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Personal Identity

Cyborgs

(Text as at 06/07/2023 00:43:12)

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. Briefly, a Cyborg (Cybernetic Organism) is a human being (or any organic being) with some inorganic parts (see "Wikipedia - Cyborg").
  2. Compare and contrast with Android², which is a humanoid robot.
  3. See also Siliconisation³, the Thought Experiment⁴ wherein we have the gradual replacement of (human) neural tissue with microchips while – allegedly – preserving consciousness⁵ and mental⁶ function.
  4. And again, connect to Chimeras⁷. In this case, biological material from other animals is merged with human tissue to provide an enhancement, and there are other situations where human tissue is to be harvested from other animals – after genetic modification or other means – for the purpose of implantation⁸.
  5. All of the above is beloved of the Transhumanists⁹, who want to enhance the human condition by all means possible, even if this means that humans are no longer – strictly speaking – human beings¹⁰.
  6. My interest in Cyborgs stems from the impact of their possibility on the truth of Animalism¹¹.
  7. If we are (human) animals¹², would we continue to exist if increasingly enhanced by technological implants¹³ and extensions. I see no immediate problem – just a bit more along the lines of spectacles & hip replacements. But no doubt there would eventually become a tipping point when we become more inorganic than organic¹⁴. Our persistence conditions¹⁵ would then be mixed between those of organisms¹⁶ and artefacts¹⁷. Or is the situation better described by us shrinking (if our parts are replaced) or – if the technological parts are add-ons – remaining unchanged. Currently we’re unchanged by our spectacles, but hip replacements become part of us. Is this not so?

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  Further Remarks:
  1. Since this is mostly a place-holder¹⁸, I intend to add jottings or notices here as I come across them:-
     1. Andy Clark: Public Lecture – December 2018 – “We are entering an age of widespread human enhancement. The technologies range from wearable, implantable, and pervasive computing, to new forms of onboard sensing, thought-controlled equipment, personal Artificial Intelligences¹⁹, intelligent prosthetic limbs, humble but transformative waves of smartphones, and the humanly engineered landscapes of augmented, virtual, and mixed realities. Courtesy of this tidal swell of self-creation, we should start to recognise ourselves not as neatly bounded biological organisms but as repeatedly reconfigurable nodes in a flux of innovation and reinvention. This gives us a new opportunity to look at ourselves, and to ask the fundamental question: Where does the human mind stop, and the rest of the world begin?”
     2. Maarten Steenhagen: Lecture – November 2018 – Extending Perceptual Capacities: the case of VR – “What happens when we try to extend our capacities to perceive? Can such extensions ever lead to genuinely new forms of perception, or do they at best present cunningly crafted illusions? In this paper I consider the case of virtual reality environments, and the way these can be said to extend visual and perhaps tactile experience. I will defend a version of virtual realism, according to which virtual objects are real objects.”

References

• Relevant Works cited above:
  1. "Wikipedia - Cyborg", 2023, External Link, Read = 14%
• For a page of Links²⁰ to this Note, Click here.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read²¹, include the following:-
  • Aeon:
    1. "Mayor (Adrienne) - Bio-techne", 2016, No Abstract, External Link, Internal PDF Link
  • General:
    1. "Erickson (Mark) - Review of Andy Clark's 'Natural-Born Cyborgs'", 2004, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
    2. "Grossman (Lev), Kurzweil (Ray) - 2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal", 2011, Write-Up Note²², Annotations
    3. "Hawthorne (John X.) - Are You Ready For The Cyborg Technology Coming In 2021?", 2018, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    4. "Iida (Fumiya) - Could we build a Blade Runner-style ‘replicant’?", 2017, No Abstract, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    5. "Jones (D. Gareth) - A Christian Perspective on Human Enhancement", 2010, Internal PDF Link
    6. "O'Connell (Mark) - To be a Machine", 2017, Book
    7. "Shipley (G.J.) - Review of Andy Clark's 'Natural-Born Cyborgs'", 2004, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
    8. "Wexler (Anna) & Feinsinger (Ashley) - Ethical challenges in translating brain–computer interfaces", External Link
• A further reading list might start with:-
  • General:
    1. "Alexander (Denis) - Enhancing humans or a new creation?", 2009, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 33%
    2. "Baycrtz (Kurt) - Human Nature: How Normative Might it Be?", 2003, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Clark (Andy) - Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence", 2003, Book, Read = 1%
    4. "Clark (Andy) - Re-Inventing Ourselves: The Plasticity of Embodiment, Sensing, and Mind", 2013
    5. "Clark (Andy) - That Special Something: Dennett on the Making of Minds and Selves", 2002
    6. "CSC WG - Human Enhancement – A Discussion Document", 2010, Internal PDF Link, Read = 17%
    7. "da Cunha (Rui Vieira) - Will I ever Be a Cyborg?", 2020, Internal PDF Link, Read = 13%
    8. "DeGrazia (David) - Enhancement Technologies and Human Identity", 2005, Internal PDF Link
    9. "Kaku (Michio) - The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance and Empower the Mind (YouTube Lecture)", 2014, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 56%
    10. "Liao (S. Matthew) - Twinning, Inorganic Replacement, and the Organism View", 2010, Internal PDF Link, Read = 11%
    11. "Miah (Andy) - Justifying Human Enhancement: The Accumulation of Biocultural Capital", 2013
    12. "Puccetti (Roland) - The Conquest of Death", 1976, Internal PDF Link, Read = 33%
    13. "Wikipedia - Cyborg", 2023, External Link, Read = 14%
• For further papers held on-line of potential interest, follow this Link²³. Total papers = 2.

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• For a list of Works that have been considered, but have missed the cut for inclusion in this Section of my Thesis, see the following:-
  1. Read: No items to list.
  2. Further Reading: No items to list.
• This is mostly a place-holder²⁴.

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Table of the Previous 9 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
20/09/2022 11:24:00	5171	Cyborgs
15/05/2022 13:19:12	4749	Cyborgs
09/02/2021 21:59:02	4518	Cyborgs
08/06/2019 10:26:24	3916	Cyborgs
04/05/2018 12:25:55	4528	Cyborgs
08/02/2018 21:54:43	3556	Cyborgs
18/12/2010 19:58:05	301	Cyborgs
26/11/2007 23:25:26	235	Cyborgs
12/08/2007 10:17:46	233	Cyborgs

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Note last updated	Reading List for this Topic	Parent Topic
06/07/2023 00:43:12	Cyborgs	Thought Experiments

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal	Androids	Animalism	Animals	Artifacts
Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Chimera	Consciousness	Human Beings	Intelligence
Mind	Note Links Explanation	Organisms	Persistence Criteria	PID Note, Book & Paper Usage
Plug Note Apologia	Siliconisation	Thought Experiments	Transhumanism	Transplants
Works Read - Explanation

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

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Summary of Notes Citing This Note

2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal, 2, 3, 4	Aeon Papers - Summary Document: 2017-2018	Androids, 2, 3	Baker - Materialism with a Human Face, 2	Baker - Persons in the Material World, 2
Bodily Continuity	Chimera	Non-Human Persons	Olson - What Are We? Animals	Olson - What Are We? The Question
PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3, 4	Siliconisation	The Singularity	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)	Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?)
Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time)	Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11	Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion)	Thesis - Current Stance	Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Thisness (Haecceity)	Transhumanism, 2	Transplants	Website Generator Documentation - Functors, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

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Authors, Books & Papers Citing this Note

Author	Title	Medium	Extra Links	Read?
Alexander (Denis)	Enhancing humans or a new creation?	Paper
Ayers (Michael R.)	Locke on Living Things	Paper		Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Persons in the Material World	Paper	2	Yes
Clark (Andy)	Re-Inventing Ourselves: The Plasticity of Embodiment, Sensing, and Mind	Paper
Clark (Andy)	That Special Something: Dennett on the Making of Minds and Selves	Paper
Grossman (Lev), Kurzweil (Ray)	2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal	Paper	2, 3, 4	Yes
Kaku (Michio)	Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration of the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation and Time Travel	Book
Miah (Andy)	Justifying Human Enhancement: The Accumulation of Biocultural Capital	Paper
O'Connell (Mark)	To be a Machine	Book	2	Yes
Olson (Eric)	Psychology and Personal Identity	Paper		Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? Animals	Paper		Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? The Question	Paper		Yes
Puccetti (Roland)	The Conquest of Death	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Renstrom (Joelle)	And their eyes glazed over	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Androids	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Bodily Continuity	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What Are We?)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chimera	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Current Position	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Non-Human Persons	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Siliconisation	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Thisness (Haecceity)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Transhumanism	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Transplants	Paper		Yes
Vita-More (Natasha)	Aesthetics: Bringing the Arts & Design into the Discussion of Transhumanism	Paper

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References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Alexander (Denis)	Enhancing humans or a new creation?	Paper - Cited	Jubilee Centre; Cambridge Papers: Towards a Biblical Mind, Vol. 18.2, June 2009	33%
Alexander (Denis)	Science and Christian Belief 22.2 (October 2010)	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	13%
Baycrtz (Kurt)	Human Nature: How Normative Might it Be?	Paper - Cited	Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, Apr. 2003, 28.2, pp. 131-150	No
Brook (Andrew) & Ross (Don)	Daniel Dennett	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Brook (Andrew) & Ross (Don) - Daniel Dennett	No
Clark (Andy)	Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence	Book - Cited	Clark (Andy) - Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence	1%
Clark (Andy)	Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence	Paper - By Subtopic	Clark (Andy) - Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence	2%
Clark (Andy)	Re-Inventing Ourselves: The Plasticity of Embodiment, Sensing, and Mind	Paper - By Subtopic	More & Vita-More - The Transhumanist Reader, Part III - Chapter 11	No
Clark (Andy)	That Special Something: Dennett on the Making of Minds and Selves	Paper - By Subtopic	Brook & Ross - Daniel Dennett (Contemporary Philosophy in Focus Series), 2002	No
CSC WG	Human Enhancement – A Discussion Document	Paper - By Subtopic	Church & Society Commission (CSC) Website	17%
da Cunha (Rui Vieira)	Will I ever Be a Cyborg?	Paper - By Subtopic	Retrieved from Academia.edu	13%
Erickson (Mark)	Review of Andy Clark's 'Natural-Born Cyborgs'	Paper - Cited	The Canadian Journal of Sociology, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Summer, 2004), pp. 471-473	Yes
Grossman (Lev), Kurzweil (Ray)	2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal	Paper - Cited	Time Magazine, February 21, 2011	Yes
Hains (Brigid) & Hains (Paul)	Aeon: L-P	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	33%
Hains (Brigid) & Hains (Paul)	Aeon: Q-S	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Hains (Brigid) & Hains (Paul) - Aeon: Q-S	29%
Hawthorne (John X.)	Are You Ready For The Cyborg Technology Coming In 2021?	Paper - Cited	IQS Directory, 28 March 2018	Yes
Iida (Fumiya)	Could we build a Blade Runner-style ‘replicant’?	Paper - Cited	The Conversation, October 5, 2017 10.44am BST	Yes
Jones (D. Gareth)	A Christian Perspective on Human Enhancement	Paper - Cited	Alexander (Denis) - Science and Christian Belief 22.2 (October 2010)	Yes
Kaku (Michio)	The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance and Empower the Mind (YouTube Lecture)	Paper - By Subtopic	YouTube, 28 Mar 2014	56%
Kingma (Elselijn)	Functions and health at the interface of biology and technology	Paper - By Subtopic	Noûs, 54 (1), 182-203 (2020)	11%
Kingma (Elselijn) & Finn (Suki)	Neonatal Incubator or Artificial Womb? Distinguishing Ectogestation and Ectogenesis using the Metaphysics of Pregnancy	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophical Quarterly 73 (2):476-491 (2023)	13%
Liao (S. Matthew)	Twinning, Inorganic Replacement, and the Organism View	Paper - By Subtopic	Ratio, 4th January 2010	11%
Martin (Michael G.F.), Ed.	Mind - 113/450 (April 2004)	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	6%
Mayor (Adrienne)	Bio-techne	Paper - Cited	Aeon, 16 May, 2016	Yes
Miah (Andy)	Justifying Human Enhancement: The Accumulation of Biocultural Capital	Paper - By Subtopic	More & Vita-More - The Transhumanist Reader, Part VII - Chapter 29	No
More (Max) & Vita-More (Natasha)	The Transhumanist Reader	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	More (Max) & Vita-More (Natasha) - The Transhumanist Reader	6%
O'Connell (Mark)	To be a Machine	Book - Cited	O'Connell (Mark) - To be a Machine	Yes
Renstrom (Joelle)	And their eyes glazed over	Paper - By Subtopic	Aeon, 12 September, 2016	Yes
Shipley (G.J.)	Review of Andy Clark's 'Natural-Born Cyborgs'	Paper - Cited	Mind - 113/450 (April 2004)	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Cyborgs	Paper - By Subtopic		Yes
Vita-More (Natasha)	Aesthetics: Bringing the Arts & Design into the Discussion of Transhumanism	Paper - By Subtopic	More & Vita-More - The Transhumanist Reader, Part I - Chapter 2	No
Wexler (Anna) & Feinsinger (Ashley)	Ethical challenges in translating brain–computer interfaces	Paper - Cited	Nature: Comment: Human Behaviour (17 September 2024)	Yes
Wikipedia	Cyborg	Paper - Cited	Wikipedia, taken 8th March 2023	14%

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Text Colour Conventions

1. Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2026
2. Mauve: Text by correspondent(s) or other author(s); © the author(s)

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