From a science fiction to reality

Abstract

This study deals with young people's attitudes towards and social acceptance of "cyborg technology" including wearables and insideables (or implantable devices) to enhance human ability in Japan as part of the international research project on cyborg ethics, taking Japanese socio-cultural characteristics surrounding cyborg technology into consideration. Those subjects were investigated through questionnaire surveys of Japanese university students, which were conducted in November and December 2016. The survey results demonstrated respondents' relatively low resistance to using wearables and insideables to improve human physical ability and intellectual power. On the other hand, the morality of insideables was questioned by respondents. In various aspects, statistically significant differences in attitudes towards the technologies between genders were detected.

A look into future risks: A psychosocial theoretical framework for investigating the intention to practice body hacking

“…To address this gap in the literature, we propose a theoretical psychosocial framework to identify the potential drivers that could motivate people to use technological implants like prostheses or insideables. Insideables can be defined as “electronic devices implanted in a human body for nonmedical purposes that interact with the user to increase his/her innate human capacities such as mental agility, memory and physical strength, or give him/her new ones such as a capability to control machines remotely” (Murata et al, , p.72).…”

“…Moreover, these studies have highlighted the importance of BH practice for identity exploration and self-(re)construction (Duarte, 2013(Duarte, , 2014(Duarte, , 2016Hogle, 2005;Olivares, 2014;Ramo glu, 2019), the valorization of the image of pioneers among body hackers and nonbody hackers (Gauttier, 2019;Murata et al, 2017), the ideological claim underlying BH (Duarte, 2013(Duarte, , 2014(Duarte, , 2016, and BH as a way to question gender roles as well as the dichotomy nature/culture, and the perception of technology.…”

“…At the individual level, newcomers in BH movement can strengthen their social identity through starting practicing BH while older members can reinforce their social identity through radical BH practices. The image of pioneers, innovators, experimenters, scientific inventors associated with BH groups (Gauttier, 2019; Murata et al, ) can motivate people interested in it to enter the group and practicing BH for beneficiating of such image. At the group level, grinders can see BH practices as a way to build a radical identity group in opposition to techno‐sceptic, technophobic, or bio‐conservative groups who valorize a “natural‐free‐from‐machine‐body” social identity.…”

Enhancing oneself with an exosense: Learning from users' experiences

“…First, there are studies aiming at capturing the attitude of students. The study by Murata et al () shows that there is low resistance toward wearables (technology that is worn onto the body) and insideables (technology that is implanted into the body) for human augmentation, but that participants also question the morality of such a use of enhancement technology. In a further study, Pelegrín‐Borondo, Arias‐Oliva, Murata, and Souto‐Romero () show that ethical dimensions explain 48% of the intention to use cyborg technologies.…”

The ORBIT Self-Assessment Tool

“…However, the second issue also demonstrates that ethical issues in computing go far beyond questions of privacy and data protection. Application areas of interest include simulated game worlds (Flick, Dennis, & Reinhard, 2017), decision making with algorithms (Persson & Kavathatzopoulos, 2017), wearable devices (Murata et al, 2017) and conversational agents (Miller, Wolf, & Grodzinsky, 2017).…”