Week 10 - Cybernetics / Human Use of Human Beings - TETRA

Key Question: How do cybernetics relate biologically to us?

The reading on Cybernetics inspired us to bring the TED talk that we saw last semester called “I listen to color” into our conversation. Neil Harbisson, a cyborg artist uses a prosthetic colour sensor eye called an “eyeborg” that detects colors using frequencies. Therefore, he is able to associate a color to that item by bringing the eye closer to the object. This thought relates to the point made by Pitts where he consider machines and biological organism as cybernetics. The prosthetic eye sensor that Harbisson uses is indeed implanted in his brain, thus becoming a part of his body. This device then becomes a machine that is biological. The argument that Moravec points out that in the future we will be able to inhabit any computational device is similar to how Cyborgs function, since the prosthetic eye is part of Herbisson’s body.  

The two readings we felt complimented each other in discussing cybernetics, however the seconds text went further into discussing the importance of messages and communication in society. We thought that it was particularly important to bring up in regards to cybernetics, that we rely heavily on our various forms of communication, with machines, animals, as well as machines. Freud, who is briefly mentioned in the text states that there is a deep irrational component in human conduct and thought, which we found to be problematic when trying to discuss our ways of communication with machines. This is because, there has been discussion of how the human brain relates to machine, while this statement by Freud points out that perhaps the human brain is much more complex than that of a machine. Though this is something we could debate forever, Gibbs introduced statistics into physics in a more thorough way and explains everything relates back to probability and not certainty. To relate this back to Freud’s comment, perhaps we will never fully understand minds of machines and ourselves, but we can certainly use statistics and probability to further understand our minds and machine minds through research and communication. 

Harbisson, Neil. "Neil Harbisson." TED. Accessed March 17, 2019. https://www.ted.com/speakers/neil_harbisson.