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| Oscar Pistorius - Track and Field |
The London 2012 Olympic games have come to a close with yet another set of World Records falling to the ever increasing skills of the world’s best athletes. In an effort to compete at the highest levels athletes are subjecting their bodies to extreme conditions. In Poland, for instance, athletes are allowing their bodies to be super cooled to -220 degrees Fahrenheit. This has physiological (dvice.com) effects on their bodies such as increasing their veins expanding to four times the normal size which has the benefit of increased oxygenated blood being supplied to the body.These are legal techniques. Of course we have all heard of the illegal doping of athletes to gain an advantage on the competition. This year we saw the first competitor with prosthetics allowed to compete, Oscar Pistorius. During the Olympic telecast many reporters were telling tales of athletes wondering if the prosthetics would give Pistorius an advantage over the other athletes.
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| Supercooled Athletes in London 2012 |
Yonck fast forwards to the Future Olympics where all of the world records have been broken, and the human body has been taken to its physical limits. Will we lose interest in the Olympics? Yonck believes people will start to replace or enhance the abilities of competitors and a new breed of Olympic athlete will take the stage. Will the Olympics change and allow these athletes to compete or will a new Extreme Olympics come into existence where athletes are encouraged to take advantage of technology to go faster, higher and become stronger than ever before? Yonck believes the latter is the case. The Olympics will survive in their current format but become less popular over time.
I agree that people will eventually enhance their capabilities and athletes will be the leaders in making the change to a cyber-athlete. There are forces of influence which will affect the adoption of this future.
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| Hawkeye -Enhanced Vision could help w/Archery |
Global - In the case of the Extreme Olympics, countries and athletes from around the world will need to embrace technology and accept risks associated with being early adopters of cyber enhancement. Additionally, the resources must be available to all countries around the world if we are to have a high-tech surrogate for the current Olympic games. After all, I think one of the most fun aspects of the current format of the Olympics is that an athlete from a small country can beat athletes from wealthier countries.
Technological - Athletes must be able to control their enhanced cyber attributes in true real-time, just as they can their bodies. This will require a brain-to-device interface. There will need to be a lot of research to make this happen in a safe manner. It is possible though. There are “toys” on the open market now that take advantage of the brain-to-machine interface, see Mattel Mindflex.
I believe both of these influencing forces will be overcome, and the human and machine will become one.
The Future Olympic Games, http://www.wfs.org/blogs/richard-yonck/future-olympic-games
3 high-tech Olympic training techniques that sound like science fiction, http://dvice.com/archives/2012/08/3-completely-cr.php
http://thedesigninspiration.com/illustrations/hawkeye/
Hi Leonard, you have really captured a timely and socially relevant topic on your blog. It will be fascinating to see how the International Olympic Committee regulates the impact of bio-enhancements. I agree that it is just a matter of time before cyber-augmentation is common. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Barbara,
DeleteThanks for the comments!
This is an very interesting excerpt. I do believe that as technology evolves there will be a need for a more high competitive event other than the Olympics. However I am a bit is disbelief that society will completely loose interest in these games, just grasp another since of the sport. I would also like to add that the psychological part of this will be a factor as to why the sport will not completely die off. It is hard for us to adopt that what people have trained so many years before will just completely go away to a "cyber world". Also there are those who believe in the complete an up most means of cyber privacy therefore until there is a greater enchancement in the privacy sector in techology we will forever be able to embrace our beloved Olympic Games. Great read.
ReplyDeleteThanks Zin. I agree that the Olympics will be around as they are now for quite a while. However, there are already athletes trying to gain a competitive edge by taking HGH and other PEDs. The "cheaters" are always a step ahead of the enforcement it seems. So what would happen if an athlete was allowed to enhance their capability through some legal mechanism such as technology? My question is whether the Olympics will adapt or whether something else, such as the X Games, will take their place as the must watch athletic event.
ReplyDeleteCheers