Now there’s a stupid question.

He doesn’t look happy.

Why would you cut off your arm? People have been involuntarily losing their limbs since… well forever, or at least as long as human have been around. Naturally, the people who do lose their limbs are not too happy. In very ancient times, this was due to them being dead. In less ancient times this was due to them not having an arm. While this was not a common problem some cultures started to develop a solution.

Prosthetics. According to an article from the ANZ Journal of Surgery, Ancient Egyptians were the first to develop prosthetics. The Egyptians feared amputation more than death. They thought that losing a limb harmed the soul. In an effort to repair that damage, they developed prosthetics to allow the former owner of an arm or leg to feel a sense of spiritual wholeness. Also, it helped them walk. After Egypt, there is evidence of prosthetics in Persia, Germany, and France. Each of these cultures developed crude constructs in an attempt to replace the function of a lost appendage. Sometimes these appendages were mere pegs to replace legs or a metal arm purely for aesthetic purposes. Other times hooks replaced hands, secret hiding places were built in, and other fun and exciting functions were added.

Prosthetic toe from an Egyptian Mummy.

Of course, none of these substitutes could replace the many useful features of the human hand. The human hand is extremely useful. Consider how many times you use your hand before you leave your room in the morning. A hook, however clever and useful, is not good at holding a pencil. Nothing anyone came up with in the past has been a fair replacement for the human hand, or as functional as the human leg, or eye, or ear, or anything really. Every prosthetic in history has been an attempt to regain the function.

Modern technology has advanced to the point that we may finally match the abilities of the human body. According to an article from The Surgeon, published in 2011, bionic limbs have come a long way. We are capable of replicating the various functions of the human hand thanks to advances in technology. And, if this article is any indication, we may soon surpass its functionality. The bionic man may soon be possible. This advancement in technology brings with it many questions.

In the past, any time we have replaced a hand with a hook, a leg with a peg, or attached a video camera to someone’s brain, it was to replace something that was lost. It was to help the blind to see, the legless to walk, you get the idea. We have reached a point where many intelligent people are considering supplementing the human body with technology.

In a recent interview, Elon Musk discussed the fact that we are already cyborgs with the verge. We use smartphones every day, we have online accounts and with them a virtual version of ourselves. In his mind this makes us cyborgs. To further the process, and allow us to bond better with technology, Mr. Musk wants to create a “neural lace” that will link our brain directly with technology. This idea is very closely linked with the idea of transhumanism.

Transhumanism is essentially the topic of this blog post. It is the belief that humans, through technology, can further evolve. Honestly it scares me. Humanity obviously has a long history of altering our bodies with prosthetic limbs, but transhumanism takes it a step further. It brings with it many challenges of ethics, practicality, and will create and cause many problems in the future.

This class is about critical thinking. In my mind that means considering the possible consequences of replacing our body parts with upgraded appendages. On one hand, being Robocop would be extremely cool and exciting, but on the other doing that to yourself, cutting away your hands and legs, or even simply adding an interface with computers to your brain- like the Matrix, sounds extremely frightening. Science has paved the way to the future and I am curious about what will come next.