Are we becoming machines?

According to the advertisement (being broadcast in January 2013 on US television channels) for HTC’s Droid smartphone, we’ve already become machines,


This advertisement isn’t the only instance, look at this from a Jan. 17, 2013 news release on EurekAlert,

A nano-gear in a nano-motor inside you

To live is to move. You strike to swat that irritable mosquito, which skilfully evades the hand of death. How did that happen? Who moved your hand, and what saved the mosquito? Enter the Molecular Motors, nanoscale protein-machines in the muscles of your hand and wings of the mosquito. You need these motors to swat mosquitoes, blink your eyes, walk, eat, drink… just name it. Millions of motors tug as a team within your muscles, and you swat the mosquito. This is teamwork at its exquisite best.

It’s not unusual to have bodily processes described in terms that one uses for machines (particularly in science-related publications), what’s different here (for me at least) is the intimacy in the ad. The phone is plugged into your chest and the upgrade is to your brain.

This ad is part of a continuum in the popular culture conversation (e.g. Deux Ex game featuring human enhancement and augmentation asĀ  mentioned in my Aug. 30, 2011 posting and in my Aug. 18, 2011 posting) and the prosthetic in the ear seems to be a reference to cochlear implants but now they are for anyone who might care to augment their hearing past the limits of what has been possible for humans. Congratulations, you’ve been upgraded.

One thought on “Are we becoming machines?

  1. Pingback: The ultimate DIY: ‘How to build a robotic man’ on BBC 4 « FrogHeart

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