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Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence 1st Edition

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Andy Clark (Author)
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3.9 out of 5 stars 13 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0195177510
ISBN-10: 0195177517
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (December 9, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0195177517
  • ISBN-13: 978-0195177510
  • Product Dimensions: 0.4 x 9.2 x 6.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #417,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsSuperb Analysis of the Human/Machine Symbiosis
By Roger D. Launius VINE VOICE on November 7, 2004
Format: Hardcover
What is the future of humanity? Is the next phase of human evolution the merging of humans and machines? Or perhaps, are we humans already merged with machines and have we been for centuries? These and other questions are ones that occupy Andy Clark, director of the Cognitive Science Program at Indiana University and author of this thought-provoking book written for an informed but lay audience. Clark makes the case that long before cyborgs became the villains of so many popular films--the "Terminator" and "Matrix" series, "Blade Runner," and "2001: A Space Odyssey" come immediately to mind--humans had become inextricably linked to machines in a way that ensured that they could not survive without them. Accordingly, even without electronic implants Homo Sapiens are cyborgs, and have been as far back as the first time one of our ancestors picked up a tree limb and used it as club. Clark argues that the human-technology symbiosis is totally natural and has been for millennia. The speed with which the merging of human and machine is advancing expanded greatly in the twentieth century as such technologies as pacemakers, artificial hips and knees, prosthetics, and other electronic implants have enhanced and sometimes prolonged the lives of millions of people.

Andy Clark explores this increasingly close relationship of humans and machines--the "cyborg-ization" of humanity--in eight chapters. Beginning with the argument that we are already cyborgs dependent for our lifestyle on all manner of technologies, he moves through a succession of possible steps into the future that will find us more and more closely tied to the technologies we have created. Eventually, we will reach a post-human state.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsHow much 'nature' is in our 'natures'?
By Kevin Currie-Knight VINE VOICE on January 15, 2004
Format: Hardcover
Andy Clark has a bold - no, a really bold - thesis: our minds and our selves are not limited to our 'biological skin bag' called the brain or even our biological selves. We, in reality, are cyborgs in the sense that we are merging with a world of technology so much that where 'it' begins and 'we' end is becoming a fuzzy line - a line that we might be best to dispense with altogether. Quite literally, our brains can be called only part of our mind.
Curious yet? I know I was. So, here is my experience with the book: I read it, raised my eyebrows quite a bit (and mumbled some under-my-breath "Wow"s) and remained unconvinced that we are LITERALLY cyborges in the sense that Clark has in mind. Whatt I did come away with (the reason for the 4 stars) is a new lens with which to view the world. Every time I see someone talking on their cell-phone, saving data to their hard-drive for retrieval later on, or even driving their cars, I will now be asking questions like, "How much can this piece of technology be said to add to her nature?"
Still sounds weird? Clark's method of argument is to argue that the brain - what we sometimes call the seat of the self - is suprisingly malleable and accomodating to outside influences. Even our own image of what is and is not 'part of ourselves' is radically flacid. His case is suprisingly powerful. For an appetite whetter, though, just think of yousrelf driving a car. When you are driving, you usually do not think about driving as such: "I need to turn left, and to do that, I move my steering wheel left which moves this external car, with me in it, left.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent cognitive science
By David Robertson on June 10, 2003
Format: Hardcover
This is a well-written and accessible book. The focus is not on technology per se, but on cognitive science and the philosophy of mind. Clark touches on a wide range of emerging technologies, but with the purpose of exploring how they will transform us. The picture on the cover might imply that these technologies would necessarily involve Borg-like implants, but Clark soon disabuses us of that notion through a number of arguments and entertaining examples (even including a magic trick). One of his arguments is that the way we (can) think depends on the tools we use, and the tools are becoming qualitatively different, both more closely coupled and adapted to us.
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4.0 out of 5 starsA recommended read but has some weaknesses...
By John W. Braught on March 24, 2006
Format: Paperback
In this accessible, provocative, and thought provoking text Andy Clark argues nothing less than what the title suggests: Human nature is predisposed and especially adapted to create and interact with technologies in a way which advances human cognition. Thus, "human-machine symbiosis" is not only a fact of our future; it is that of our present and our past. We are, in a phrase, "natural-born cyborgs". The arguments that Clark presents to establish this are in fact persuasive, and I encourage anyone interested in the relationship between human beings and technology to read this book. For, whether the reader has at anytime in the past considered this complicated relationship or not, they are not likely to look at it the same way after coming away from the text.

That is not to say that all is well in Professor Clark's analysis, for he tends to take what has been referred to as a techno-enthusiast approach to technology, blatantly negating any undesirable consequences that may arise from such an intimate acceptance of technology into our everyday lives. This despite the fact that he devotes an entire chapter to supposedly addressing some of the potential negative impacts that technology poses. Yet, these are so minimized that it is obvious that for Andy Clark no price is too high for what he sees as the inevitable evolutionary advance of the human species. In addition, Clark tends to overlook the political aspects of technology involving the decisions over what sorts of technologies will be developed and how they will be implemented. Without going in to too much detail it is suffice to say that Clark's analysis is in no way comprehensive and tends to overlook the ethical dimensions of the question of technology.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 starsAntiquated, boring, hyper intellectual and over plotted.

Yes I really am a doctor, however truth be told I got my Doctorate in Divinity online for 19.99 USD. Read more

Published 3 months ago by VirgilCane
4.0 out of 5 starsMind-bendingly Enjoyable

In his book Natural Born Cyborgs, Andy Clark supports a view of human-machine symbiosis that puts our recent integration with computer interfaces on a continuum of human... Read more

Published on September 29, 2013 by Anish Joseph
2.0 out of 5 starsBlah

I bought this book as part of a college class that I am taking. It's okay if you're into science-y stuff, but it was boring to me.

Published on April 11, 2013 by Katherine
4.0 out of 5 starsNew Point of View

Clark is new and inventive in his theories on the natural born cyborg. Since we all use technology so smoothly and since it is integrated into our lives to such an extent, we are... Read more

Published on April 19, 2010 by K. Rasche
2.0 out of 5 starsNatural-Born Cyborgs

This book is an elementary, disorganized look at how the brain interprets its input and applies tools external to the body to augment, diminish or replace its processes; and how... Read more

Published on August 30, 2009 by Sam Adams
5.0 out of 5 starsCyborgs in the Flesh

Clark presents an argument that we do not need to implant microchips or electronic prostheses in our body to become Cyborgs, - We are already Cyborgs. Read more

Published on July 2, 2006 by Kjell Oevergaard
5.0 out of 5 starsYes, we certainly are cyborgs!

Normally, we think about 'cyborgs' in terms of 'Star Trek'-like creatures, such as the Borg: a mixture of organic and inorganic stuff, quite unpleasant to look at and even more... Read more

Published on May 11, 2006 by T. A. Smedes
5.0 out of 5 starsWhen Technology Becomes Us

Excellent book, so readable you forget Clark's a philosopher. With ample use of personal anecdotes and metaphors, we are led through many thought-provoking realms supporting the... Read more

Published on July 3, 2004 by Steve M. Potter
5.0 out of 5 starsBio-technological unions are evolving faster and faster

Philosophy and cognitive science blend in a survey of what makes humans different from other species. Read more

Published on December 13, 2003 by Midwest Book Review

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