Cyborgs are already walking among us.

Will the future be full of humans who merge with machines to become cyborgs? Ha. It’s already happened. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is the hottest new game from Square Enix and it gives us a harsh view of 2027, a year where huge corporations get humanity addicted to cybernetic implants. If that sounds too far fetched to ever come true, I have something to show you. Rob Spence, a present day cyborg and filmmaker known as the Eyeborg, worked with Square Enix to create a kickass documentary about the current reality of cybernetics. The level of human modification already out there may amaze you. Check out Spence as he seeks the truth behind the fiction in the video below. Cameras wired into your brain, robotic knees, prosthetic hands that sense when you want them to move – the world of Deus Ex seems closer everyday.

I urge you to watch the entire 12 minutes of Deus Ex: The Eyeborg Documentary, it’s visually stunning, with gorgeous footage of some of the most exciting projects in cybernetics out there. It’s also told very well. Enjoy:

Rob Spence really is the perfect filmmaker for this project. Not only does his tragic accident with a shotgun mean he understand perspective of the amputees he interviews, he’s one of the most enthusiastic cyborgs out there. For the past few years he and the rest of the Eyeborg Project team have created the camera implant he wears and worked tirelessly to get their own documentary made about that implant. Through his filmmaking Spence is advocate, subject, and commentator on cybernetics – how could Square Enix choose anyone else?

Silly video games, cyborgs already have guns.

In fact, Spence may be the best proof that the premises behind Deus Ex may come true. Not the bleak corporate take-over or the fierce battles between cyborgs in city streets. Spence shows how the determination to repair our bodies could very well lead to a desire to enhance them. How many filmmakers like Spence and how many ingenious amputees struggling to regain their capabilities using machines will it take to push humanity towards augmentation. We may already have plenty as it is. If we can’t say no to these determined individuals as they become cyborgs, will we be able to say no to our children when they want to see farther, run longer, and be stronger with the help of implants? I think not.

Of course, as the documentary points out, cybernetics are not the only path towards repairing damaged bodies. Stem cell and other forms of regenerative medicine research have made great strides in using biology to heal biology. If a cellular solution to amputation came on the market you can bet humanity would turn away from cybernetics in favor of a more complete repair.

…but once we started using biotechnology to do something as drastic as replacing a lost limb what’s to stop us from asking for augmentation from the same tech?

Here's to cybernetics. Cheers.

One way or another, I think that seeking a ‘cure’ to amputation, blindness, etc will lead to at least the possibility of human augmentation. Once any repair is as good as the original, there’s little doubt that people will start to push it a little farther. Smart, ambitious, and insightful people like Spence and his documentary subjects. We should enjoy Deus Ex: Human Revolution for what it is: a beautiful video game set in an exciting fictional universe. But we should also prepare ourselves for the very real consequences that are coming from our current pursuit of cybernetics. The step from healing to enhancing is smaller than we think. Transhumanism is coming, and 2027 is closer than we think.

Oh, and if you’re a female leg amputee near Toronto and you want to work with Spence on an absurd and awesome project, check out his website for more details.

[screen capture and video credits: Square Enix/Rob Spence Eyeborg Project]
[source: Square Enix, Rob Spence Eyeborg Project]

The prosthetic eye features a tiny CMOS camera – 1.5mm square to be exact.  The video signal transmits wirelessly, picked up by an external RF Transmitter smaller than the tip of a pencil eraser. The entire “bionic” package feeds off lithium polymer battery technology, and the data could be sent and recorded to a backback enabled storage device.

To be clear, the eyeborg project is not trying to give sight back to the blind (see the Argus II project for that).  Rather, the objective is simply to create a video recording device that will be implanted into the eye for 24/7 life streaming.  Of course several other projects, notably Justin.tv, already offer this capability.  The Eyeborg project is unique, however, in performing surveillance truly from an individual’s line of sight and also because it explores the implications of a future where our body parts can be augmented to exceed their natural capabilities.

Interestingly it is the privacy implications, not the technology, that may be of most interest to people who encounter the Eyeborg project.  Even though several countries such as Canada and the UK have installed tens of thousands of cameras to monitor their citizens, people categorize surveillance from an individual differently…and they should.

Government surveillance cameras are typically installed in public places and in theory their are restrictions on how and when this video can be used.  But a person equipped with a 24/7 recording device can record you whenever they are in your presence…in your home, at your work, at a bar…anywhere, and the restrictions for what they can do with this data are wide open.

Eyeborg raises the specter of a world where recording devices are all around us without our knowledge.  A camera phone is pretty hard to hide, but a 1.5mm camera hiding behind someone’s eye or embedded into clothing or furniture can be impossible to spot.  Science fiction has fathomed a total surveillance society for decades, but now increasingly that day is becoming a reality.

Something to consider is the  fact that various individuals all over the world are undoubtedly already using miniaturized technology to record video and audio without our knowledge.  Tiny 1.5 mm video cameras are a commodity device, and we are fooling ourselves if we think that terrorists, porn freaks, and the like haven’t already installed countless instances of these things in hotel rooms and elsewhere.

One interesting datapoint: If the carelessness with which today’s youth protects its privacy in places like Facebook and Second Life is any indication, future generations will be quite comfortable with further invasions of their personal privacy.  This is a natural adaptation to a new reality that is unavoidable.  Like it or not, surveillance of our lives is an ever increasing phenomenon, and as they say “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”.