and whose abilities are greater than the abilities of normal humans.” If we unpack that definition a bit, it
could mean many applications to the world around us. The students and I discussed examples of this:
Mechanical Devices in the human body? What are some examples of those?
This could mean anything from knee replacements to the human body itself with its complex system of
levers. In the same thread, this could be anything prosthetic. This idea opened up a long conversation
into medical and technological advancements in the area of prosthesis.
Electrical Devices? What are some examples of those?
The first one that came to the minds of my students were pacemakers and how they are used to
regulate the human heartbeat. They also made the connection between this and cochlear implants.
Now that we had identified examples of mechanical and electrical devices, it was time to move to the
next part of the definition: “Abilities are greater than the abilities of normal humans.” Our examples
helped people regulate human abilities, but what about examples of human becoming exceptional, or
enhanced, with the use of mechanical or electrical devices? This investigation led us to real-life
examples of cyborgs.
One of the best know examples of a real-life
cyborg is artist, Neil Harbisson. He was born
completely colorblind and uses an electronic
eye, or as he calls it, an eyeborg, to transmit
color using sound. He essentially hears colors.
These colors even span beyond our normal
human capabilities and his understanding of
the world around him is far more in depth than
ours could ever be.
There are many other examples of real-life
human cyborgs and I encourage you to have
your students find some that interest them as
well as brainstorm what they would personally
choose to alter if given the chance and
unlimited resources.
Once we decided to make Cyborg Masks and
drew some preliminary sketches, I gathered up
some plaster gauze and some molds to create
our foundation. Some students opted to create
STEAMed Magazine
27
July 2016 Edition