In the News
'Cyborg' Sues Airline -- BBC News
Air Canada is being sued by a 'cyborg' in the first case of it's kind. Professor Steve Mann, from the University of Toronto, has worn a computer system for the past 20 years and is furious about the treatment he received when he attempted to board an Air Canada flight in Newfoundland.
The self-proclaimed cyborg was prevented from boarding a flight after the airline lost the documents he sent in advance warning them of his unusual taste in fashion. Mr. Mann was delayed for three days and subjected to a humiliating strip search. His equipment, including computerized glasses which connect him to the internet 24 hours a day, was damaged during the search. A computerized heart monitor that Mr. Mann has attached to his skin was removed, leaving him bleeding. "It was a painful experience," said Mr. Mann.
Now Mr. Mann is suing the airline for negligence and damage to his computer system. "I tried to contact them but they failed to respond so it appears necessary to get my lawyer involved," he said.
Mr Mann believes that his status as a cyborg should be treated in the same way as anyone else with special equipment such as wheelchairs.
Professor Cyborg -- Salon.com
In August 1998, Warwick played the part of guinea pig in what was then touted as the first non-medical implant experiment. With a tiny glass capsule full of transponders under the skin of his arm, Warwick essentially became a remote control: Every time he walked through the door of his building at the University of Reading, sensors in the doorways would immediately register the presence of the transponders in his implant. The lights would come on, his computer would boot up and connect to his Web site, doors would open, and his office would greet him with a "Hello, Professor Warwick!" Ina very Big Brother touch, his computer could also track his comings and goings and his exact location within the building.
His next implant experiment will engineer an even closer link between humans and computers. In 18 months, Warwck will again undergo surgery, this time receiving not just a transponder implant in his arm but a connection to his nervous core -- a tiny collar that encircles the bundle of nerve fibers at the top of his arm, reading the signals from his nervous system and transmitting those to his computer.
This implant will not merely send signals to his computer, however; it will also receive them. The computer should be able to record and store sets of Warwick's nervous signals and transmit them back at a later time. He could even "re-experience" the nervous signals related to his emotions, "playing back" the signals his nervous core sent when he was feeling happy or stressed.
The most bizarre touch of all, Warwick's wife has agreed to receive an identical implant. The two human lab rats, he hopes, should be capable of transmitting signals from nervous system to nervous system.