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“Astronaut Steve Austin, a man barely alive. But we can rebuild him. We have the technology.”
Or so the story goes in the
TV series starring Lee Majors that ran from 1974-1978. The stuff of fiction in the 20th
century, during the past few years many of the innovations portrayed in the
original series have gone from science fiction to science fact. There are now such things as prosthetic arms
and hands with tactile
sense, rudimentary bionic eyes that help the blind see,
and cochlear implants that help the deaf hear.
While we don’t yet have the ability to equip amputees with fully
functional legs that can go from zero to sixty in five seconds, we can offer
robotic exoskeletons that can help paraplegics regain the ability to walk on
their own. Plus there are other
man/machine concepts that are either in the prototype phase or on the drawing
board that can amp up the capabilities of us mere mortals. In this week’s blog, we will take a look at
these technologies, as well as the ramifications of enhanced human beings who
will soon make Colonel Austin seem as antiquated as much of the technology of
the 1970s.
