Professor of Cybernetics Kevin Warwick discusses augmenting human capabilities, the exciting field of robotics, and what it means to be a cyborg.

His pioneering research into robots with biological brains and enhancing human physiological functioning with electronic devices has brought the science fiction future into the present.

Prof Warwick is no stranger to using himself as a guinea pig for his research. One experiment, which previously had only been tested on chickens, involved him undergoing a two hour operation by a neurosurgeon to implant a ‘brain gate’ system in him, linking his nervous system with a computer. The implant in his arm had wires running to a connector. A computer monitored the signals between his brain and arm. Prof Warwick’s brain learned to recognise the system of pulses emitted during the three months of the experiment. He was able to turn on lights and control a wheelchair via the implant.

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ON THIS EPISODE

• Grindhouse Wetware
• Tim Cannon
• Dangerous Things
• Amal Graafstra
• Kernel
• Bryan Johnson
• Neuralink
• Elon Musk
• H.G. Wells
• Michael Crichton
• The Terminal Man
• Neil Harbisson
• Cyborg Foundation
• RFID Chips
• Neurosurgery

CREDITS

Produced by FUTURES Podcast

Recorded, Mixed & Edited by Luke Robert Mason

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