Chapter 10 Introduction

EUROPEAN VISIONS FOR THE KNOWLEDGE AGE A Quest for New Horizons in the Information Society     Paul T Kidd (Ed.) ISBN 978-1-901864-08-3 (Paperback) Price: £19.99/€29.99/US$35.99

Chapter 10

Before the Cyborgs Come

Marc Bogdanowicz

 

Introduction

 

Body-friendly information and communication technologies is a provocative expression and deliberately so. It echoes the often wished for user-friendliness of technologies, but also raises concerns about intrusiveness. Intrusive information and communication technologies, an alternative and more negative term, can be used instead of electronic implants. However the ambiguity of the term body-friendly information and communication technologies seems to offer much more scope for discussion than the alternative term.

 

This chapter aims to examine the relationship of Western societies with the individual body, and how this evolving relationships may affect and be affected by the development of miniaturised and body-friendly information and communication technologies. While the scope of the chapter is wide ranging however, there are many issues that are not addressed. These include such related issues as death and burials, beauty and pain, spirituality and faith, etc. The main area addressed is that of information and communication technologies related body repair and body enhancement.