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The cyborg has been
around a lot longer than many people realise, as this Machine Man from
1924 illustrates. Writing in
Hugo Gernsback's Science
and Invention magazine, Joseph H. Kraus & H. Winfeld Secor put
forward their design for Homo Artificialis; an early model
cyborg where a man's organs have been replaced with mechanical
substitutes that are hooked in through the carotid artery and jugular
vein. As an added touch, the 1924 cyborg is also equipped with
an oxygen tank and a supply of concentrated, predigested food for his
mechanical digestive tract that takes self-sufficiency just a bit too
far.
The Terminator this
lad is not. Fortunately, the high celluloid collar of the time
spared passersby the sight of tubes jammed into the man's neck, though
the tangle of hoses, wires, and boxes hanging off his waistcoat would
have been a menace on public transport. But for my part, I can't
decide what perplexes me more; how he's supposed to go through life
manipulating that control panel on his chest or how he gets dressed in
the morning. |
