Humans could have wings, tentacles, or a third arm in the future, experts believe, as our bodies become increasingly integrated with technology.
A “third thumb”, enabling users to perform with one hand tasks that normally require two, was demonstrated by researcher Dani Clode as part of an award-winning graduate project at the Royal College of Art back in 2017.
At first experts raised concerns that trying to integrate the human body with “cyborg” prosthetics could lead to neurological problems, and even brain damage.
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But more recent research suggests that the human brain is much more adaptable that previously thought, opening the door to more ambitious new limbs and appendages.
Dani has already designed a prosthetic tentacle that she calls Vine 2.0. The robotic “limb” has 26 separate joints that can be controlled by the wearer using foot-operated pressure sensors and electronics.
Tamar Makin, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at Cambridge University, told the Daily Mail that the brain's ability to adapt to an extra limb was “extraordinary”.
She added that much of the technology required to build incredible “add-ons” fur the human body, such as wings or tentacles, already exists.
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“There are technological issues to deal with,” Professor Makin added. “for example you want it to be wearable, comfortable, it can't be heavy and it can't be plugged into an electric socket.
Building a working a pair of wings would be “really simple,” she said, “because it's just one degree of freedom – up and down”.
More complex organs – for example a tentacle – might require a bit more concentration to control because fo the freedom of movement it would have.
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In many cases, the professor said, it might be simpler to use the organs we already have.
While it might be possible to reach out and grab a cup of coffee on the other side of the room with a robotic tentacle for example, it would probably be less bother to just stand up and walk over to it.
But for people with disabilities – or those of us anxious to explore mankind’s post-human future – these creations will be a total game-changer.
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