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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.
- 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
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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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