Design a different human being. Human Fitted Smart Muscles. Communications & Media Essay

Thanks to the antenna implanted in his skull, Neil Harbisson can hear images and paint sounds



PROBLEM



Human beings are no longer optimized for life on planet earth and beyond. Help improve your species.



Human bodies have not changed radically in thousands of years. Yet human beings are venturing into environments, the oceans, space or contaminated environments for which their bodies and sensor organs are inadequate.



GOAL



Your task is to imagine a new appendage, sensing system or organ that will help human beings adapt to an altered world.



APPROACH





Imagine an altered human body in response to a specific situation or need. For example, Neil Harbisson created an implant that allows him to hear images and see sounds.



Check out this video about the artist Neil Harbisson:



https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=C_OnYqx3ynA





In the past, earlier cyborg aficionados took more timid but no less effective steps at augmenting human perception. Check out this video on the engineer Steve Mann



https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=mTPJI9ghzAk



Oh but humans are so limited – at least compared to starfish. Some starfish eat prey larger than their bodies by moving mouth and part of the stomach out of the main body, and then retracting them again after the meal.





https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=I8as-z-EShc



https://en(dot)wikipedia(dot)org/wiki/Starfish





Think about a way to enhance the human body – your body - with a new feature that lets you experience life in new ways or perform new activities.





DELIVERABLES - total 10 points





Visualize your design. You can use any visualization method you like – drawing, photomontage, 3D modelling. You will get credit for a great image / visualization. But the inventiveness of the idea is equally important.

[5 points]







In addition to the image, describe your proposed enhancement. Describe what your design intends to accomplish and why it would be beneficial.

[Min 400 words, max 500 words; 5 points]







Place your visualizations on one page and the text on a second page. Combine the two pages in a single .pdf document.