Saturday, October 12, 2019

Scientist transitions into a robot so he can live forever

A terminally-ill scientist who is dying from a muscle wasting disease has taken the final steps to become the world's first full cyborg .

Dr Peter Scott-Morgan, 61, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease two years ago, but instead of accepting his fate he decided to challenge what it meant to be human.

He said he wanted to push the boundaries of what science can achieve so decided to extend his life and become fully robotic - known as Peter 2.0.


The world-renowned roboticist has already undergone a series of incredibly complex and risky operations during his journey. This has included developing a remarkably life-like avatar of his face before he lost any muscle.

The avatar is designed to respond using artificially intelligent body language and he has also explored eye-tracking technology to enable him to control multiple computers using only his eyes.

And this week he announced the final procedure in his transition into a robot where he traded his voice for potentially decades of life.

He underwent a laryngectomy, meaning he lost his physical voice, but in doing so, he will avoid the added danger of saliva potentially entering his lungs, due to his condition.

Dr Scott-Morgan labelled this final procedure as the end of Peter 1.0 with a post this week on Twitter, and wrote: "This is my last post as Peter 1.0.

"Tomorrow (Thursday 10/10) I trade my voice for potentially decades of life as we complete the final medical procedure for my transition to Full Cyborg, the month I was told statistically I would be dead. I'm not dying, I'm transforming. Oh, how I love science."

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