In this blog post, we will examine how human identity and autonomy are changing amid the advancement of cyborg technology, and what can preserve humanity.
“Sapiens” is a term used to refer to us, intelligent humans who are capable of thinking and making judgments. However, there are those who say that these intelligent sapiens are facing the end of the world. Readers who are familiar with stories of space wars between aliens aiming to conquer Earth may find the word “end” very negative. However, the end here is closer to a “transformation” than destruction. What does that mean? Let’s take a look at how sapiens are changing, how far they will change, and where they will ultimately end up from the perspective of cyborg engineering.
Let’s start with our daily lives. Think of your parents’ and siblings’ phone numbers right now. Do you know them all by heart? What about the numbers of your friends you see every day? In fact, when you are a high school student busy memorizing literary works, it may be a luxury to memorize phone numbers. However, as long as we have our trusty cell phones, we don’t need to worry about our poor memory. Not only can we save the numbers of our close friends, but we can also save the numbers of friends we may not see again until after college entrance exams. Furthermore, today we do not simply save phone numbers. Our smartphones and other digital devices manage countless photos, notes, appointments, and even our health status. This phenomenon is just one example of how deeply digital technology has become embedded in our daily lives.
In this trend, we are naturally becoming cyborgs. In movies, we often see cyborgs with arms that turn into rockets or fly through the sky. Although they seem to have warm hearts, they are far removed from us natural sapiens. However, according to Dr. Yuval Harari, we are currently on the border between humans and cyborgs. It may be difficult to understand what exactly is similar. However, cyborg refers to a combination of a living organism and a machine in which parts other than the brain have been replaced. We, who supplement our innate memory with mobile phones, can also be considered cyborgs in a sense. This is not a simple analogy, but a fact that reflects the evolution of modern society.
Let’s go a little deeper. This is where it gets interesting. Perhaps the cyborgs in movies will become commonplace in the near future. In 2008, scientists at Duke University in North Carolina implanted electrodes into the brain of a red-haired monkey named Aidoya, enabling remote control of artificial legs. They then successfully controlled a pair of artificial legs in Kyoto, Japan, using only Aidoya’s thoughts. Just as cyborgs do not necessarily have to look exactly like humans, their body parts do not have to be attached to their bodies. For example, if you are preparing for the college entrance exam in South Korea and your aunt in the US has two artificial arms, you could stay up all night studying and still be able to make her a birthday cake in the US “just by thinking about it.”
I think it would be exciting to have loyal workers who obey my every command scattered all over the planet. But that may not be the end of it. Let’s consider two possibilities. The first possibility is to store all of our mental abilities, such as our neural transmission capabilities and emotions, in machines. This could be considered a backup of the brain itself. It seems unlikely, but there is already a project underway to transfer all of the information and capabilities of our brains to computers. If this project is successful, it will become very easy to understand each other’s thoughts simply by connecting computers.
If you and your parents undergo this process, the moment the information is entered, you will not understand your parents’ feelings from their perspective, but you will simply “know” them. This is different from the human emotional exchange commonly referred to as “telepathy.” To explain the second possibility, I will cite Hillary Putnam’s “brain in a vat” hypothesis.
This hypothesis posits that the human brain can be separated from the body, placed in a container that allows it to continue functioning, and connected to a supercomputer. Originally proposed as a way to explain skepticism, it is quite a revolutionary idea in the field of cyborg engineering. This is because it may be possible to achieve eternal life for an individual by supplementing the finite human body with something else. Although this still sounds like science fiction, it cannot be said to be completely impossible. Furthermore, if our consciousness can be completely transferred to such a machine, the possibilities for transcending the limitations of the human body will be endless. At that point, it would not be an exaggeration to say that we have transformed into a new form of existence.
If we define the value of our existence as “thinking rationally with our own individuality,” then the two new forms mentioned above can still be considered as another version of “us.” However, would we still be biologically classified as Homo sapiens? The International Union of Botany defines a species as “a group of organisms that are similar in appearance and produce fertile offspring.” If so, it would be difficult to classify the aforementioned examples as Homo sapiens. I hope you now understand why I described the end of Homo sapiens as a transformation. The end of Homo sapiens is not extinction, but change.
We have seen that the fate of Sapiens is not an external extinction through a war with other species, but rather an autonomous extinction brought about by the development of cyborg engineering. Change is already happening. However, like frogs swimming leisurely in water that is gradually heating up, we are slow to notice the changes that are slowly approaching. The difference is that, unlike the frogs that will eventually die, our changes open up countless possibilities. When the world described above unfolds, the constraints of time and space will become meaningless, and treating patients with mental illness or paralysis may become as easy as eating cake. On the other hand, there is also a risk that privacy will be threatened and surveillance and control will become rampant. Ultimately, the key question is who will control the cyborgs of the future. As we enter a new era beyond natural humans, it is important that we take steps to maintain our independence regardless of how we change.
