The Science Behind: Cyborgs

Greetings, fellow word mothers and fathers!

I recently found myself rewriting my historical fiction novel that was set in the late 1700s, and I changed a few things. By a few things, I mean that one of the side characters is now a main character (sneaky side characters 🙄), and that the side-turned-main character happens to be a cyborg, and--oh yes! Everything is now set in the 2040 area. My dilemma? I know nothing about cyborgs.

--And that's where I am now as I start this post.

This post will document my research on cyborgs and hopefully help a few of you writers out there as well! In fact, this will be the start of a new series of posts called: The Science Behind {fill in the blank}. I can't promise that I will solve all of your questions, (and if you have any more questions that I don't cover, please let me know!) but I will try my hardest.

CYBORGS.

They're cool, mechanical, human, mysterious, and make for an awesome character. Even if it's a villain. (*cough* *cough* Darth Vader, anyone?)

Cyborgs are any type of person or animal with anything computerized that is somehow part of them. This can be anything from antennas to help restore sight by sending vibrations to the brain, to hooking the nervous system up to a mechanical arm.

Mechanical prosthetics usually try to mimic pre-existing body parts as closely as possible, allowing metal hands to hold things, prosthetic legs to walk smoothly, eyes to record videos for the brain, etc.

So let's say your character found themselves in a horrible car accident. They have lost all use of their legs, their arms, their neck--maybe their entire body. Let's say they're completely paralyzed. A doctor could bring back the use of their nerves, restoring their ability to feel, move, etc.

Now if your character is being tampered with to make them stronger, maybe they have arms of metal for strength purposes--maybe even a whole suit to help them out. Maybe parts of their brain are computerized, enabling them to mentally search the web for anything they need to know in a matter of seconds.

I found myself asking things like "How much of my character is a mechanical?", or "What parts are computerized and what parts are just basic metal and silicone?" or "If I transform certain areas of the brain, will that mess with how the character acts? Their personality?" I couldn't find any info on this last one, but I do know that tampering with certain areas of the brain (or even blunt-force-trauma) can make a usually-calm-person severely violent.

Something I realized was that Nanotechnology can be used for working on delicate areas of the body. This raised some more questions.

Can nanobots be injected into the blood in order to build on the brain?

Yes--but I don't know about the injection-via-blood part. I couldn't find info on that question. If I do find anything on that then I'll update this post.

Can nanotech work on other areas of the body without the body having to be operated on?

Also yes! And doctors are already experimenting with it in some places.

What is nanotechnology?

Nanotech, or more specifically, nanobots, are very, very tiny robots (or AI) that sometimes can't be seen because they're so small. They usually work in groups and can share data over their own sort of Bluetooth, allowing them to live as one being, even though there are tons of them. They can sometimes be used for delicate surgeries.

What are Cyborgs?

Cyborg is short for "cybernetic organism", and is a being with both organic (natural) and biomechatronic (prosthetic) body parts.

The term cyborg is not the same thing as bionic, biorobot or android; it applies to an organism that has restored function or enhanced abilities due to the integration of some artificial component or technology that relies on some sort of feedback. While cyborgs are usually human, they can be any kind of organism, depending on the species.

Scientists are questioning whether or not certain cyborgs age the same as humans and are trying to think of a new way of counting their age. This could add some interesting. . . color to your cyborg character.

"In 1997, Philip Kennedy, a scientist and physician, created the world's first human cyborg from Johnny Ray, a Vietnam veteran who suffered a stroke. Ray's body, as doctors called it, was "locked in". Ray wanted his old life back so he agreed to Kennedy's experiment. Kennedy embedded an implant he designed (and named "neurotrophic electrode") near the part of Ray's brain so that Ray would be able to have some movement back in his body. The surgery went successfully, but in 2002, Johnny Ray died. In contrast to replacement technologies, in 2002, under the heading Project Cyborg, a British scientist, Kevin Warwick, had an array of 100 electrodes fired into his nervous system in order to link his nervous system into the internet to investigate enhancement possibilities. With this in place, Warwick successfully carried out a series of experiments including extending his nervous system over the internet to control a robotic hand, also receiving feedback from the fingertips in order to control the hand's grip. This was a form of extended sensory input. Subsequently, he investigated ultrasonic input in order to remotely detect the distance to objects. Finally, with electrodes also implanted into his wife's nervous system, they conducted the first direct electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans." ~Wikipedia.

Cyborgs, in short, are a blend of organic and prosthetic cyber mechanisms. If you have something as simple, for lack of a better word, as an electronic eye, you are a cyborg.

I hope this was helpful and I wish you the best with your writing!

In Christ alone,

~Daisy.