View source for Cyborg: The human body as the next engineering platform – Lightning Talk 2015

4 June 2015 | 16:30-17:00 <br />
[[Programme overview 2015|'''Programme overview 2015''']]<br /><br />

== Biography ==
Stefan Greiner is a Berlin based cyborg hacktivist. Trained as an electrical engineer he studied human factors at TU Berlin and deepened his knowledge in human-computer interaction. He is co-founder of Cyborgs e.V. and gets excited, hacking his body in order to augment his sensory apparatus. Besides that, he co-founded the spin-off newsenselab at Humboldt University where he currently works on health related big data analysis.

== Session description ==
From hammer to telescope to computers, as humans we are toolmakers. We've used these tools to constantly solve better the problems of survival and reproduction. In fact, it is one of the unique features of the human brain compared with other mammals, being able to enter into deep and complex relationships with nonbiological constructs. As a consequence, humans have always been human-technology symbionts - searching to extend their physical body into the environment through tools.

Until now, the majority of technologies are external to our human bodies. We use our body surface to communicate with technology - in form of screens, keyboards, buttons and many other interactive devices. However the new wave of technologies and its interfaces are invisible to the human user - they locate themselve not externally to the user but implanted and controlled from within the human body. The human body itself is becoming the next engineering platform. Neuroelectronic Interfaces that directly connect the human nervous system with electronic circuits of technological devices are just one example of how human-machine boundaries increasingly get blurred. Ever wondered what the "Internet of things" is becoming, when "things" are wandering into our bodies? Let's get on a journey from bodyhacking practices to current research on human engineering.

== Keywords ==
Cyborg, Sensory Augmentation, Cyborg Society, Bodyhacking

== Further reading ==
*[http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/05/a-blueprint-for-a-better-human-body/389655/ Blueprint for a Better Human Body]
*[http://www.futuremag.fr/interview/faire-fusionner-lhomme-et-la-machine-cest-deja-possible-stefan-greiner "Faire fusionner l’homme et la machine, c’est déjà possible", Stefan Greiner] (also available in German).
*[http://www.springerprofessional.de/cyborg-bodiesself-reflections-on-sensory-augmentations/5473562.html Cyborg Bodies—Self-Reflections on Sensory Augmentations]

== Live stream / remote participation ==
[http://j.mp/EuroDIG2015Sofia Enter the webex room to participate]

== Session twitter hashtag ==  
Hashtag: #eurodigcyborg

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