Lose a Tooth, Grow a Tooth, Lose a Tooth, Grow a Tooth…

 Aging Society, Bioengineering, Bionic, Cybernetics, Human Augmentation, Medical Technology, Prosthetics, Technology  No Responses »
May 152012
 

So, Hooray for Tooth Sciences
Some crazy dentists and mad-scientist orthodontists have developed a practical means of rebuilding teeth with stem cells and an individual’s own genetic material. It’s been successfully demonstrated in monkeys and mice (who, along with rats, seem to have all the experimental fun/horror), and now, they’re all up in human grills as well – trials are underway.

Singularity Hub has a very decent write-up on this. You should read their piece because it’s good, and because…

Anthrobotic Currently Sucks at Bioscience
Of course the subject is intertwined with prosthetics and cybernetics and bio-mechanical human replacement parts and such, about which there’s plenty of blah blah blahing going on here, but bioengineering stuff doesn’t get a lot of coverage – which is kind of a shame, since it’s a massive huge giant portion of human technological development.

Anyone wanna, you know, do that? You will be compensated with madd props, questionable prestige, and exclusive access to my 6 regular readers! For now, anyway. I’ll hire someone with actual money after I hire myself.

Toward that end, HEY, my 6 regular readers, spread the word!
Let’s get that number up to 8!

[ARTICLE AT SINGULARITY HUB]

Okay, Let’s Talk about Making Sex with Robots

 AI, Anthrobotic Originals, Artificial Intelligence, Cybernetics, Future Already Very Pending, NBI, Robot, Robot Emotions, Robot Love, Sony, Technology, Technology & Culture, Technology Law  Comments Off
May 012012
 

Sex & Technology
Human sexuality is a helluva drug, and an unquestionably powerful force in technological trends. Think internet video, sexting, showing someone your junk via webcam, Photoshopping models to enhance sex appeal, increasingly lifelike non-biological “partners,” and a whole universe of hypo-allergenic and ergonomically designed, uhh… appliances.

Now, the global sex industry isn’t just passively implementing new technologies, it’s occasionally driving their development. A classic example from back in the day was pornography’s embrace of VHS video, which played an important role in the downfall of Sony’s Betamax alternative (ref.). Granted, Sony is rather inept at pushing their pet media formats (Memory Stick, UMD, DAT, MD), so, you know, context. Anyway, here’s the thing:

And its a Big One.
 I Think We’re Going to Make Sweet Love to Robots Pretty Soon. Continue reading »

TRANSHUMANISM TEST PILOTS: Pre-Exoskeleton Mobility is Still Very Awesome

 Aging Society, Anthrobotic Originals, Bionic, Cybernetics, Exoskeleton, Human Augmentation, Medical Robots, Medical Technology, Multimedia, Prosthetics, Technology, Technology & Disability, Transhuman, Transhumanism, Transhumanism Test Pilots  Comments Off
Apr 092012
 

Here at Anthrobotic.com, I like to keep an eye on both extant and in-development technologies for disabled humans – also known, to me anyway, as the TRANSHUMANISM TEST PILOTS.

Here’s the Thing:
Much of the technology used to improve the lives of the disabled kinda overlaps or pushes subtly into human 2.0/transhumanist/rebuild-the-animal territory. Otherwise stated, the somewhat primitive yet practically necessary prosthetics and human augmentation implements of today could easily evolve into the voluntary upgrades of tomorrow.
Okay, so…

Wheelchairs
As my 6 regular readers know, I’ve made it quite clear that wheelchairs suck and are totally not invited to the future. Admittedly, they’ve helped millions of disabled people. But we can do so, SO much better – I mean come on – the goddamn wheelchair has gone essentially unimproved upon for more than 100 years!

AMS Mekatronik’s Tek RMD Represents
Humans want to stand. Our physiology and psychology demand this from our body. And this company has an answer. I could blah blah blah about this for several more paragraphs, but your best bet is to watch the video below. This technology can’t help all people confined to wheelchairs, but it’s an amazing step. And dont worry – thought-controlled exoskeletons aren’t far off.

Wanna know what else is being pioneered through helping the disabled?
See all related posts: TRANSHUMANISM TEST PILOTS

[VISIT THE TEK RMD WEBSITE]

BBC’s Bionic Bodies Series Continues (UPDATED)

 Anthrobotic Parity, Bionic, Cybernetics, Exoskeleton, Future Already Very Pending, Human Augmentation, Medical Robots, Medical Technology, Multimedia, Prosthetics, Technology, Technology & Disability, Transhuman, Transhumanism, Transhumanism Test Pilots, We're Already Cyborgs Already  Comments Off
Mar 132012
 

BBC’s Ongoing Bionics Coverage Updated
As mentioned here last week, the BBC’s put together a nice overview of the state of the art past, present, and future – complete with interactive parts swapping, video, and  brief write-ups on the developers, short documentaries on current users, etc. The series will continue for a few weeks – don’t sleep!

[BUILDING A HUMAN BODY VIA BBC]
[BBC's BIONICS COVERAGE OVERVIEW]

Anthrobotic Pieces:
[BIONIC & BIOLOGICAL: THE FEROCIOUS CONUNDRUM OF BEING 50/50]

[WHERE HUMAN ENDS, MACHINE, BLAH BLAH VIA HERE]

[TRANSHUMANISM TEST PILOTS, I.E. THE DISABLED]

Bionic & Biological: The Ferocious Conundrum of Being 50/50

 Anthrobotic Originals, Anthrobotic Parity, Bionic, Cybernetics, Exoskeleton, Future Already Very Pending, Human Augmentation, Medical Robots, Medical Technology, Multimedia, Prosthetics, Technology, Technology & Disability, Transhuman, Transhumanism, Transhumanism Test Pilots, We're Already Cyborgs Already  Comments Off
Mar 072012
 

Bionics. Cybernetics. New Parts.
There are million different angles to discuss here, but by far the most interesting idea is a gradual, mutual, acquisitional merger – the pending-yet-not-far-off arrival of homeostasis between biological and mechanical life. One has to kinda, you know, aggressively focus on redefining notions of life and intelligence and awareness and consciousness and pretty much every facet of human existence.
Barring global cataclysm, of course.

Anthrobotic Parity
We’ve steadily marched toward this parity for a long, long time. But now we’re sprinting. When the formerly machine-only and flesh-only entities reach equal saturations of each other’s parts, we then get a philosophical quandary like none other before in the history of life as we know it in the universe. At least, you know, I think so.
Because at 50/50 – which are you?
Your thoughts?
Body?

This is nothing new, in Where the Human Ends & the Machine Begins: Getting Unclearer, I talked about this issue at much more length and with much more snark and external resources – have a read. Also covered here are the Transhumanism Test Pilots, a new series examining how the disabled are effectively the human-trial stage for the voluntary upgrades of the future. So – have a look there, and then jump over to this:

Roll Your Own

BBC’s Bionics Bonanza
They’ve put together a nice overview of the state of the art – complete with interactive parts swapping, video, and brief write-ups on the developers. The series will continue for a few weeks – don’t sleep!

[BUILDING A HUMAN BODY VIA BBC]
[WHERE HUMAN ENDS, MACHINE, BLAH BLAH VIA HERE]

Transhumanism Test Pilots: Fly-by-Tongue

 Aging Society, Brain, Cybernetics, Exoskeleton, Human Augmentation, Medical Technology, Neurology, Prosthetics, Technology, Technology & Disability, Transhuman, Transhumanism, Transhumanism Test Pilots, We're Already Cyborgs Already  Comments Off
Feb 292012
 

Something New
Hmmm… I think Transhumanism Test Pilots should be become a regular thing around here – a new section to go with Terminal Anachronism and Japanese Technology from the Future Friday.

I like to keep an eye on transformative technologies for disabled humans – also known, to me anyway, as the Transhumanism Test Pilots! They’re transtastic.
(I can spit out bad taglines all day)

Because The Thing is This:
Much of the technology being developed to assist or augment the lives of the disabled kinda overlaps or pushes subtly into human 2.0/transhumanist/rebuild the animal territory. Otherwise stated, the somewhat primitive yet practically necessary prosthetics and human augmentation implements of today could easily evolve into the voluntary upgrades of tomorrow.

And here’s a very good example of the human body used as input device:

Least or Most Dorky Retainer Ever - Depends.

The Tongue Drive System
While unimaginatively named, this new human-machine interface is everything long of awesome. Basically the relative orientation of a magnet on the tongue, which one assumes is not a piercing, originates a signal from the fancy retainer actuating a connected device/vehicle/zombie personal assistant to execute a preprogrammed action.

It’s totally cool.
Have a read of the original article.

[ARTICLE VIA CNET]

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