Born for space: how the 1960 Clynes-Kline paper coined the 'cyborg'
patpat_mit · x · 2026-10-13
MIT's Cyborg Psychology group traces the origin of "cyborg": in a 1960 paper, "Cyborgs and Space," Manfred E. Clynes and Nathan S. Kline coined the term — short for "cybernetic organism" — for a living being whose biological functions are supported or modified by technology.
The twist: instead of remaking alien environments to suit the human body, they proposed technology might transform or extend the body's capacities to survive within it. Science magazine's "MAN REMADE TO LIVE IN SPACE" spread the idea widely.
More from AGI Musings
- Mira Murati: frontier AI should be a tandem bike, not an autonomous vehicle — a16z · 2026-10-13
- What's the strongest mechanistic case that next-token prediction plus RL yields AGI? — Repulsive_Twist_9221 · 2026-10-13
- AI-Powered Paper Mills Fuel Academic Fraud Crisis, Scholars Blame Publication Metrics — asusarla · 2026-10-13
- Karpathy says only about 5,000 people have seen what AI can really do — sourdub · 2026-10-13
- Essay proposes parallel AI courts to relieve caseload strain on human judges — sebkrier · 2026-10-13
- Existential-risk debate misses the elephant: AI's toll on young people — BachFrancis · 2026-10-13