Flavored Meat

The concept of the enhanced body is the easiest for me to identify with. Most simply because it is a medium approach when compared to the concepts of the natural human body and the cyber body. The enhanced body involves making some improvements to the human body, but it does not require the complete removal of the physical human form. I find it incredibly difficult to relate to the concept of a life lived completely in a virtual world. However, I also find it difficult to ignore the potential benefits of incorporating technology into the body.

The human body is fragile. The frailty of the physical body, and of the life lived through the body, is a sign of mortality. The use of technology in combination with the body is a way to enhance the fragile physical form and prolong life. As Mischa Peters points out in "Exit Meat", the use of optical devices can enhance the eyes, the use of artificial limbs can provide the physical form with greater strength. All of these enhancements share a common goal, to protect the mind, the non-physical, that which can not exist without some type of embodiment. I find that it would be beneficial to use technology in order to prolong life. In fact, technology is already being used to do so, just on a much smaller scale. With as frequently as we interact with technology in today's society, I do not believe that it would be a tremendous leap to integrate technology into the body.