Body Electric [Paperback]

James Geary (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 7, 2002

Marie, a 63-year-old Belgian woman, has been totally blind since the age of 57. But now, thanks to electrodes implanted around her right optic nerve, she can see lights, shapes and colours again. Marie is just one of a handful of people around the world who have had computer chips implanted in their bodies to extend, enhance or repair their senses. Drawing on fields as diverse as artificial intelligence and biology, THE BODY ELECTRIC provides an exciting synthesis of the people and technology making this convergence possible, while addressing the psychological, social and philosophical implications of these startling developments. Are you any less 'you' after a bionic implant? If all our senses are electronically enhanced, how will we tell the difference between virtual reality and the actual world? How can privacy be ensured when computers are watching and listening to everything we do and say?

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Once Geary lures you in, the real fantastical hook is wondering how we failed to notice that the bionic age has already arrived." THE SCOTSMAN "It's a remarkablly fertile, imaginative read." FOCUS "Thankfully, the techonology still needs some tweaking." THE GUARDIAN "This is a fairly fascinating survey byTime magazine journalist James Geary of the current state of cybernetics, that frontier science where biology and technology are merging." THE INDEPENDENT

From the Back Cover

Marie, a sixty-three-year old Belgian woman, has been totally blind since the age of fifty-seven. But now, thanks to electrodes implanted around her right optic nerve, she can see lights, shapes, and colors again. Marie is one of a handful of people around the world who have had computer chips implanted in their bodies to extend, enhance, or repair their senses.

The idea of actually melding man and machine still seems futuristic, unlikely and a little scary. But in The Body Electric, James Geary examines the startling possibilities opened up by the merger of the biological and the technological. This remarkable convergence holds the promise of restoring sight to the blind and mobility to the paralyzed. It might also provide us with bionic senses, such as the ability to see infrared radiation or feel objects at a distance. By linking neurons in the brain directly to silicon chips, scientists are also exploring the possibility of creating virtual eyes, ears, and limbs on the Internet and allowing people to control appliances by thought alone. Machines, too, are getting silicon senses. Researchers are endowing computers with the ability to see, hear, smell, taste, touch-and conceivably think.

The Body Electric offers an accessible and astute survey of this exciting area of research with its potential commercial, medical and military applications. Drawing on fields as diverse as artificial intelligence and biology, The Body Electric asks: Are you any less "you" after a bionic implant? If all of our senses are electronically enhanced how will we tell the difference between virtual reality and the actual world? Will it matter?

The merger of our technology and ourselves is already beginning to change the way we see, hear, smell, taste, touch, and think about the world, opening the doors of perception just another crack. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Phoenix Press (November 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0753813807
• ISBN-13: 978-0753813805
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,481,478 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Geary is the author of 'I Is an Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor and How It Shapes the Way We See the World' as well as the New York Times best-selling 'The World in a Phrase: A Brief History of the Aphorism' and 'Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists'.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Boom of Biotechnology and its implications, May 30, 2003

By 

Pieter "Toypom" (Johannesburg) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Body Electric: An Anatomy of the New Bionic Senses (Hardcover)

The Body Electric deals with the science of the merging of biology and technology. In it, James Geary discusses the advances in biotechnology and provides a glance into the future when new technologies may replace organs and repair and enhance the senses. Devices made of silicon will eventually enhance the human brain and body in ways unheard of today. In the chapter titled Sight/Vision Thing, we learn that computers will be able to analyse facial expressions for various purposes. In the chapters Hearing/Sounds Of Science and Smell/Advances In Odour Space the possibility is raised of transporting odours and flavours via the internet and if this will become just another advertising tool. There are also Taste/Fun With Electric Tongues; Touch/The World Is Your Interface, in which haptic interfaces are discussed, and finally, Mind/The Sixth Sense. The convergence of biology and technology is a fascinating field; this book also addresses some of the psychological, sociological and philosophical implications of these future technologies. The discussion on new bionic senses becoming available is very interesting, like the possibility of seeing infrared and ultraviolet light, plus the possibility of hitherto unknown senses becoming available. The whole framework of existence is changing as the human body becomes electric, opening wider the doors of perception. This great book contains 13 illustrations and concludes with an extensive bibliography and a helpful index.