# Steve Mann, Cyborg **URL:** \ **Category:** blog\ **Created:** [July 12, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514 "2007-07-12T00:00:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2

**Author:** ![Nchantim](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/n/ac91a4/32.png) [@Nchantim](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Nchantim)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514/21 "2007-07-14T00:00:00Z")

This is how the cybermen started! ---

**Author:** ![Torvaun](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/t/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Torvaun](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Torvaun)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514/22 "2007-07-14T00:00:00Z")

TraumaPony: He didn’t lose part of his memory when he took off the computer. He lost the instant access he had come to rely upon, his reference material. Suppose I go to class, and I take solid notes regarding the lecture. You then steal my notes before I get a chance to study them and commit the information retained therein to memory. I have not lost part of my memory. Nothing I already knew disappeared. I lost the opportunity to review that stored data, and add it to my memory. He artificially augmented himself, and he adapted so well to these augmentations that their later removal caused major distress. He dropped below his levels from before the cyborg-ness, because he had allowed his natural abilities to atrophy while using his technological crutches. There was no risk of brain damage from removing his rig, only psychological damage from his equivalent of you tearing out your own eyes. ---

**Author:** ![RN3AOH](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/r/f17d59/32.png) [@RN3AOH](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/RN3AOH)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514/23 "2007-07-14T00:00:00Z")

I don’t see [http://wearables.blu.org/](http://wearables.blu.org/) mentioned, but come to think of it, they also haven’t updated for quite a while. ---

**Author:** ![jun](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/j/8e7dd6/32.png) [@jun](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/jun)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514/24 "2007-07-15T00:00:00Z")

I really love to visit this site because the posts are always very interesting. I’m just curious, how many feed subscriptions currently do you have on your reader? ---

**Author:** ![Andrew](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Andrew](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Andrew)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514/25 "2007-07-15T00:00:00Z")

This wearable tech reached its pinicle when the iPod mod became available that let’s a woman (and maybe a man) both listen to music and feel hip-pleasure. ---

**Author:** ![PeterB](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/p/e8c25b/32.png) [@PeterB](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/PeterB)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514/26 "2007-07-15T00:00:00Z")

Come on people, should we really promoting this type of research? You’ve seen Star Trek and the Borg, right? Where do you think it all started! 🙂 ---

**Author:** ![Edward](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Edward](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Edward)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514/27 "2007-07-15T00:00:00Z")

I fully agree with your insightful perspective, actually there is a similar thread at Frontier Blog ( [http://www.hwswworld.com/wp](http://www.hwswworld.com/wp) ) ---

**Author:** ![Matt\_Hempey](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/m/e19adc/32.png) [@Matt\_Hempey](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Matt_Hempey)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514/28 "2007-07-15T00:00:00Z")

Back in grad school I had a class with a woman who came from the wearable computing world at MIT; she attended class with monitor-glasses and a portable cpu attached to her hip. But the most interesting accessory was her one-hand keyboard (the 1998 photo above shows this). She was able to type all her notes during class, and even participate in the discussion, without missing a step. It’s easy to see–literally–why wearable computers didn’t really take off, but the one-hand keyboard strikes me as a better portable input device than many smart-phone keyboards. I wonder what happened to it. ---

**Author:** ![Daniel](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Daniel](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Daniel)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514/29 "2007-07-15T00:00:00Z")

I thought the Borg started with Second Life. ---

**Author:** ![5h4m](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/5/f14d63/32.png) [@5h4m](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/5h4m)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514/30 "2007-07-16T00:00:00Z")

He probably keeps a diary instead of updating his website. ---

**Author:** ![smerkdaddy](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@smerkdaddy](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/smerkdaddy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514/31 "2007-07-16T00:00:00Z")

what a nerd ---

**Author:** ![Ken](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/k/cc9497/32.png) [@Ken](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Ken)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514/32 "2007-07-16T00:00:00Z")

Alright…gotta say it…worst post ever! What’s going on here? A little bit o’ filler methinks. A cyborg? No, not exactly. A goober/super-nerd? Most definitely. ---

**Author:** ![ethana2](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/e/dc4da7/32.png) [@ethana2](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/ethana2)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514/33 "2007-07-16T00:00:00Z")

Dang it. I wanted to do this- I was thinking something more along the lines of a linux tabletpc on my back with one of those 3d gaming headsets with webcam innards taped to the front… Some kind of usb gps unit… usb pedometer… From there, it’s software. ---

**Author:** ![PaulS](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/p/b3f665/32.png) [@PaulS](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/PaulS)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514/34 "2007-07-16T00:00:00Z")

He may look harmless, but peel off the shades, plastic skin and obviously-fake stubble and you’ll find a gleaming steel killing machine, ready to rip out your brain and fuse into a heartless exoskeleton. Oil up the field gun and stock up on ordinance - the war is about to begin! ---

“…has lived as a cyborg for more than 20 years…” Yeah, and I’m the Terminator. ---

**Author:** ![oftencloudy](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/o/5e9695/32.png) [@oftencloudy](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/oftencloudy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514/36 "2007-07-16T00:00:00Z")

Looks like none of his computer inputs ever told him to shave. Perhaps not enough money left over from buying parts to afford a razor? I would like to see his rig today however, and wonder if long term exposure to additional input does damage to normal sensory functions (or heightens them, though unlikely). good stuff! ---

**Author:** ![reed5](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@reed5](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/reed5)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514/37 "2007-07-16T00:00:00Z")

I don’t know what’s going on with wearables now, but I got briefly interested in it in college. Then some of the more interesting academic research was basically adaptive UI. The wearable is an interesting thing to use when trying to develop smarter computer interfaces because it’s both more restricted in input and display, but also has more interesting context (since it’s always on and often attached to your body as you go about your life). So people were looking in to identifying where you were and observing your usage and general habits, and then software would try to learn from that to present you with the most useful stuff in the interface. There’s also augmented reality (projecting graphics into the display and registering them with the real objects you see through the display even as you move around) which is interesting. ---

**Author:** ![reed6](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/r/87869e/32.png) [@reed6](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/reed6)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514/38 "2007-07-16T00:00:00Z")

Matt Hempey: the one handed keyboard (Handykey), is a bit obscure and not well known, and it also is very difficult to learn. It took me about a month to get decent at it, and I lost it very quickly after I stopped using it. For more about wearable computing hardware, try these sites: [http://eyetap.org/](http://eyetap.org/) [http://www.myvu.com](http://www.myvu.com) [http://www.xybernaut.com/](http://www.xybernaut.com/) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wearable\_computer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wearable_computer) [http://www.media.mit.edu/wearables/](http://www.media.mit.edu/wearables/) It looks like Steve Mann has been focusing on other stuff recently rather than mainly working on the wearable hardware. One key part of his wearable computing work is the concept of countering all the surveillance that goes on in the modern world by carrying your own surveillance gear with you all the time – that there should be equality in surveillance between individuals and institutions. ---

**Author:** ![SethF](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@SethF](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/SethF)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514/39 "2007-07-16T00:00:00Z")

I saw some of his stuff at MIT. I think the guy’s a true genius. A living character out of early Marvel comics. I kept thinking I’d find a document somewhere for “Secrets of the Mann sensorsuit”, with cool cut-outs detailing all the gadgets. ---

**Author:** ![Sean](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sean](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Sean)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514/40 "2007-07-17T00:00:00Z")

My wife is a cyborg. She’s a type 1 diabetic, and she has an insulin pump. Of course, unlike the guy in the post, her gadgets are actually useful. [Previous page](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514.md?page=1) [Next page](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/steve-mann-cyborg/514.md?page=3)