A common understanding of cyborgs is that they are humans with mechanical elements built into them to extend their limitations, much like Robocop. But Amber Case describes us all as cyborgs, every time we do any sort of interaction through technology. That is because even though this technology may not be physically built into us, we still exceed the limitations we once had by connecting with people worldwide through a few clicks. On the other hand, because this technology is not built into us, not a complete part of us, we become split into 2 counterparts, an online persona, and an analog persona. this is only natural, we feel different types of intimacy when living each persona. Our online persona gives us ambient intimacy, where we can connect to anyone we want even if for a short period of time, while our analog selves crave a closeness and familiarity. Only problem is, people stopped taking the time to to mentally reflect and are obsessed with gathering as much attention as possible, turning into an addiction. technology is connecting us all, but are these connections as meaningful as they should be?

Augmented reality bursts through our lives in a way that we have never ever dreamed. Though the internet has long commanded dating and masturbating, it’s only been as a kind of middleman. Now, the prospect of falling in love with your machine is a serious discussion, as finding your dream partner might be as easy as putting on an Oculus Rift. The Oculus rift is the world’s most advanced VR headset, its been widely used for gaming, and entertainment purposes like pornography giving a closer, more real experience. This is a completely different approach than that of sex dolls to fulfill sexual desires, only its completely virtual, discarding the senses that make physical intimacy what it is. Man’s relationship with a humanoid machine has become a wildly discussed subject, but in this case there’s nothing materialistic to connect with. What kind of relationship would that be?

This documentary showcases Yuki the “Robot professor”, a robot equipped with artificial intelligence and an assistant to professor Jurgen Handke in the university of Germany. Yuki is known to be approachable, very knowledgeable, and can “sense” how well students are doing academically and the kind of help they need. Despite all of that, professor Handke insists that Yuki is only an assistant and cannot replace him. This may be because Yuki is still inferior to him, but would professor Handke, or even us, acknowledge a robot as a teacher?

Ill link the video down below for anyone Interested!

I’m sure you’ve all heard of the Simpson’s predictions. The animated sitcom has depicted major events that would later occur in real life, such as 9/11 and the coronavirus pandemic. Although they may be slightly exaggerated, the predictions were accurate enough to result in a storm of conspiracy theories around the series.

Well I’ve come across a funny and quite unique prediction on the show “Family guy” and Im sure this is the only place where i can actually share it.

Link to the article: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/02/scientists-make-artificial-skin-for-robotic-androids.html

Over the course of this, well, course, we have been exploring the thin line that remains between humans and robots. Historically we have seen that many aspects which used to differentiate (wo)man and machine, have dissolved into a faded line.

The first aspect which differentiated us was the physical. Robots have always looked different to some extent from us, this is no longer the case. In fact, this aspect has been the most developed out of all other aspects. Robots are now mimicking human movements and are designed to exhibit human characteristics. This is especially evident in sex bots, which need to properly mimic complex human movements, as well as look and feel human. With this, we have lost an important differential aspect.

The second main aspect I think was a great divider was intelligence. As we all know, the developments made with artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms have further thinned the line between human and machine intelligence. Robots are now able to learn, and are able to change their thinking processes based on experiences, just as humans.

Now, Robots are able to feel textures, surface areas, heat, and moisture of surfaces. Although the technology is still in development, it is much closer to achieving a similar efficacy at touching senses as a normal human. As stated in the article ” So far, robots have been used mostly for their strength and focused intelligence, but over the next few years there will be an increasing need for robots that instill a sense of humanity.” And although the article mainly discusses the industrial applications of this and the jobs that may be replaced by automata because of this feature. However, I dare begin to question the possible alternative uses of this technology. Could this be another major leap towards erasing the differences between humans and robots, I believe it might well be!

This video initiates with a doll and limbs creator who designs them according to his customers’ desires to satisfy them. But this is not the main content of the video, as further presented, how these dolls were used in a college campus as a way to help raise awareness or educate college students about rape that occurs there. Regarding my own point of view, the experiment held to the 3 college guys was a new one, with a purpose of allowing them to be held accountable for the responsibility of the safety for these female dolls during a normal day at campus. Through out this course sex dolls or robots have been discussed to satisfy the sexual desires of their purchasers or manufacturers, and as I could recall it was not possible by any means to believe that they could have any other purposes in real life to accomplish. On the other hand, on top of the fact which by looking at sex robots they definitely emphasize how far technology has been going, the posted video sheds a light on how the lady used such dolls to howsoever educate college students about sex, in contrast to the creator’s purpose of creating them, which personally impressed me. Ending the video was a situation the lady has put a guy in to allow guys to feel what it is actually like to be accused and not capable to defend himself, similar to rape victims when they begin a rape accusation against a guy who might have consciously did so. This is a totally new way for holding experiments that manipulate people not only on a mental level but emotionally as well, lighting a path of modern education techniques exactly like how my Cyborgs class which challenges my class mates and my own minds to enhance the way we regard and think about certain aspects from various perspectives.

As we all know, technology is evolving exponentially. I came across this video on YouTube and got an incite on how the transportaion system can be in 30 years. It was very interesting, because the video talked about many forms of transportation.

Firstly, they talk about the Starship Super Heavy Earth to Earth. The latter basically allows you to travel from one country to the other in under an hour. For example, it would take 29 mins to go from London to Dubai, which usually takes around 7 hours. It made me realize how technology saves an extreme amount of time, making our lives easier.

Secondly, the Hyperloop One is a pod-like car, where a couple of pods are placed inside a single tube and they travel like a train does, on a railway. The video gives an example of man in Dubai who wants to go somewhere that’s almost 5 hours away, but he has the option of riding the Hyperloop One that will only take him 48 minute to get his destination. He goes to the nearest Hyperloop One station which is only a 5 minute walk from his workplace and then rides the pod.Like the Starship it saves an excessive amount of time and people will be able to go to the farthest of places, without dealing with the long hours of a bus ride.

Thirdly, underground tunnels transportation is viewed in the video, where cars are able to go underground, using a stand on the side of the road that is lowered to the underground tunnels. This helps cars avoid traffic, as well as decreases the amount of cars on the road. This would be very beneficial, especially in Egypt, since we have this issue of overpopulation and narrow roads.

Overall, I believe that these technological forms of transportation will be extremely useful for humans, however, these types of transportation may be expensive for certain classes in society, because it will require a lot of money to be made.

There are many other types of transportation mentioned in the video. Click here to watch the video!

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/15/elon-musk-cyborgs-robots-artificial-intelligence-is-he-right

“So where does the science end and the science fiction start?”

According to Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, artificial intelligence is taking over the world, therefore, humans need to become cyborgs to stay relevant. The rise of machines, robots, and artificial intelligence will lead to mass unemployment. Soon, there will barley be any jobs that humans can do that robots can’t do better.

To still be of value, humans must merge biological intelligence with artificial intelligence. In a couple of years, humans will have gathered enough information about neurology, so they will be able to produce neuroprosthetics. These neuroprosthetics will give humans the capability of telepathy, extra memory, and the ability to see in the dark.

Brain-computer interfaces have been used before, but in a much simpler manner. Mainly, they were used to “restore motor control for paralyzed patients and enable communication for [patients] with brain injuries that prevent them from communicating verbally or gesturally.

There is no doubt that robots are replacing humans in a variety of fields. However, one field I have never imagined a robot to replace humans in is education. There is something about teachers and their relationships with students that makes a change in students’ lives. But I am not able to imagine that same effect or relationship between students and robots. Teaching is more than just reciting concepts. But, teacher robots are making their debut all around the world. Here is a video of a robot teaching a class in India. Her presence looks creepily realistic. Take a look at it, I personally do not feel that I’d want myself, or anyone in fact, around a robot that much because I believe that is plays an effect on delveopment.