Human ICT Implants: From Restorative Application to Human Enhancement

Abstract

Human ICT implants such as cochlear implants and cardiac pacemakers have been in common clinical use for many years, forming intimate links between technology and the body. Such medical devices have become increasingly advanced in their functionality, with some able to modify behaviour by directly interacting with the human brain and others coming closer to restoring functionality which outperforms its natural counterpart. More recently, and somewhat more controversially, low-tech human ICT implants have been increasingly employed in healthy people, in non-therapeutic contexts. Applications typically focus on identification such as VIP entry into nightclubs, automated payments and controlling access to secure facilities. While reviewing the state of the art, this chapter makes the case that with the desire of technology enthusiasts and self-experimenters to push boundaries, increasing familiarity driving cultural and societal changes, advances in medical technology and the inevitable drift of medical technology to non-medical application, this is clearly just the beginning for human enhancement using ICT implants.