Cyberware is a relatively new and unknown field. In science fiction circles, however, it is commonly known to mean the hardware or machine parts implanted in the human body and acting as an interface between the central nervous system and the computers or machinery connected to it. More formally: Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Hardware comprises all of the physical parts of a computer, as distinguished from the data it contains or operates on, and the software that provides instructions for the hardware to accomplish tasks. ... The Central Nervous System (CNS) represents the largest part of the Nervous System. ...

Cyberware is technology that attempts to create a working interface between machines/computers and the human nervous system, including (but not limited to) the brain.

Examples of potential cyberware cover a wide range, but current research tends to approach the field from one of two different angles: Interfaces or Prosthetics.

Interfaces ("Headware")

The first variety attempts to connect directly with the brain. The data-jack is probably the most well known, having heavily featured in works of fiction (even in mainstream productions such as Johnny Mnemonic and The Matrix). Unfortunately, it is currently the most difficult object to implement, but it is also the most important in terms of interfacing directly with the mind. In science fiction the data-jack is the envisioned I/O port for the brain. Its job is to translate thoughts into something meaningful to a computer, and to translate something from a computer into meaningful thoughts for humans. Once perfected, it would allow direct communication between computers and the human mind. Johnny Mnemonic is a short story by William Gibson, and a movie loosely based on the short story. ... The Matrix is a film first released in the USA on March 31, 1999, written and directed by the Wachowski brothers (Andy and Larry). ...

Large university laboratories conduct most of the experiments done in the area of direct neural interfaces. For ethical reasons, the tests are usually performed on animals or slices of brain tissue from donor brains. The mainstream research currently focuses on electrical impulse monitoring, recording and translating the many different electrical signals that the brain transmits. A number of companies are working on what is essentially a "hands-free" mouse or keyboard [Lusted, 1996]. This technology uses these brain signals to control computer functions. These interfaces are sometimes called Brain-Machine Interfaces (BMI).

The more intense research, concerning full in-brain interfaces, is being studied, but is in its infancy. Few can afford the huge cost of such enterprises and those who can find the work slow-going and very far from the ultimate goals. Current research has reached the level where limited control over a computer is possible using thought commands alone. Most recently, after being implanted with a Massachusetts-based firm Cyberkinetics chip called BrainGate™, a quadrapalegic man was able to compose and check email, play simple games, turn lights on and off and control the television. Cyberkinetics was cofounded by John Donoghue and while scientists at Brown University helped develop early-stage bionics in the form of implantable electronic devices and now Cyberkinetics is taking the technology several steps further. ... BrainGate was developed by the bio-tech company Cyberkinetics in 2003 in conjunction with the Department of Neuroscience at Brown University. ...

Prosthetics ("Bodyware")

The second variety of cyberware consists of a more modern form of the rather old field of prosthetics. Modern prostheses attempt to deliver a natural functionality and appearance. In the sub-field where prosthetics and cyberware cross over, experiments have been done where microprocessors, capable of controlling the movements of an artificial limb, are attached to the severed nerve-endings of the patient. The patient is then taught how to operate the prosthetic, trying to learn how to move it as though it were a natural limb [Lusted, 1996].

Crossing over between prostheses and interfaces are those pieces of equipment attempting to replace lost senses. A great success in this field is the "cochlear implant". A tiny device inserted into the inner ear, it replaces the lost functionality of damaged, or merely missing, hair cells (the cells that, when stimulated, create the sensation of sound). This device comes firmly under the field of prosthetics, but experiments are also being performed to tap into the brain itself. Coupled with a speech-processor, this could be a direct link to the speech centres of the brain [Branwyn, 1993].

References:

• Branwyn, Gareth The desire to be wired.
  

In Wired 1.04, October 1993

• Lusted, HS and Knapp, RB Controlling Computers with Neural Signals.
  

In Scientific American, October 1996

• Hooper, Simon (October 21, 2004) Brain chip offers hope for paralyzed CNN

• Fromherz, Peter; Neuroelectronic Interfacing: Semiconductor Chips with Ion Channels, Nerve Cells, and Brain; in ”Nanoelectronics and Information Technology”, 781-810, Editor R. Waser, Wiley-VCH, Berlin, 2003

Related articles

• Biomechatronics
• Brain-computer interface
• Central nervous system
• Cybernetics
• Cyborg
• Cyborgs in fiction
• Exocortex
• Fyborg
• Neuroprosthetics
• Transhumanism

Biomechatronics is an applied interdisciplinary science which aims to integrate mechanical elements in the human body, both for therapeutic (artificial hearts) and augmentation (mainly military uses for the moment) reasons. ... A brain-computer interface (BCI) or direct neural interface is literally a direct technological interface between a brain and a computer not requiring any motor output from the user. ... The Central Nervous System (CNS) represents the largest part of the Nervous System. ... Cybernetics is a theory of the communication and control of regulatory feedback. ... The term cyborg, a portmanteau of cybernetic organism, is used to designate an organism which is a mixture of organic and mechanical parts. ... Cyborgs that originally appeared. ... An exocortex (speculative) is an external information processing system that augments, in a subtle and seamless fashion via a brain-computer interface, the brains biological high-level cognitive processes. ... The term cyborg, a portmanteau of cybernetic organism, is used to designate a creature which is a mixture of organic and mechanical parts. ... Neuroprosthetics is an area of neuroscience concerned with neural prostheses, that is, neural interfaces with artifical components. ... Transhumanism is an emergent philosophy analysing or favouring the use of science and technology, especially neurotechnology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology, to overcome human limitations and improve the human condition. ...

External link

• Cyberware Technology by Taryn East - Source containing the rest of the work found on this article
• Department of Membrane and Neurophysics at the Max-Planck-Institute in Martinsried, Germany - an Institute working on nerve cell - chip interconnection