Beyond Human

2008, Technology  -   45 Comments
7.82
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Ratings: 7.82/10 from 17 users.

Beyond HumanHumans becoming more like machines. Machines becoming more like humans. Over the centuries, scientists speculated that we could tap into the body's electrical system to restore lost functions or enhance our powers, like machines.

Science fiction has returned again and again to the merger of man and machine, the Cyborg, with fascination and fear.

As we steadily merge with our technology, the focus is on devices that enhance our senses and minds and knit us together in new ways. Members of a lab at the University of Toronto have been pioneering the computerized life style.

Imagine a day when machines walk among us, expressing thoughts, emotions, demanding their rights. Today, we are breathing intelligence, even life, into creatures of silicon and steel.

To build a humanoid that can function in our world is a bold challenge being taken up by isolated labs around the world. Researchers are infusing robots with abilities ranging from grasping to hearing and vision.

If tomorrow's robots are going to share our world, they will have to have something extra: an emotional and psychological dimension to help them communicate and respond in ways people can understand.

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45 Comments / User Reviews

  1. Abuzar

    Comments of you guyz are just cool.. But whenever someone talks about More than human thing..more exploring more, more complicated .. So if u think like a normal human being you wont get all that.. Seroiusly we need some upgrades..Enhaced capabilities..100%GenesActivated..Beyond humanss

  2. Mysticsoul108

    I would like to volunteer to be the cyborg ....human plus machine. Where and how does one go to volunteer ?

  3. UnclearFizzyCyst

    Exterminate, exterminate, exteeeerminate :D

    When can I get me a tasp?

  4. Simeon Kwong

    but...if we are monitored at all time, wont this be a violation of privacy?

  5. Chaz Smith

    I really dont know what to think about all this. I mean i could tell my grandma and sould would probably just zone me out or stair at me, not really understanding "ROBOTS" I dont know peeeps, run for the hills, dont return home that day ! LOL

  6. Am Freewind

    last word of this documentary says "Making Birth of our own Future"I say ! Go make a real a Baby! and RAISE A CHILD you Cowards and d*mn Mo*ons! research my azz ....nine months is all it takes to make one

    1. Devon Griffiths

      Yeah we need more of those. That's a good, logical solution. Everybody go out and have loads of babies, its not like this world has too many mouths to feed or anything.

      And let's chastise the people who are being responsible and not having too many kids while we're at it. That's smart.

      All hail the coming Idiocracy! The stupids can't keep their pants on, so the future will be dumb (and very poor).

    2. Terry Beaton

      I couldn't have said it better. "The s(upids can't keep their pants on, so the future will be dumb (and very poor)" That's primo, brother.

    3. Thomas Paine

      Well, nine months and a bottle of wine.

  7. christophers

    what the central bankers want is far from ideal. They want most of the population eliminated,and to herd the rest into smaller and smaller areas which will be your own prison.You will be unable to travel freely,all your monetary value will be on an electronic chip,which they will have the ability to shutdown if you oppose the NWO.

  8. ShadowMan

    ...Build a beautiful lady robot, it can do ALL that a real woman can do, but, without the nagging and screaming.....I'll divorce my present wife, buy it and marry it!

    1. oQ

      I always like it when the first comment i read in the morning is a funny one!
      1i

    2. Kateye70

      I kind of like the premise in "The Silver Metal Lover" by Tanith Lee. An oldie but goodie.

      And, er, the 'Lover' is male.

    3. Achems_Razor

      Right-o', give me a bakers dozen if they are like (Racheal) the drop=dead gorgeous brunette female robot played by "Sean Young in (Blade Runner movie)

  9. Thomas Biehl

    With all that consumerism I hope they will make that the new event can be used under water now the polar are melting even faster !

    Thomas.

  10. Taavi Jürmann

    In future i can hack the robot and command him to do bad things. I hope the researchers think about this topic allso, when they are building robots.

    1. Kptn Blizz

      in future, robots can hack you and command you to the good things.

    2. Taavi Jürmann

      Matrix?:D

  11. albastru_basarab

    Researchers are infusing robots with abilities ranging from grasping to hearing and vision.

  12. mitchmiller

    The original concept of human merging with robots seems likely to me. In the future there will be no humanoid robots and no humans, only "dumb" machines (think factory robots) and cyborgs: biologically re-engineered humans that do not age, that can extend the mind beyond comprehension. Intelligence will evolve exponentially. Our ability to create computers will lead to the next step in human evolution, very possibly saving the species.

    1. Kateye70

      I love sci fi...It might be one of the C J Cherryh series--can't remember exactly--that includes human brains installed in spaceships (always someone whose body was not viable for some reason such as birth defect or severe injuries). When the stories were told from the human spaceship's POV (not always, sometimes they were just supporting characters) was pretty interesting.

  13. KsDevil

    Let's hope that robots, when linked together, decide that human psychology is best avoided. We ae not the best example of a sane organism.

  14. lakhotason

    What about hackers? They're going to love this new toy.

  15. Rocky Racoon

    So the one percent will be able to do without their wage slaves and have nice compliant robots doing everything for then...until they go at each others throats that is.
    RR

    1. dewflirt

      A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
      A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
      A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

      Asimov

      Fingers crossed ;)

    2. lakhotason

      You can throw those rules out the window now that the military has found robots to be useful.

    3. dewflirt

      Like Terminator ! Hadn't thought of that :( Maybe chest lasers are needed after all, or force fields! :)

    4. Kateye70

      Words are so tricky...

    5. dewflirt

      Got a bit carried away thinking about all the cool prosthetics they might make, damn my optimism! The worst I imagined was Robot from Lost in Space, short stiff arms and a bad attitude ;)

    6. lakhotason

      Danger Will Robinson! Danger!

    7. boilerplate

      This doesn't exist outside of Asimov creating it for a single story. Actual robots living in symbiosis with man would be more complicated, and there's no construct that is obligated to adhere to any of it, should sapience emerge. You don't gauge the sapience of someone else because their mother exists, so as robots should not adhere to human ideals because they were created by man. Powerful thing, autonomy....robots have it, while the humans are too busy taking it from others.

  16. TheDanishViking

    good stuff! The robots from Honda are really cool! I hope I get to see a Robo soccer cup one day.

  17. Lee Walker

    We're already hooked up to GPS via our smartphones so people can pretty much be traced wherever they are.

  18. Mercenarry ForHire

    Will i be able to shoot lasers from my chest yes or no? >:O

    1. dewflirt

      Yes :)

    2. lakhotason

      I like being human. Call me crazy but I don't want to shoot lasers

    3. dewflirt

      OK, maybe not lasers. How about hands that stay still like a chickens head? Might be good for taking photos :)

  19. David Ewer

    If you like your films with huge dollops of superlatives, then this is the ultimate documentary for you! The narrator claims that soon we will feel 'left out' if we''re not hooked-up full-time to a central processor that knows where we are. I'd guess lots of folk see this as a nightmare rather than a utopia. Also it would be nice to feed the global population adequately before spending x zillion dollars on turning us all into cyborgs.
    Blade Runner anyone?

  20. alans

    I don't want machines demanding their rights.

    1. boilerplate

      Rights don't exist, only choices and both man and machine have choices.

  21. Deejay Es

    hooked up to gps to know where we are ... really ?

    1. wizzer237

      They can find your phone..... not you. Leave the &%^$*#$ phone. I=pad, Android etc home or in your ex-boyfriends car if you don't want to be found. LOL. The program can also simply be turned off. At least the ones we know about.

  22. oQ

    The part on eye sight of this doc reminds me of the 1991 movie called Until The End Of The World with William Hurt (my favorite actor).
    A good movie with a fantastic sound track.
    from the wiki page: "the prototype is revealed to be a device for recording and translating brain impulses— a camera for the blind."
    1i

  23. dmxi

    transhumanism at it's worst!

  24. lordiaco

    Bulshit, misleading talk of modern science! There's no future for those who don't respect and learn lessons of the past! Until we don't learn laws of nature can't expect some light future neither