Assignment for Social And Technology class

1. The Future you
THE TECHNOLOGICALLY IMPROVED YOU

2. Improve Me?
 If you get serious injuries you can replace limbs with artificial ones
 Improve your way of life with better bionic limbs
 Helps disabled people whether from accidents, war, or birth defects
 Plenty more functionality then traditional prosthetics

3. Past Prosthetics
 Clunky
 Made from primitive or basic materials (Example: wood or basic
metals)
 Extremley basic functionality

4. New Prosthetics
 Lightweight
 Made from advanced building materials, such as Carbon Fiber
 Getting close to fully replacing limb
 Some prosthetic hands can automatically grip onto things, and are
controlled by your muscles in your body
 Some can be controlled by your mind
(Ulanoff, 2014)

5. Exoskeletons
 Exoskeletons are mechanical frames that are worn on a person to
give them increased capabilities, such as lifting more weight with far
less effort.
 Think of Tom Cruise in the movie “Edge of Tomorrow”
 Originally developed for military purposes
 Now used to help treat patients with spinal cord injuries.
(Grush, 2014)

6. Mobile Life Saving Technology
 During emergency 911 calls, EMT crews need to get as much
information as they can as quickly as they can
 Samsung created a portable ultrasound that uses an extension and
a Samsung tablet
 Valuable information is then used to treat patients actually and
quicker
(Melsted, 2015)

7. What does that mean for future
me?
 More advances could allow personalized body scanners
 These scanners could scan and send important information when
something occurs.
 Imagine getting into a car accident, and before you can call 911,
the doctors and EMT’s already know where you are injured, and
how badly.

8. Problems with Current Technology
 Expensive in most cases
 Still fairly primitive
 Bulky
 Doesn’t look pleasing
 Implants are required for very advanced prosthetics, such as if you
want to control your arm with your mind

9. What the Future Will Hold
 Smaller more powerful personalized add-ons
 Large scale bionic prosthetics
 Some ethics issues may arise
 Solid construction at a very affordable price

10. Nanotechnology
 Nano, meaning extremely small (1/100,000th of the thickness of a
sheet of newspaper!)
 Can be injected into a human to fix internal issues like a tumor,
cancer, or nerve damage
 Could be use to cure almost all illnesses
(Nano.gov, n.d.)

11. Mass Production
 “Upgrades” will become advanced and affordable
 Crafted using lightweight and cheap materials
 Everyone could afford them
 Could by prosthetics that are better than your natural limbs to
upgrade yourself

12. Should we be Allowed to
Upgrade?
 If a prosthetic can perform better than a natural limb, should we
have the choice to chop our limbs off and replace them?
 Who should get the replacement limbs when it’s needed? The rich,
the more needy, or should everyone get them?
 There are no guidelines currently in place for the future, but we
should start talking about them now

13. Additional Enhancements
 Chemical eye drops to give temporary night vision up to 160ft for a
few hours
(Minor, 2015)

14. Work Cited
 Cooper, C. (2015, February 25). Bionic hands: Disabled limbs replaced with mind-controlled prosthetics in
medical first. Retrieved from The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-
tech/news/bionic-hands-disabled-limbs-replaced-with-mindcontrolled-prosthetics-in-medical-first-
10068019.html
 Gallagher, J. (2014, October 9). Bionic Arm restores sense of feeling. Retrieved from BBC:
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29538385
 Grush, L. (2014, December 5). ROBOTIC EXOSKELETONS ARE HERE, AND THEY’RE CHANGING LIVES.
Retrieved from Popular Science: http://www.popsci.com/watch-paralyzed-man-take-stroll-bionic-
exoskeleton-video
 Melsted, L. (2015, January 26). Saving Lives Through Tablet-Based Ultrasound Technology. Retrieved from
Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/samsungbusiness/2015/01/26/saving-lives-through-tablet-based-
ultrasound-technology/
 Minor, J. (2015, March 29). California biohackers create night vision eye drops. Retrieved from Geek:
http://www.geek.com/science/california-biohackers-create-night-vision-eye-drops-1619078/
 Nano.gov. (n.d.). What is Nanotechnology. Retrieved from National Nanotechnology Initiative:
http://www.nano.gov/nanotech-101/what/definition
 Ulanoff, L. (2014, October 9). Implanted Prosthetic Arm Moves Us One Step Closer to Bionics. Retrieved
from Mashable: http://mashable.com/2014/10/09/mind-controlled-bionic-implanted-arm/

15. Want to learn more?
 Here’s a great short Youtube video to see just how far we already
are, and explore some more applications for improving ourselves
with technology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHhKhZQ-APc
 If you’re a gamer, and haven’t looked at Deus Ex, give it a look if
this subject intrests you. Deals heavily with human augmentation.