The general idea is to curate a hypothetical but realistic project, in this case a first-hand experience for people, about what is like to have new abilities. More specifically, what is like to be a cyborg.
As defined by the Oxford Dictionary, a cyborg is a fictional or hypothetical person whose physical abilities are extended beyond normal human limitations by mechanical elements built into the body.
The idea was born because of my interest in new developments regarding the extension of our human abilities throughout the use of technology. Every time I browsed I’d find a different thing, in a different place: a research in America, a new cyborg in Spain or a high tech solution for a problem in some other place. The fact is that at a certain point I imagined what would it be like to have them all in one place. Then I imagined more, what would it be like to be able to experience them first-hand. This is how I ended up researching for cyborg related events but didn’t find anything more then conferences. The idea was born.
The experience is set in a futuristic city, to provide a full immersion experience and to amplify the excitement of senses for the visitor. It is designed both for experts of sector as for someone totally unaware about human progress in technological activities but curious and willing to explore them. For both young and old. The city would be built in small scale (2-3 floor building high) and on an extension large as a small neighbourhood of a few streets to freely walk around. Where we imagine that the shops would be located would instead be single ‘rooms’, each providing the experience of a different ability.
Then, the experience as a whole, would be located in a central position of a large city in order to be visible for the citizens and almost advertise it self.
Here is an example of a futuristic city:
Whether somebody is for or against technology, the final purpose of this experience is to make everybody aware of what is happening in the world and technology is a huge component of it. And anyway we are already late to the party. Futurist and head of engineering at Google, Ray Kurzweil, predicted that by 2030 we will be part humans and part machines. For example we’ll be able to connect directly our brain to the cloud without an interface.
Most of the expert of the sector talk about this abilities as extensions of our body as it is the case of our smart phones or computers. And there are people out there as for example Neil Harbisson and Moon Ribas that are already living as cyborgs. Neil was born colour blind and has an antenna implanted into his skull that translates colours into vibrations.
Each ‘ability’ actually was born as a solution to a biological malfunction, as in Neil’s example, then extended to improve existing features and eventually add new ones.
It is simply fascinating.
Anda Avramescu 