Beyond Human Living with Robots and Cyborgs

by Benford, Gregory; Malartre, Elisabeth

• ISBN13: 9780765310835
• ISBN10: 076531083X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-12-09
• Publisher: Forge

Summary

Would your body work better with some artificial parts? Will you live longer, perhaps a lot longer, than you now expect? The next decade promises another qualitative shift in the way we view technology, as once purely fictional conceptsrobots, cyborg parts, and the many variations in betweenbecome part of reality. Beyond Human treats the landscape of human self-change and robotic development as poles of the same phenomenon. Can we go too far in making ourselves machine-like or making machines resemble us? Once made, what will such creatures think about us? These questions will arise in myriad ways in the next few decades, as we press against boundaries that a short while ago existed only in works of the imagination. Written in a lively and provocative style, this is a readable book about the accumulation of small scientific advances that add up to something large and challenging.

Author Biography

Gregory Benford and Elizabeth Malartre both teach at the University of California and live in Irvine, California.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. 7
Man Plus: Augmentation: From an Old Tradition to Our Brave New Bionic World	p. 13
You, Too, Can Be Superhuman	p. 23
The Augmented Animal	p. 39
Chips, Brains, and Minds	p. 73
Man Plus & Plus & Plus &...	p. 101
Robots Plus: Anthrobots-Machines R Us	p. 129
Robots to Order	p. 133
Robowar	p. 149
The Rights and Wrongs of Robots	p. 161
Us and Them	p. 179
'Bots, 'Borgs, Bionics, and Betters: Reservations Recommended	p. 195
Wearable Computers: Blending Man and Machine	p. 197
Metaman	p. 221
The Long Perspective	p. 239
References	p. 257
Acknowledgments	p. 261
Index	p. 263
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