This whole thing sounds like the Ship of Theseus but instead of asking at what point is it a different boat, itās at what point are you a cyborg.
Sorta, but in SOT itās one for one replacementā¦ weāre talking about upgrades baby! Take down those sailsā¦ install the fission reactorā¦ etc.
5 Likes
I just imagine a fission reactor where the sail was and no other modifications. Like nothing to take the power.
Hot.
2 Likes
A cyborg is a CYBernetically enhanced ORGanism.The key to knowing the cyborg is to realize that it is two systems, one biological (wetware) and one technological (hardware), functioning together via a cybernetic feedback loop to make the entire bodywork.
1 Like
But then you get into the rabbit hole regarding devices that are meant to restore function, instead of adding functionality, like pacemakers. And determining if those qualify.
1 Like
I think a pacemaker qualifies you as a cyborg.
3 Likes
That is the most hardcore thing Iāve read on this forum so far.
2 Likes
Very much so. And by the following token:
RFID implants donāt make you a cyborg. Although the wetware part does adapt to using them to some extent, the implants themselves just sit there and donāt interact with you in any way. As I always say, one wears them like one wears jewelry, nothing more.
While I agree an RFID implant doesnāt conform to the definition above, I donāt agree that they are the same as jewelryā¦ and thatās because of the psychological factors involved. I believe most people, myself included, feel fundamentally different about having an implant vs wearing jewelry. It feels different because it just is differentā¦ different expectations, different absence of mind when not using them, and different sense of innate capability when using them. Logically itās not much different from wearing something on your body, but psychologically it is significantly different when āwearingā something in your body.
2 Likes
I kinda agree to that (because I feel like my bodmods are very much a part of me as well), but this sometimes applies to jewelry, too. For some people, a wedding ring creates a similar feeling, I feel naked when not wearing my collar, others maybe have a necklace from their grandma they never take off.
It might have to do with how āused toā the jewelry you are? Dunno 
1 Like
Itās definitely easier to identify what a cyborg isnāt, then what it is. My cats microchiped but she isnāt a cyborg cat. (That wound be awesome though). The only jewelry she wears is a collar with her chips UID etched on it. If you canāt take it off is it really jewelry?
Edit- I google image searched for cyborg cat, I wasnāt disappointed.
1 Like
Yeah fair enough. Maybe not like jewelry exactly. But my point was, as much as they redefine parts of my life by changing my routines - and hell, from a psychological standpoint, when one of them fails, I even feel less whole as a person - realistically RFID implants are very intimate convenience devices. Kind of like wearables on the other side of the skin. But certainly not a new human ability like magnets are, or cases of intimate man-machine symbiosis like pacemakers.
I guess to each his own. But thatās how I feel about them. I have fun with my RFID implants and they sure make my life easier, but I still long for that elusive implant that would truly become part of me, and those aināt it. A magnet would go a long way towards exploring that side of things that Iām after, but as you know, those arenāt for me for practical reasons.
1 Like
Same thing with my wristband.
And that is a line of thought that makes me thinkā¦ āCyborge-ismā starts when you replace something with a Cybernetic version.
So, imho, a peacemaker would not make me a cyborg. (Sorry @amal XD)
But having a mechanical heart. or lung. or eye or armā¦ those should be enough to make me cross the line from human to cyborg.
Would go even further:
Even if I implant a Neuralink I wonāt still feel a cyborg, unless I can start effortlessly controlling stuff, either as a tail/armā¦ or some drones which would feel like an extension of myself. (i.e. just using a neurolink to fly a drone for fun would still not make me feel a cyborg)
Also, on the sidelineā¦
Itās common for new people seeing me open doors/paying with my hands to say: āoh, you are a cyborg!ā, and I must confess that makes me cringe insideā¦ 
I think it all depends on the definition you choose - if you think about it in the cyberpunk way, any technical addition to the body might be enough, be it an implant, a pacemaker, whatever. Or you can take the terminator, for example - it was a machine covered by human skin, so part cybernetic being, part organic being.
The word cybernetic itself comes from the greek word for steersman or navigator, and the classical example for a cybernetic system would be the thermostat - it compares two values (the temperature set and the current temperature) and reacts to that by itself. So a pacemaker would qualify as a cybernetic system, I guess (at least the more improved ones who can adapt frequencies to physical activity and such). A chip to open your door wonāt, since itās not active at all - so I guess someone with a pacemaker is more of a cyborg than us 
But the general perception is massively influenced by films and books, so if you ask someone on the street what a cyborg is, most people will either think of the terminator, Ghost in the Shell, Bladerunner or general cyberpunk-y stuff.
I admit, my mind immediately jumps to Cyborg from DC comics.
Not just jewelryā¦ I wear toe socks and Vibram Five fingers shoes a lot. So much so that when I donāt it feels to me as though there is something stuck between my toes, because my socks/shoes are not stuck between my toes.
Are Darlekās cyborgs?
1 Like
Probably yeah. Gross cyborgs, but yeah.
4 Likes