Eyeborg

Deus Ex: Human Revolution style bionic enhancements may be possible in the not too distant future, according to cyborg documentary film-maker Rob Spence.

Rob Spence lost his eye at nine years old during a shooting accident in Ireland. The accident left him legally blind and around 6 years ago the damaged eye itself was removed. Rob is now famous for his ‘eyeborg’ a small mini camera that he has placed into his empty eye socket. It uses the same technology as a wireless microphone and has a battery, video camera and transmitter.

The cybernetic eye does not restore his vision but it does enable him to transmit everything that he sees onto a tiny video monitor.  He only wears the eye and monitor kit when he’s filming as it is a logical extension of his capabilities as a filmmaker.

He has explained that looking at the video monitor directly confuses the camera and gives him a giant hit of feedback. Rob Spence is nevertheless remarkably optimistic about being a cyborg.

While he does not consider himself to be disabled, he does think that his eye has made him more sensitive to the needs of disabled people. Spence is particularly excited about the advances in neuro-prosthetics - a branch of science of that would plug cybernetic prosthetics directly into a disabled person’s brain, thereby restoring their ability to control their limbs.

While the idea sounds like it was lifted straight out of Deus Ex: Human Revolution - the video game that funded Spence’s recent film - he says that the technology already exists, and will likely become commonplace in the next five to ten years.

In fact, Spence has be quoted as saying that our lack of understanding of our own brains is the only reason why this is not already commonplace. The average person today is already significantly different from the cavemen of our past. Spence thinks that when an account of our generation is written, the era of bio-mechanical augmentation will simply be a brief chapter in human history.

Eyeborg the film was funded by Square Enix as part of a promotion for Deus Ex: Human Revolution and is a very interesting watch.