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- Cyborgs and cybernetics
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What are cyborgs? Would a cyborg future deliver positive human advances or a Hollywood-style nightmare in which human beings have become a sub-species? Could we one day download our minds? This album gives an insight into the development of cybernetics and how it is used to fuse technology and humanity. The interfaces that communicate between man and machine are developing rapidly and to Prof. Kevin Warwick at Reading University, cyborgs are a technological evolutionary step forward from humans. With increasingly intelligent robots and nano-technologies, can man keep up with the machines? This material forms part of The Open University course T209 Information and communication technologies: people and interactions.
By: The OpenLearn team (The Open University,)
- Duration 15 mins
- Updated Thursday 11th February 2010
- Posted under Engineering & Technology
Track 1: Cyborgs and cybernetics
A short introduction to this album.
© The Open University 2008
- Read a transcript of this track - you'll need a PDF viewer, such as Adobe's free Adobe Reader
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- See details of the Open University course this album comes from
- Discover more from The Open University and iTunesU at open.edu/itunes
Tracks in this podcast:
Track | Title | Description |
---|---|---|
1 | Cyborgs and cybernetics | A short introduction to this album. Play now Cyborgs and cybernetics |
2 | What are cyborgs? | Understanding cyborgs: Dr Manfred Clynes and Prof Kevin Warwick explain the fusion between technology and humanity. Play now What are cyborgs? |
3 | Cyclists as cyborgs | How Prof Tim Perkins uses cybernetics to create an interface which allows paraplegic people to use their limbs again. Play now Cyclists as cyborgs |
4 | Cyborgs have feelings | Kevin and Irena Warwick: the ultimate interface - communicating human feeling and emotion over the internet. Play now Cyborgs have feelings |
5 | Intelligent robots | Intelligent robots learn. Prof Kevin Warwick imagines a cyborg future where humans are a sub-species. Play now Intelligent robots |
6 | Downloading your soul | Endless memory: Ian Pearson of BT Technologies describes the possibility of downloading the entire contents of your mind onto a computer. Play now Downloading your soul |
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Publication details
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Originally published: Thursday, 11th February 2010
Copyright information
- Body text - Content : Copyright The Open University
- Audio/Video tracks: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 The Open University 2008
- Image 'Cyborgs and cybernetics' - Copyright: The Open University 2008
- Image 'Computer cabling' - Copyright free: dlohner
- Image 'Investigating bacterial communication' - Copyright: The Open University 2010
- Image 'Al Gore' - Copyright: Production team
- Image 'Chatting in a cafe' - Copyright: Thinkstock
- Image 'Dishes on the side of flats in Albania' - Copyright: BBC
- Image 'Elephants - more to them than meets the ear' - Copyright: Production team
- Image 'Learning, thinking and doing' - Copyright: Used with permission
- Image 'Twitter-style birds sitting on a hand' -
~Ilse under CC-BY-NC-ND licence
under Creative-Commons license - Image 'A map and a GPS device' - Copyright:
Dreamstime
- Image 'An 1855 Punch cartoon, in which Faraday hands a stinking Old Father Thames his card' - Copyright free: Punch
- Image 'Construction work in central London' - By Matt Buck under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 license
- Image 'Circuit board waste' - Ivan2010 under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license
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Publication details
-
Originally published: Thursday, 11th February 2010
Copyright information
- Body text - Content: Copyright The Open University
- Audio/Video tracks: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 The Open University 2008
- Image 'Cyborgs and cybernetics' - Copyright: The Open University 2008
- Image 'Computer cabling' - Copyright free: dlohner
- Image 'Investigating bacterial communication' - Copyright: The Open University 2010
- Image 'Al Gore' - Copyright: Production team
- Image 'Chatting in a cafe' - Copyright: Thinkstock
- Image 'Dishes on the side of flats in Albania' - Copyright: BBC
- Image 'Elephants - more to them than meets the ear' - Copyright: Production team
- Image 'Learning, thinking and doing' - Copyright: Used with permission
- Image 'Twitter-style birds sitting on a hand' -
~Ilse under CC-BY-NC-ND licence
under Creative-Commons license - Image 'A map and a GPS device' - Copyright:
Dreamstime
- Image 'An 1855 Punch cartoon, in which Faraday hands a stinking Old Father Thames his card' - Copyright free: Punch
- Image 'Construction work in central London' - By Matt Buck under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 license
- Image 'Circuit board waste' - Ivan2010 under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license
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- Image 'Microelectronic solutions for digital photography' - Copyright: Used with permission
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