Is Stephen Hawking a Cyborg?

No, I don’t think he qualifies as a cyborg. To qualify as a cyborg one has to have mechanical or electronic things implanted into one’s body that enhance someone’s life experience. Using a computer externally does not make someone a cyborg, but installing a USB port on someone’s head facilitating the uploading of information directly into someone’s brain, well that is a cyborg.
How did I get started thinking about cyborg’s? This article in The Daily Galaxy got me thinking. We know, we have to leave this planet in about 3 ½ to 4 billion years. By that time the Sun will be out of fuel, and things will get unfriendly here on Earth. Starting a colony on the Moon or Mars will not help. We will have to look for a new solar system. We also know that there is nothing really close by, so we will have to travel for a while, most likely several generations.
Over the last few years we have learned how inhospitable space really is. Lack of gravity causes all kinds of problems, loss of muscles just to name one. Robots and computers are much better suited for the task in space. Take the advantage of a robot, fuse it to a brain, and the ultimate cyborg is ready for space travel.
In addition to the physical limitation of a human body in space we have this need to dominate and conquer. At the current stage of our evolution I wonder how long we would last on a space ship. Cramming several hundred people into a tin can, travel for several generations… I don’t see it. We can’t live in peace next to each other here on earth why would that change in space? But convert our courageous space travelers to cyborgs by removing the aggressiveness, have the individuals work for the good of the collective, now this would work. Maybe the story line of Star Trek and the Cyborg’s is not so far off. The Cyborg they encountered is just a borg that went bad.
Oh, by the way, if it ever comes to the choice between converting to a cyborg or left behind on Earth, I will stay behind. Losing my individuality… No Thank You!