
We Will End Disability by Becoming Cyborgs (2014) - prostoalex
http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/we-will-end-disability-by-becoming-cyborgs
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smacktoward
The wrinkle here is that not all people with disabilities agree that their
conditions are actually a bad thing.

Among those who are deaf, for instance, there has been a long-standing debate
over whether deafness is actually a medical problem, or just a different kind
of human experience. The latter group would argue that a campaign to restore
hearing to the deaf would actually be a kind of genocide -- a coordinated
campaign to wipe out a distinct culture, with its own languages and
traditions, just because it is physically different than the majority.

That may sound wild, but the more you think about it the more troubling
questions it raises. Well-meaning people would never consciously try to shame
deaf people for being deaf, for instance, but the viewpoint embedded in the
idea of ending deafness is that the deaf are broken people who need to be
fixed by being made more like the rest of us. Do we actually agree that deaf
people are broken, incomplete? If we do, does it follow that deaf people who
_refuse_ our cure should be _compelled,_ in some manner, to accept it? How far
are we willing to go to eradicate deafness? Is "eradicating deafness" even a
morally legitimate thing to aspire to?

I'm not deaf myself, so I won't pretend to have an authoritative perspective
on any of these questions. I just raise them to note that the standard tech-
centric view of these things (here's a problem, let's create something that
solves it!) isn't the lens through which everyone sees the lives they live.

~~~
noir_lord
> The latter group would argue that a campaign to restore hearing to the deaf
> would actually be a kind of genocide.

Only if it's not optional I think, where ethics get really interesting is when
deaf parents want a deaf child, that's one that still isn't settled due to
cochlear implants which are already a kind of cyborg.

I'm able bodied (apart from a degenerative spinal condition) and I'd _happily_
swap that part out if I could, wouldn't even think about it for more than 5
seconds.

~~~
stcredzero
What of multiply resistant strains of bacteria and the end of the antibiotics
era?

~~~
noir_lord
Not sure in what context you are asking your question, can you elaborate?

~~~
stcredzero
Invasive augmentation/implantation could increase the risk of infection. I was
thinking that you might want to take that into consideration.

~~~
noir_lord
Ah right, my spinal condition is called syringomelia, it's a cavity that forms
in your spine and progressively damages the nerves, the best case is constant
high level neuropathic pain for the rest of my life, the worst is it destroys
the nerves and I end up in pain and crippled, mine is thoracic which means I'm
a lucky one (cervical it can also destroy the nerves that control your ability
to breathe, beat your heart or move your upper body).

At the moment the medication keeps me functional but if it went worst case I'd
take a 50/50 chance of dying from a replacement than been in the kind of pain
the people I've seen with the worst case.

Also while the medication works it makes me extremely "fuzzy" some days and
has trashed my short term memory, neither of which is an enjoyable experience
for someone who loves to program/play chess etc.

As an aside though, going through the experience above as well as having loved
ones has given me an idea for a project that might benefit a lot of people
(and earn some money which is nice), it's something that doesn't exist and
it's not something I would have thought of doing if I hadn't got ill/grown up
with a disabled mother.

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stcredzero
Sort of an inversion of Harrison Bergeron, except instead of the natural
superman having inert blocks of metal attached to him to bring his abilities
down, everyone else will have high tech stuff attached to enhance their
abilities.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron)

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snake_plissken
I love the idea of having augmentations and neural implants but the potential
social ramifications, which the article gets slightly into, scare the living
daylights out of me.

From the Deus Ex alternative universe, year 2022:

Antoine Thisdale, an un-augmented oil rig worker sues for the right to have
both of his fully functional natural arms amputated and replaced with
cybernetic arms in an effort to compete with mechanically augmented workers in
his profession. The Supreme Court rules in his favor, clearing the way for
elective augmentation. In response to the ruling, William Taggart creates
Humanity Front, a political organization that opposes augmentation.

~~~
Qantourisc
I would not worry about that specific case to hard. If you can make an arm,
sure you can make an exoskeleton ?

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oneJob
Sure, end disability and exacerbate inequality. Additionally, I don't see us
all being the same type of cyborg. If anything, becoming cyborgs we'll realize
that there is more than one way to become "physically functional" and so stop
labeling everyone that is not typically physically functional as disabled.

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emblem21
Cybernetics will just change disability insurance into hardware insurance.

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greggarious
How can robot augmentations cure, say, depression?

Sounds like a pretty narrow definition of "disability"

~~~
epimetheus
I'm guessing you didn't read the article and are just responding to the title?
From the article:

"One promising experiment targets depression with deep brain stimulation
(DBS), in which electrodes implanted in the brain send steady pulses of
electricity to certain problematic neural areas."

and

"Neuroscientists discovered years ago that this existential dread can be
treated by using electricity to alter the activity of neurons, and they are
now putting that knowledge to use. DBS, one of the most exciting experimental
treatments for depression, uses an implanted “brain pacemaker” that sends
steady pulses of electricity to certain brain regions. It’s a technology that
was pioneered to stop Parkinson’s patients’ tremors, but it’s now being
explored for a dizzying array of neural and psychiatric disorders, including
depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and PTSD."

