Upgrading from Human to Cyborg

Professor Kevin Warwick, professor of cybernetics at the University of Reading, is attempting to become a cyborg. Later this month, he will have surgery to connect nerves in his arm with wires leading to a collection of microprosessors. The wires will transmit signals received from his central nervous system to an external computer.

Professor Warwick states, "Humans have limited capabilities. Humans sense the world in a restricted way, vision being the best of the senses. Humans understand the world in only 3 dimensions and communicate in a very slow, serial fashion called speech. But can this be improved on? Can we use technology to upgrade humans?" The question, however, may not be can we but, instead, should we upgrade humans? Political scientist Landon Winner of Rensselaer Plytechnic Institue in Troy, New York calls Professor Warwick's experiment as profoundly amoral. Winner says that such enhancement is a "matter for theologians, politicians, and citizens to address."

And for lawyers.

Michael A. Moreno, MTTLR