Talk:Cyborgs in fiction

What, no entry yet on the Borg? Guess their fifteen minutes are up ...

[unsigned by anonymous]

And there are hundreds more missing from the SF lit of the 40s and 50 s and 60s and 70s . Molly millions and Deirdre came to mind so I put them in, but there are so many, in all kinds of stories .--AlainV 03:06, 20 August 2005 (UTC)

This page needs a picture at the top

Seriously, somebody throw up a pic of Arnold / Terminator on his motorcycle from T2, or something along those lines, at the front of the article to demonstrate what a "cyborg" is. That would rule. Because people want to know what a fictional cyborg is.

[unsigned by anonymous]

Ask anybody who's been reading science fiction for the last forty years and they'll tell you that the terminator machines aren't cyborgs, they're robots, or if you prefer androids, very much like Data in Star Trek. They call themselves cyborg within the movies but that status is debatable since traditional science fiction sources(that is, specialized reference works on science fiction like printed encyclopedias of science fiction) note that a cyborg has to be a human or another organic being to start with. This status has been debated over and over again in the cyborg article and the final decision was to have (for that Wikipedia article) an incredibly wide definition of cyborg which includes people who wear glasses or any other type of prosthesis as well as robots/androids who call themselves cyborgs. So, to conclude, you might as well put up a pic of anybody wearing normal glasses, from any given movie or other media, as an example of a cybrog at the top of this article. There's lots of open source ones in wikimedia. --AlainV (talk) 13:44, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Other

This section is mostly filled with entries that should be in the prior sections. Gonna be some work cleaning it up. Dread Lord CyberSkull ✎☠ 14:49, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

There's no Asimov? What!?Lord of Light 13:14, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps you should add what you think is missing then. Dread Lord CyberSkull ✎☠ 11:14, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Nog

I considered adding this, but I'm not sure:

• Nog, from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," who was wounded in battle and lost his leg which was replaced by a cybernetic replacement. His replacement leg was mentioned mainly in an episode dealing with his recovery from the injury. Unlike other types of cybernetic implants, the leg is more like a highly advanced prosthesis.

I didn't add it since the leg seemed more like a prosthetic leg than a true cybernetic implant, despite being refereed to as cybernetic. Furthermore that episode of DS9 (and I can't remember the name) seemed more about Nog dealing with the stress of warfare, more than his identity. Jsonitsac 03:42, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

Mislabeled

"Geordi La Forge" probably should be removed "List of fictional Cyborgs." And I don't know of any sorce stating Jean-Luc Picard lost his arm to the Borg. Kcops 19:23, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Master Chief?

Would Master Chief be considered a cyborg? He has cybernetic implants. The reason I ask is because there's a discussion going on at Talk:Halo 3 and there seems to be a disagreement on if the Chief is a cyborg, and if he is thought to be one, he should probably get added here. Anakinjmt (talk) 16:57, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

Inspector Gadget?

So, for the second time I have taken Inspector Gadget off the list. I admit it's been a while since I've seen the show, but as far as I can recall, he was a gut with a bunch of gizmos hidden in his coat and a helicopter in his hat. I don't think that makes him a cyborg as none of it seemed to be integrated into his body. He even had to talk to the gizmos to get them to work (saying "Go Go Gadget copter", etc), suggesting they were not part of him, but just attached to him. So I guess my question is, does somebody know something I don't, or is it just that some editors aren't quite getting what a cyborg is? Beeblbrox (talk) 19:13, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

I think that the problem has to do with the extremely wide definition of what is a cyborg given in the wikipedia article on cyborgs. According to that definition yes, inspector gadget is a cyborg because you don't need to have the mechanisms implanted within your body to qualify. Even people who wear computers on them on their eyeglases are considered cyborgs in that article. It's the same encyclopedia after all. --AlainV (talk) 09:06, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

He definitely was in the movies and in the cartoon his limbs and neck would extend. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.253.64.213 (talk) 08:52, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Oh yeah, I forgot about the neck thing, I guess he is a cyborg. I notice Dr. Claw is also on the list. I never saw the movies, but on the TV show all hou ever saw was a metal hand petting the cat. Was it a cyborg hand, a metal glove or gauntlet, or just an old fashioned metal artificial hand? Anyone have an answer? Beeblbrox (talk) 21:35, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Cameron from Sarah Connor Chronicles

The articles says "there is no indication as yet that she has any actual human components." All Terminators have human skin and hair, over their robotic bodies.--203.219.225.10 (talk) 00:15, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

Merger

So this tag proposing a merger with List of fictional cyborgs has been here for a while with no discussion. Since this article is a list of fictional cyborgs and so is that one, I think it's a fine idea, although it will be time consuming as the this list is organized by format and the other is chronological. I think that the title of the other article is more accurate, this is a list after all, but that organizing by media format is more user-friendly than using chronological order. Thoughts, anyone? Beeblbrox (talk) 19:22, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

As this article does indeed consist of a long list, with no critical discusion, a merger is definatly warranted.Yobmod (talk) 12:29, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

Redundant section from cyborg moved to include here

In 1966, Kit Pedler, a medical scientist, created the Cybermen for the TV program Doctor Who, based on his concerns about science changing and threatening humanity. The Cybermen had replaced much of their bodies with mechanical prostheses and were now supposedly emotionless creatures driven only by logic.

The Metal Gear Solid series of video games has a recurring character known as the "Cyborg Ninja" who is a person wearing a cybernetic exoskeleton (either worn as a suit or grafted directly to the character's body) and wielding a high-frequency blade. The cyborg ninja suit has been donned by multiple characters, most recently by the character Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 4. He became the newest incarnation of the Cyborg Ninja after he was captured by The Patriots after he stole the body of Big Boss for the Paradise Lost Army. His body was heavily experimented on for the purpose of creating the ultimate soldier and the only remaining organic parts of his original body are his head and spinal cord. His cyborg body is composed of artificial muscle, organs, bones, and blood( a "white" artificial blood that the PLA substituted for his old, nanomachine primed blood). His cyborg body was optimized for war and enabled him to fight on a superhuman level and withstand what would normally be considered fatal injuries.

Isaac Asimov's short story "The Bicentennial Man" explored cybernetic concepts. The central character is NDR, a robot who begins to modify himself with organic components. His explorations lead to breakthroughs in human medicine via artificial organs and prosthetics. By the end of the story, there is little physical difference between the body of the hero, now called Andrew, and humans equipped with advanced prosthetics, save for the presence of Andrew's artificial positronic brain. Asimov also explored the idea of the cyborg in relation to robots in his short story "Segregationist", collected in The Complete Robot.

The 1972 science fiction novel Cyborg, by Martin Caidin, told the story of a man whose damaged body parts are replaced by mechanical devices. This novel was later adapted into a TV series, The Six Million Dollar Man, in 1973, and its spin-off, The Bionic Woman in 1976. Caidin also addressed bionics in his 1968 novel, The God Machine.

In 1974, Marvel Comics writer Rich Buckler introduced the cyborg Deathlok the Demolisher, and a dystopian post-apocalyptic future, in Astonishing Tales #25. Buckler's character dealt with rebellion and loyalty, with allusion to Frankenstein's monster, in a twelve-issue run. Deathlok was later resurrected in Captain America.

The 1982 film Blade Runner featured creatures called replicants, bio-engineered or bio-robotic beings. The Nexus series — genetically designed by the Tyrell Corporation — are virtually identical to an adult human, but have superior strength, agility, and variable intelligence depending on the model. Because of their physical similarity to humans a replicant must be detected by its lack of emotional responses and empathy to questions posed in a Voight-Kampff test. A derogatory term for a replicant is "skin-job," a term heard again extensively in Battlestar Galactica. In the opening crawl of the film, they are first said to be the next generation in robotics. The crawl also states genetics play some role in the creation of replicants. The original novel makes mention of the biological components of the androids, but also alludes to the mechanical aspects commonly found in other material relating to robots.

The 1987 science fiction action film RoboCop features a cyborg protagonist. After being killed by a criminal gang, police officer Alex Murphy is transformed by a private company into a cyborg cop. The transformation is used to explore the theme of reification and identity. There are cyborg kaiju in the Godzilla films such as Gigan and Mechagodzilla.

Although frequently referred to onscreen as a cyborg, The Terminator might be more properly an android. While it has skin and blood (cellular organic systems), these serve mainly as a disguise and are not symbiotic with the machine components, a trait of true cyborgs. The endoskeletons beneath are fully functional robots and have been seen operating independently, especially during the future segments of the Terminator movies. The T-1000 (which is said to be made completely of a liquid metal) of Terminator 2 is definitely an android. The Terminator Cameron Phillips seen in the 2008 TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is of a previously unseen model, and is once again referred to on screen (including once by another Terminator) as a cyborg.

Cyborgs have also been present in Real Time Strategy video games. The "Command and Conquer" video game series had cyborgs as a part of its plot - specifically Cyborgs created by the "Brotherhood of Nod" via Tiberium Infusion experimentation. They were frequently used for anti-personnel, though the Cyborg Commando proved to be useful in most situations. Cyborgs were brought back by the AI named LEGION, (a predecessor to CABAL) under direct orders from Kane. Also the Marked of Kane is reborned as well which is made up with Cyborgs.

One of the most famous cyborgs is Darth Vader from the Star Wars films. Vader was once Anakin Skywalker, a famous Jedi turned to the Dark Side. After a furious battle with his former master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin is left for dead beside a lava flow on Mustafar, and is outfitted with an artificial life support system as well as robotic arms and legs. General Grievous, Lobot, and Luke Skywalker are the three other most prominent cyborgs in the Star Wars universe.

In Akira Toriyama's manga and anime series Dragon Ball', a scientist named Dr. Gero created several cyborgs, including villain Cell, sibling cyborgs Android 17 and Android 18, as well as Android 20, who was built from Gero himself.

A direct brain-to-computer interface is a valuable, but expensive, luxury in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's novel Oath of Fealty.

In the manga and anime series Ghost in the Shell, Motoko Kusanagi lived in a world where the majority of adults are cyborgs and can connect wirelessly to the Internet for real-time communication and data research. The most common augmentation in the series were artificial brains called cyberbrains.

Bruce Sterling in his universe of Shaper/Mechanist suggested an idea of alternative cyborg called Lobster, which is made not by using internal implants, but by using an external shell (e.g. a Powered Exoskeleton). Unlike human cyborgs that appear human externally while being synthetic internally, a Lobster looks inhuman externally but contains a human internally. The computer game Deus Ex: Invisible War prominently featured three clans of Omar, where "Omar" is a Russian translation of the word "Lobster" (since the clans are of Russian origin in the game).

In the Brain and Brawn series of novels series by Anne McCaffery and others, beginning with The Ship Who Sang, a "brainship" is a human body, usually one that could not develop normally, encased in the strongest materials available in that universe, and mentally connected to the controls of a spacecraft. Later novels link the brainship to fully functional humanoid androids, which are even capable of creating offspring.

important concept!

Bruce Sterling in his universe of Shaper/Mechanist suggested an idea of alternative cyborg called Lobster, which is made not by using internal implants, but by using an external shell (e.g. a Powered Exoskeleton). Unlike human cyborgs that appear human externally while being synthetic internally, a Lobster looks inhuman externally but contains a human internally. The computer game Deus Ex: Invisible War prominently featured three clans of Omar, where "Omar" is a Russian translation of the word "Lobster" (since the clans are of Russian origin in the game).

Seriously? Gordon Freeman?

I knew the criteria for being a Cyborg was becoming more and more lax, but I don't think WEARING something makes you a Cyborg. The HEV may provide him with Morphine and Oxygen, but thats really all thats confirmed about it. Unless its revealed that he has special implants or something to link him to the suit, I don't he and the suit could be considered one and the same, which is the definition of Cyborg. It doesn't even fit the relaxed "have machines attached to you" requirements. So can we really consider him a Cyborg? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.224.25.105 (talk) 07:40, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

- My ten cents - as you said criteria for being a cyborg became ridiculous here on wikipedia. I strongly disagree With Gordon Freeman or even Luke Skywalker being called Cyborgs. If you take it like this my uncle is a cyborg as he got a pacemaker implanted. The idea of calling someone wearing a biosuit or whatever a cyborg is even more ridiculous, if you take it like that then I am a cyborg as well as I'm wearing a digital watch. I'd personally only call someone a cyborg when he got a noteworthy amount of body parts replaced or supported by electronic implants. Don't call your granpa a cyborg just as he got a pace maker, thats simply not reflecting the original meaning of the word. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.189.191.111 (talk) 17:22, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

This is not TV Tropes

This entire page is goofy, and not up to Wikipedia's standards. Is a comprehensive list of every fictional character that has ever been modified with technology justified here? 64.81.161.45 (talk) 06:56, 1 June 2010 (UTC)