What would it feel like to be a cyborg?

As we continue to augment our bodies with technology, we become more and more like cyborgs. This includes simple technologies like glasses, and more complex technologies like organ implants and cybernetic limbs and brain computer interfaces. This is the study of transhumanism, trying to use technology to go beyond current human limitations (biological, genetic, or capability limitations).
Technology tends to fade into the background. Our brains get used to operating the technology, and we stop thinking about the tool and start thinking about the task we are trying to solve. The same is true of any technology, no matter how complex. Additionally, our notion of self can expand to include this technology if it is necessary for our continued existence. For example, smartphones or assistive devices like wheelchairs. Our sense of proprioception itself expands to encompass the non-biological objects.
While we know that these types of transformations are possible or may soon be possible, what will they actually feel like to the person undergoing transformation? Will they continue to feel human? This video postulates that they will, because of the extreme neuroplasticity of the human brain and our ability to integrate technology into our sense of self and sense of bodily proprioception. We go through some fun examples of what these changes might feel like.
#ai #transhumanism #cyborg #feeling
Transhumanism: "The World's Most Dangerous Idea" | Philosophy Tube
• Transhumanism: "The Wo...
Bioethics and Transhumanism [journal]
academic.oup.com/jmp/article/...
Letter from Utopia
nickbostrom.com/utopia
The Transhumanist Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology, and Philosophy of the Human Future [book]
www.google.com.au/books/editi...
The Transhumanist Reader Quotes
/ the-transhumanist-reader
Max More - Transhumanism and the Singularity
• Max More - Transhumani...
0:00 Intro
0:25 Contents
0:32 Part 1: Technology and humans
0:39 Definition of transhumanism
1:01 Extension of humanism (human experience at center)
1:31 Co-opted into other contexts
1:50 Definition of a cyborg
2:19 From cyborg to posthuman to mind upload
2:49 What is technology in this context?
3:20 We've always been technologically augmented
3:44 Example: smartphone cyborgs
4:11 What is progress? Is it a universal value?
4:43 Example: political ideology from failed progress
5:04 Transhumanism can't solve all problems
6:00 Part 2: The notion of self
6:24 Good technologies fade into the background
6:59 Example: fork and chopsticks
7:15 Example: hammer
7:25 Example: driving a car / motorcycle / bicycle
7:46 Example: typing on a keyboard
8:01 When typing is painful, technology returns to foreground
8:44 Composite solution also doesn't need thought
9:06 Our notions of self and technology are flexible
9:14 Example: hat/backpack causes sense of proprioception to grow
9:37 Example: tools like hammers, badminton rackets
9:50 Example: driving a car
10:01 Example: wheelchair is part of self
10:19 Scientific evidence for expansion of self
10:50 Self is what's necessary to your continued existence
11:33 Example from TED talk
11:53 Part 3: Expansion of consciousness
12:04 A good brain computer interface
12:40 What would augmentations feel like?
12:54 Physical augmentations
13:42 Mental augmentations
14:33 Psychological augmentations
15:21 What level of telepathy would be possible?
15:44 Thoughts on posthumans (Letter from Utopia)
16:58 Ship of Theseus applied to cyborgs
17:19 Application to mind uploading
17:46 Book recommendation: Bobiverse
17:58 Mind uploading can be a continual experience
18:30 Conclusion
18:54 Using technology isn't conscious
19:35 What augmentations actually feel like
20:08 Outro

[@DrWaku]

I finally read enough about transhumanism to make a video. Very interesting stuff. Thanks to the viewers who requested this a while ago.

[@spectralvalkyrie]

When reading about Transhumanism did you take the Gnostic occult side quest? There's a lot there and part of why people who aren't scientifically minded are so afraid of transhumanism. Check out my song "overman" on Innocent Outlaw's channel--the lyrics are about becoming a mind upload! I feel like we are already cyborgs because so much of us now exists on the Internet thru external memory devices.

[@labmaier3426]

Interested to seeing what you got to say!

[@chrissscottt]

Cool vid. I like the idea of slowly substituting neurons for artificial ones until they're all replaced.

[@DrWaku]

Thank you! Yeah the neuron replacement one by one is a simple idea but shows how an upload with continuity could work

[@mrd6869]

We are already cyborgs,the interfaces just arent refined yet.Remember that tommorow,when u see everyone with their faces shoved in the phone screens 😂

[@DrWaku]

Yep exactly.

[@nani3209]

I am ready to become a cyborg

[@DrWaku]

Where do I sign

[@jpww111]

Thank's dr Waku the cyborg

[@DrWaku]

Lol yes I am definitely a cyborg. Cheers

[@Ari_diwan]

Team cyborg

[@Aquis.Querquennis]

The term machine can be confusing as it evokes large parts or parts that appear clearly artificial. The integration will be quite invisible depending on design, function or personal desire. It will be more in the nanometer with the possibility of scaling. I imagine that a human nervous system that increases its tissue and complexity from childhood is a clear candidate. In this way there is no doubt that the human being born and raised with a technological symbiosis, of whatever type, will continue to be the same individual consciousness. As for the unbalanced social organization that depends excessively on the hierarchical leadership of primates, it evidently requires not only a modification at the top but also increased social synchronization. A kind of fluid hierarchy composed of thousands of nervous systems, or millions, at any given time. Which leads to the question of whether it will be possible to synchronize and orchestrate a kind of communal mind equivalent to that of a single human nervous system with a potential that is difficult to evaluate. I suppose that nervous systems, perhaps not only human ones, developed in this way will be able to integrate different individual modifications in an organic way, the same as a transplant or prosthesis does now. However, there will always be a personal self that we can recover, an intimacy that will be a right and at the same time a human conquest.

[@EllyTaliesinBingle]

Talking about consciousness upload always makes me think of the sci-fi horror gaming masterpiece from the makers of the Amnesia series, Soma.

[@roshni6767]

Maybe this is why it’s plausible that an extremely technologically advanced race could evolve to look like those little aliens in movies who don’t seem to need hight and muscle for physical endeavors, or large mouths for verbal communication anymore 😅

[@DrWaku]

Nah I'm pretty sure movies have little aliens because they look cute, to our current biological brains. I think in advanced race could just be brains with a docking slot to connect to a mech. Maybe backup eyes and legs so that you can walk to the next mech. Lol

[@middle-agedmacdonald2965]

Thanks for the videos.

[@DrWaku]

Thanks for watching and commenting! Cheers

[@anweshan.ai2000]

Best yt channel I have ever come across ❤🎉 Really amazing video

[@DrWaku]

Thank you for your kind comment :) share with a friend!

[@MichaelDeeringMHC]

Nicely done.

[@DrWaku]

Thanks for watching as always! Cheers

[@MichaelDeeringMHC]

@@DrWaku Videos I'd like to see in the future: What functions are current AI's lacking for AGI? Robots: How are they improving and are they going to replace workers?

[@Slaci-vl2io]

We dream far but we can't even solve the simple problem that one person in the bed snores and the other one can't sleep. To double the housing expenses is quite a pricy soliution.

[@amnayifolkin2354]

THANK YOU Dr Waku

[@DrWaku]

Thank you for watching and commenting!

[@Paul_Marek]

Excellent vid. Thank you for this. I'm having these conversations with "tech-resistant" friends and I see their biggest fear is potential loss of agency/self or going against "what god wants". I think this is exactly what god wants: self-creation and self-realization. (self being humanity and you)

[@Copa20777]

Goodmorning Dr waku, just grabbed my coffee. Stay blessed

[@DrWaku]

Thank you! Cheers

[@spencerfunk6697]

does google fantasize bout its search box being clicked?

[@DrWaku]

Google dreams of being a spider, of being a million spiders, crawling through cyberspace in search of data to munch

[@spencerfunk6697]

@@DrWaku i dream of google not existing I despise this company

[@cliffordramsey2500]

I was not expecting a Donna Haraway reference today, but given the amount of time you probably spent in academia I shouldn't be surprised. I'd be curious to take another look at it to see how well it holds up.

[@DrWaku]

Haha someone got it! I'll have to check out the cyborg manifesto again as well. Cheers.

[@creepystory2490]

I like how the videos have time stamps.

[@DrWaku]

Thanks, I always appreciate videos with time stamps so I take the extra time to put them in. Cheers

[@EllyTaliesinBingle]

I love this video but I'd like to point out that many of us around the world don't conflate the body or our proprioception as our "selves." Both Hinduism and Descartes look at the self as "the thing that experiences everything else."

[@831Miranda]

Tongue in cheek ... the constant updates would be a bother it seems.... More seriously, we have for decades been developing tech to 'augment' or remedy human physical shortcomings, starting with addressing medical needs which seems a worthy pursuit. The possibility of adding 'stuff' to my body so as to 'be a more competitive' human.... is intriguing but also very disturbing. I would not want to be an early adopter.... other than by medical necessity....

[@vernongrant3596]

I think augmented humans will last a few decades then it will all just be uploads. The further we move away from our humanity the less we will care about it.

[@DrWaku]

Quite possibly. It might just last for a generation or of two and then go out of style. I think if someone is born in a digital environment they would have no desire to inhabit a physical body long-term

[@skylark8828]

If we become uploads then potentially our interactions with the physical world could involve controlling multiple synthetic bodies, and eventually due to our conflicts and power struggles we may all become 'the Borg'

[@williamal91]

Before I listen very good morning Doc, from UK

[@DrWaku]

Good morning!

[@K4IICHI]

Imagining what will be possible in the future with the brain augmentation technology makes me frustrated with not being able to communicate with people telepathically or modify the inner workings of my brain and my personality according to my own specs with high precision and flexibility.

[@codfather6583]

As a person with CTS i know exactly where you come from. I cant game anymore because of pains - But Baldurs gate 3 (rpg game) made me do it anyway, and i had to make some very conscious decisions so my use of mouse was at a minimum. I thought about if i could remember this pain in the future if i ever got the chance to get rid of this fleshy fragile coil i call my body :-)

[@DrWaku]

I played that a little bit. Our memory of pain is never quite as strong as the real thing, we just remember that we were in pain with hope the quality and intensity of it. I remember reading a neurological reason why this was the case, but I forget the details.

[@DrWaku]

Best of luck in your management of carpal tunnel. Hit up my discord if you ever want to chat about it.

[@codfather6583]

Probably a good thing or women probably wouldn't want to give birth to kids a second time :-) @@DrWaku

[@Powdermonkey99]

I'm binge watching DrWaku vids 🤯 - Who is DrWaku?

[@DrWaku]

It's a mystery

[@derasor]

Thanks!

[@DrWaku]

WOW! Thank you so much for such a generous donation. I really appreciate it! Let me know what you'd like to see next and hop in discord if you'd like to chat!

[@derasor]

@@DrWaku sorry is just Colombian Pesos. Great content. Gracias!

[@DrWaku]

​@@derasorI know, I did the conversion, but it's about $50 in my currency :) still quite a lot.

[@andregustavo2086]

Does connecting your brain to a computer feel like having an extended brain, like can you feel the computer's data and processing? Or will the computer processing run independently and its output would just pop up in your head, just like intrusive thoughts?

[@js70371]

I love your content brother - would you consider doing a video about advanced A.I. civilizations? Im fascinated by the topic and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. I think this is the nature of advanced biological life - to become machines. Also my solution to the Fermi Paradox - advanced life doesn’t pay attention to us because we are so primitive and have nothing to offer them!!

[@CMak3r]

Video game Soma has an answer about mind uploading, without transferring the consciousness to digital, it would be a clone. As for topic of this video, I think that there's so many possibilities for cyborgs, including merging your own intelligence with artificial brain structures, to achieve higher states of consciousness and self awareness. I have a question: How cyborg intelligence that is managing entire smart city would feel about it? Would it feel every street and traffic light as a part of it's body? How such thing can ever be aware of anything that happens on these streets simultaneously?

[@orbismworldbuilding8428]

How can you be aware of all of your body? Your attention wanders, and your body (presumably) handles it automatically when you aren't paying attention to it

[@skylark8828]

You are mind, and everything that is hooked up to that mind, be it artificial or biological, is only a (mostly seamless) extension of mind. How you feel about these peripheral devices depends upon their implementations and your perceptions of these.

[@albionicamerican8806]

I had cataract surgery on my right eye last week, so now I have an artificial lens in that eye. I don't feel superhumanly different afterwards.

[@Geen-jv6ck]

I remember a while ago hearing about how medical patients took on the habits of their organ donors with heart transplants. If the ship of Theseus is replaced plank by plank, does it remain the same ship? Likewise, would we consider a human cyborg to be the same person, let alone alive? It reminds me of this Biblical verse: Mark 7:21-23 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

[@daelon86]

i wouldn't mind something that would enable me to download new skills like in the matrix. i've got a prosthetic already, and would prefer organic limbs for comfort and aesthetic.

[@andregustavo2086]

An uploaded mind is like a twin brother, we don't share the same subject experience of being

[@paulman1970]

I don’t want to be a cyborg or uploaded to something. I want biological age reversal.

[@DrWaku]

Yeah that seems to be the Holy Grail. I made a video about it a while ago, some things have changed since I think though

[@91722854]

would mental agumentation therefore gaining new senses, in a way also give you a "new" arm despite the arm is just biologically untouched and the same, but due to neuronal connections and unlocked features, it is now becoming like a new arm with its dlc unlocked and features enabled, just like how if we replaced cone and rod cells to be sensitive to infrared or other wavelengths on the spectrum, would the brain still perceive them as the same images?

[@MegaMichael122]

Just think what will happen to sports. So first you got bionic parts. Will there be special categories for people with bionic parts? And people who augment their bodies, make themselves faster, stronger etc to be better at the sports. Maybe we eventually shift to fdvr sports when bioengineering gets too out of hand.

[@timetravelingschizophrenic987]

👽 👽 👽 synchronicity, nanobots, aliens and sentient ai 👽 👽 👽

[@randyhutchings373]

The moment these words pass the lips of K Schwab, I'm forming an army.

[@spinningaround]

What is your health condition?

[@DrWaku]

I have chronic pain from fibromyalgia. The underlying condition is rheumatoid arthritis, though that doesn't cause me any pain right now. I made a video about fibromyalgia if you'd like to look it up

[@otorishingen8600]

Darth Vader for example

[@DrWaku]

I think it would feel considerably worse to be Darth Vader, unless you had no conscience whatsoever...

[@otorishingen8600]

@@DrWaku are you underestimating the power of the dark side? 😉

[@AtlanPerry]

I believe or hoop that the cyborg human will not take place..see the books of Julian May..evolution of the human mind 😊.. becoming a cyborg read Frank Herbert's son about The butlers Jihad were only the brain is left in a robot body..see the anime The Ghost in a shell. Even older books Perry Rhodan the series Atlan and the cyborg Cannon are beautiful stories how this feels and what it costs 😊❤

[@PoffinScientist]

would be sweet if our brains would be augmented with a connected computer... someone would hack right into you and use your synapses to mine for bitcoin

[@DrWaku]

Cybersecurity is even more important as you add cybernetic components to your body....

[@PoffinScientist]

@@DrWaku me I'll pass any weird augmentation; good technology is one that needs not be in your body but grants all the conveniences anyways; jobs are for machines ☺

[@travisporco]

I don't like your definition of self as what you need for your continued existence. A lot of things I would consider an essential part of my self, like childhood memories and identity, are not objectively important.

[@DrWaku]

We forget things all the time though, and memories fade. If you have a memory of your childhood, it's an important one, which means it is essential to your existence. Essential to your psyche. We're all a system that's constantly adapting and evolving, different than we were the year before. I think that's why some people don't interact well with kids, they've evolved away from that so much that they forget what it was like.

[@erkinalp]

You used the wrong flag for the United States of America.

[@DrWaku]

Whoops, good catch. My editor doesn't live in the US. Maybe that's why. ;)