kline&action;=edit&redlink;=1 \"Nathan S. Kline (aún no redactado)\") in [1960](http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960 \"1960\") to refer to an enhanced human who could survive in [extraterrestrial](http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestre \"Extraterrestre\") environments. They arrived at this idea after considering the need for a closer relationship between humans and machines at a time when the new frontier represented by [space exploration](http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploraci%C3%B3n_del_espacio \"Exploración del espacio\") was beginning to take shape. As a designer of physiological instrumentation and data processing systems, Clynes was the scientific director of the Rockland State Hospital Dynamic Simulation Laboratory, in [New York](http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nueva_York \"Nueva York\").\n\n
It is true that this has been nothing more than pure science fiction, yet time moves so fast that sooner or later fate surprises us with a simple: \"Hello, I'm here... Were you waiting for me?\"

A fusion between a human being and a machine... certainly a romantic idea for some, disgusting for others. Convenient for the first and a damned technological aberration for the second.

The truth is that when the future becomes present, we rarely realize what is happening. And I doubt many people have realized that cyborgs already exist and are walking among us.

No... don't look for a person with mechanical parts instead of biological ones... better look out the window, or, more likely, perhaps if you look in the mirror you might see one.

Now I get it:

Friend, that computer that emerged some decades ago and whose failure in the market meant ruin for its creator started a revolution. Well, not a revolution in the traditional sense, but certainly the beginning of a process of human-machine union.

Microsoft and Mac have supported the initiative, with the former taking the lead by making users feel that their computers weren't just friendly, but were part of them.

\"My music\", \"My images\", \"My videos\", \"My life\"... this personalization attracted a large number of users to their systems and a great deal of money to their pockets. But it also caused a radical change in the generations of individuals who were born and grew up with the possibility of storing their memories in a file.

Originally a human being has only a brain to carry with them their knowledge, memories, emotions. Biologically, every human being can express their feelings through words, sound, and body dynamics.

However, a human being who relies solely on their biological means to remember and express themselves is an inefficient being. Computer networks allow for multiple means of expression.

A biological human being experiences a new experience, stores it in their memory, and keeps it forever. If it is significant enough, that human shares the experience with others and listens to opinions and expressions from the people around them.

A cyborg experiences an event, does not bother to remember the most important details, but instead tries to capture all the details, despite knowing their brain will not be able to remember everything after a few days. The cyborg documents the moment by taking photographs and videos of what is happening.

In the end, the human body and mind are just part of the cyborg. It is an interface with reality that is in charge of collecting all possible information from that experience.

Once it has a moment of calm, this cyborg turns to its technological part: a computer that allows access to its virtual personality.

The images and videos are downloaded into \"Profiles,\" where they are organized by date and type of experience. The memories the cyborg has captured complement the multimedia content in the form of titles, descriptions, poems, or whatever the cyborg finds most convenient. It even goes so far as to complement material with images, videos, and texts from other people that in some way fit the experience being recorded.


Once the biological part of the cyborg has delivered all relevant information, it can forget with ease. All that information is permanently stored in computers protected and secured thousands of kilometers away from the cyborg itself, along with the memories of millions of other beings like it.

That information is treated as important, protected, and backed up by hundreds of professionals who would give their lives to protect the memories of those thousands of people.

The cyborg no longer needs to directly see other people to transmit their experience, but instead the experience can go around the world in less than a second and be shown to millions of people who will accept it, form opinions, and share their own experiences as well.

Even if the cyborg meets others and wishes to express themselves through traditional means, it is common for them to support their stories with images and videos taken from a cell phone, a laptop, or any device with a smile on their lips and saying: \"Look, I took some pictures.\"

In the end, the cyborg is more efficient than the biological human being because it can store and express a greater range of information, however it has its drawbacks:

When a cyborg is isolated from its technological part for too long, the biological part suffers from that separation. Comments such as \"Without internet I can't live,\" \"I'm dying, the computer won't turn on,\" or \"A virus has deleted all the important things I had on my computer,\" are common among cyborgs who for one reason or another are separated.

A feeling of loneliness and anxiety, of feeling incomplete, overwhelms cyborgs who cannot communicate with others, look at their memories or those of other people.

In addition, despite the biological part aging and dying, the technological part is perpetuated eternally by the legion of engineers who do not know if the owners of the memories are still alive or not.

In that way, the death of a cyborg, unlike a common human being, is not complete. Although the biological part has died, the thoughts, memories and attitudes that the cyborg has transferred from its biological part to its technological part will live eternally.

This in a way affects the grieving processes of other people, whether cyborgs or not, who subconsciously realize that a person has not ceased to exist completely and treasure that part that remains of their loved ones, thus avoiding completing the grieving process that helps common human beings to overcome losses.

It is thus more than a fantasy, it is a reality difficult to comprehend.

There are people whose multiple personalities operate in the technological part. Personalities that for one reason or another never see reality, that live online.

Personalities that from the shadows love, fight, cry. That in the net can speak, can **feel!!!**
**And you can't make it stop rolling!!!!
Because I am the sun!!!**
**I am the Man of the Silver Mountain!!!**\n" }