I've thrown together a few articles for the Augmentaion Lab that relate in some way or another to human augmentation, futurism, and the role technology and its creators play in making the future. This is just what I could throw together quickly, let me know if you want more info on anything! Hopefully these help!
I've uploaded some pdf's that I like. Should be somewhere in the repository!
Jacob Boss, Religion PhD student at Indiana University explores what it means to be a "cyborg" both today and in the future through focusing on disabled people, distributed biohacking communities and the response from academia and industry. Punks and Profiteers focuses on the biohacking community and the culture at odds with the status quo while Harmony of Metal discusses the disabled community and their reliance on assistive aids as a form of underappreciated cyborg.
The Gernsback Continuum is a short story by William Gibson, one of the forefathers of the cyberpunk genre. It covers retrofuturism and the power of idealism in the common consciousness.
Unredeemable Utopian discusses the role that “builders” play in designing tomorrow. Although focused on architecture, the concepts of making and unmaking work with any engineering or scientific field.
I’ve also included links to the Biohack.me forums and the Dangerous Things forum. Although Biohack.me has been fairly quiet lately, the backlog of information is incredible. There’s also some links below to previous projects and media coverage in the community.
https://www.wired.com/story/this-diy-implant-lets-you-stream-movies-from-inside-your-leg/ https://hackaday.com/2017/09/08/magnet-implants-your-cyborg-primer/
https://forum.dangerousthings.com/ https://forum.biohack.me/ https://dangerousthings.com/ (Storefront for RFID Implants)
Some are a bit sensationalist, take with a grain of salt! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an_Qc0Q1MHE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s5muI14wHM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0WIgU7LRcI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWvUs8el8-A
Use myoelectric input from underutilized facial muscles to control the zoom of a glasses mounted camera. This would be displayed onto transparent displays built into the glasses. Electrochromic glass could be an avenue to block out light and increase the visibility of the zoomed image. A tens unit targeting the activation muscles can help with training conscious control.
Glasses Frame LCD display or other transparent screen (OLED Stack, Edge lit projector etc) Electrochromic glass or second LCD display Camera with digital zoom (Repurposed from smartphone?) Display processor: maybe as simple as camera passthrough Myoelectric control: sparkfun board, leads and pads, use two separate areas to activate and control zoom Battery
Detects excess UV exposure as well as extreme temperature. WHO is worried about elderly people in an increasingly warm world. Companion bracelet to prevent skin cancer and heat stroke deaths.
UV sensor Temperature sensor Processor with logging to track exposure and temperature over a day Color coded LED display to simplify readout of information, green, yellow, red, flashing etc. Vibration alert Link to phone or incorporate emergency services dialing Health app integration
VR headsets exist but don’t satisfy existing computing requirements. A staple of cyberpunk science fiction is the “cyberdeck” which often was displayed through a head mounted monitor. There are few existing products that fit the description, (Nreal Air, Avegant Glyph, etc) but they require existing peripherals and don’t meaningfully improve input versus a monitor and often lack the benefits of a full VR/AR headset. To design a set of new input tools somewhere between motion controls and mouse and keyboard would allow for compact mixed reality computing that merges standard desktop and full VR environments. I would anticipate this project falling into 3 tasks: headset design, peripheral design, and software. Headset design would likely be relatively easy, modifying an existing HMD and adding a small single board computer and battery, while peripheral design would require testing for functionality and ergonomics without focusing on what exists already. Software support would require envisioning a whole new “2.5D” method of interaction that complements the form factor and increases usability. Not super certain on parts of specifics, something to look into.