Cyborg ready? ......ready or not here we come

News broke on Wired this week about a group of people who have implanted super magnets in the tip of their finger this week.

What if, you could feel the hard drive spin up under the load? Or you could tell if an electrical cord was live before you touched it? For the few people who have rare earth magnets implanted in their fingers, these are among the reported effects -- a finger that feels electromagnetic fields along with the normal sense of touch.



It's been described as a buzzing sensation, a tingling, an oscillation, movement, pure stimulation and, in the case of body-modification expert Shannon Larrett's encounter with a too-powerful antitheft gateway at a retail store, "Like sticking your hand in an ultrasonic cleaner."
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71087-0.html?tw=rss.index

Now this may or may not surprise you. It depends on what your thoughts are and if you've read Ray Kurzweils book "The Singularity Is Near" this is nothing but a predetermined step for the human race.

But my question is this...."would you?"

Are you ready for the next step? What would your 6th sense be? (or 7th for my friends who already believe they are 'psychic').

Lasik eye surgery has become the default 'modification' of choice for people with poor sight, but if you had the option of increasing eyesight bandwidth so you could see at night, or see infra red heat....would you?

If correction of a deficieny is acceptable (hearing aids, internal pacemakers etc) then what is wrong with pushing our physical limitations, who didn't want to be the 6 Million Dollar Man or The Bionic Woman when they were kids.

And if you are vehemently opposed to cyborg modifications why is the step to part mechanical such a horror when your feelings on plastic surgery are laissez-faire?


Cheers,
Dean