Charles Darwin proposed the theory of evolution through the process of natural selection, whereby only the fittest and most responsive to change can survive the challenging dog-eat-dog world. Having evolved for more than a few million years to hone our most important asset, our intellectual prowess, we thought the human race had nowhere else to go from here. We thought that, being head and shoulders above the rest of the animal kingdom, we’ve reached the final stages of our epic journey of evolution.

If that was true, then we are faced with a serious problem. Until now, we still have not overcome certain aspects of the human body, especially physical limitations, which has been heavily traded for superior perspicacity. As much as we wish, we would never be able to have a sense of smell like the bloodhound, run as fast as the cheetah or bite as hard as a crocodile. Likewise, we can’t heal ourselves naturally from all physical conditions or protect ourselves against microscopic diseases that attack our system. Instead, we
rely heavily on certain chemicals to do the trick – or we’ll try to outsmart the situation. Sometimes we look into the sky and wonder when time would permit us to naturally
overcome these limitations. Perhaps that would never
happen, unless we forgo our ego and brainpower.

But then again, these might just be the very ingredients we need to transform ourselves into a more advanced species.

One of the widely speculated ideas on “evolving humans” are by biological mixing, whereby humans and animals are interbred to form creature X – an unknown species. Actually, we have already conducted several experiments on biological mixing in animals. Some of these animals end up being part-human, with partially human livers, hearts and even brains!

Normally, these creatures are specifically used as guinea pigs for medical purposes like drug-testing. But apart from advances in the medical field, are we really going to inject animal stem cells into our kids and make them human-animal hybrids? I think we can hear a resounding “no” from the awestruck human population – that’s regression, not improvement. If this is the case, how can we ever dream of revamping our averagely human capabilities and “evolving” in the long run?

The answer lies in intelligence itself. Ironically, by using the acuity that we so abundantly possess, we have managed to create “beings” which turn out to surpass even our own acumen. In order to aid us in our everyday life, we have created machines, computers and other electronic devices to ease and complement our individual inabilities. Now, imagine evolution as incorporating the greatest thing mankind has ever invented into our body.

Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you, the cyborg, or cybernetic organism – a creature part human, part machine. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline, who originally envisioned the human mind as enhanced by machines, or the use of human minds to control or direct machines.

There are, basically, two types of cyborgs, one which uses restorative technology and another which uses enhanced technology. The restorative technology helps to recover
lost functions and to replace limbs, which may help the blind see and the deaf hear. The main objective of restorative cyborgization is to refurbish dysfunctional organs or replace missing processes so that the patient can function normally. There is, however, no enhancement to the original faculties or processes that were lost, and the cyborg’s performance might not even meet that of the average human standards.

On the other hand, the enhanced cyborg is made based on the principle of optimal performance, which is maximising output and minimising input. This makes the enhanced cyborg exceed normal processes or even gain new functions that were not originally present.

This makes the enhanced cyborg a staple of science fiction, from Star Trek to The Six Million Dollar Man, and from RoboCop to the Terminator. Although we’d definitely like to see more of multi-faceted cyborg geniuses in real life, pop culture cyborgs usually include robotic machinery to refine their physical capabilities rather than mental ones. That’s because it’s more visual, more entertaining and easier for the general public to understand the basic principle of these cyborgs. However, real cyborgs, unlike fictional ones are normally just like your average Joe who uses cybernetic technology to repair or overcome physical and mental constraints, mostly using bionic, or robotic, implants.

Of course, physically enhanced cyborgs also exist in real life. Oscar Pistorius was a runner with two artificial legs. A study by German professor Gert-Peter Brüggemann found that Pistorius’s limbs uses 25% less energy compared to able-bodied runners running at the same speed. This gave the double-amputee Olympic hopeful a major advantage over his competitors, reducing his 400-metre race time by more than 10 seconds than if his prosthesis had behaved like normal limbs. Not surprisingly, he was disqualified from competing in the 2008’s Beijing Olympics because his superbly modified man-made limbs gave him an unfair advantage over his competitors. In any case, this Darwinian advantage is exactly what we need. Over time, we would need to become more and more creative in our quest to strive for the best and yet not do so in a way that threatens our environment or those around us.
On a smaller scale, cyborg-ian technology provides relief to those who thought they would never have a chance at a normal life. Thanks to the tremendous rate of emergence in the relatively new technology, more and more people’s lives have been touched and changed, making it possible for people to walk again, see where sight was once not found or even to control technological devices through body-to-device interfacing. It is through these breakthroughs that some people will be forever grateful to as their lives have been altered and even had more meaning attached to them.

Oddly, some people whom I will refer to as pro-humans (“Purists”) argue on ethical grounds, claiming that the act of incorporating metal into human flesh is immoral. However, by viewing the subject from a different angle, we see that “Purists” are shooting their own foot. Nobody has the right to deny their own kin from having a normal life like themselves, especially if they are disabled. Doing so would ALSO be considered immoral, more so if we actually have the technology and expertise to help them, but didn’t even try to do it out of selfishness and obsessive perfectionism.

The sagacious and deep thinkers may say that overall, techno- evolution is for the betterment of Mother Earth and humanity. Suppose scientists develop foldable bionic wings which can be attached to the backs of humans. I

place emphasis on the word “bionic”, as this clearly suggests that the flying cyborg need never worry about “feeling tired” or the like. In fact, at this stage, flying could even become a mean of transport, which would signal the end of our current petrol-dependent vehicle era. That would also mean that excessive carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide emission would be put to a stop, thus minimizing the devastating effects of global warming and saving us from reaching the tipping point of global warming, whereby the phenomenon would become self-sustaining.

It is because of these human rights, ethical issues and beneficial results that scientists are cracking their heads to help us transit into an era we once thought existed only in another world. Of course, we’re not saying it’s something very easy to accomplish, nor are we claiming that this technology is not met with flaws. One current downside of physical modification is the inability to produce the same modified parts in our offspring. This would mean that every time we gave birth to a child, that child would have to undergo a complicated process just to install, say, wings on its back and probably even a hard disk near its brain. It might sound like mission impossible today, but scientists may actually figure out how to merge body cells with the lustrous, hard mineral one day. Who knows, that day might just be today, tomorrow, or somewhere next year. Either way, it’s best to keep our minds open to embrace the new concept and be ready for the next great era of science. To quote Robert F. Kennedy, “Some people look at the world and ask, “Why?” I dream of a world that never was and ask, “Why not?””.