Car+driver is a conscious, emotional, intelligent system. When automobiles were first available at the very start of the twentieth century, the human driver provided all processing level: visceral, behavioral, and reflective. As the technology improved, more and more visceral elements were added, so that the car took care of internal engine and fuel adjustments and shifting. With antiskid braking, stability controls, cruise control, and now lane-keeping functionality, the car has taken on more and more of the behavioral side of driving. So, with most modern cars, the car provides the visceral part, and the driver the reflective part, with both active at the behavioral level.
-----Norman (P46)
The hybrid of machine+person at this chapter Norman discussed about caught my attention and aroused my interest. The first thing came up into my mind is a Hollywood movie scene. A person (Dr. Octopus) with four mechanical iron arms, using his powerful appendages to lift a truck and throw it at the shop, breaking the window glass, then people screaming and running. (Spider Man) The mechanical iron arms are installed and connected to his spinal column so that he can control them with his mind. Isn’t that a perfect example for machine+person? Another example for this hybrid is Iron Man who installs the uni-beam projector into his chest to strengthen his heart, which was suffered from a severe heart injury. The device not only keeps his heart operating normally but also activates his armor.
The combination of human and machine seem the most far-fetched of movie creation, but this is definitely a possibility in future technology development. In fact, these fictional hybrids already exist. In 2000, a Northwestern University researcher installed part of the living brain of a sea lamprey, an eel-like fish, into a small-wheeled robot. Via implanted electrodes, the brain was connected to light sensors on the robot and to motors controlling its wheels, powering the brain-driven robot toward or away from light sources. Then neurologist Phillip Kerney implanted electrodes into the brain of a stroke patient who could barely move. With training, the patient learned to move a computer screen cursor by thought alone! He could pick out letters to spell words, opening up for him once again the "blessing of communicating" with other people. These examples tell us hybrid connections are feasible, with potential to help the injured and even to expand human physical and mental capacities.
Although the powerful machine strengthens human organism functionality, the contradictory issue is that who is in control. The issue is less likely to be conspicuous at cases of non-intelligent machines. But in the example of Dr. Octopus, in an accident of experiment error, destroying the central control device attached on his brain stem, the machine actually took over control of this hybrid. It brought out the evilness of Dr. Octopus and “persuade” him to kill spider man.
If someday the high-end intelligent technology is really become the part of human body, the issue of control is worth considering.
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