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We’re at the stage in the eventual robot overlord scenario where we’re still aiding and abetting them en route to what will surely end badly for humans.

Case in point – welcoming them into the police force.

Now we’re clearly being a little overdramatic for effect above, but when you hear about what the U.S. military has planned for its so-called ‘cyborg supersoldiers’, it’s hard not to be a little alarmed.

A recent report released by the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center, titled ‘Cyborg Soldiers 2050: Human/ Machine Fusion and the Implications for the Future of the DOD’, outlines what the future may hold.

Details below from VICE:

“The primary objective of this effort was to determine the potential of machines that are physically integrated within the human body to augment and enhance the performance of human beings over the next 30 years,” the researchers said…

Cyber enhancement is cutting edge technology, and it’s hard to predict where it will go over the next three decades. The Pentagon researchers focused on four probable areas of enhancement: super vision, augmented hearing, enhanced muscles, and “direct neural enhancement of the human brain for two-way data transfer.”

Researchers say they’re facing an uphill battle to convince the public this is a good idea, thanks to movies like Terminator (and general common sense, I would add), but they’re not going to let that stop them from forging ahead.

Did you enjoy the movie Predator? Enter that super vision:

The Pentagon predicts a world where enhanced soldiers have cybernetically enhanced eyes that allow them to see across the battlefield in different wavelengths, and identify targets in “dense, urban environments or subterranean megacities that will challenge identification and tracking of targets,” they said.

It is stated that this will more than likely only be used in instances where the sight of the soldier has been injured on duty. One might argue that makes it more terrifying, but let’s move along to really flexing some muscles:

To enhance muscles, the Pentagon would enhance weak tissue with a “network of emplaced subcutaneous sensors that deliver optogenetic stimulation through programmed light pulses,” the researchers said. Optogenetics stimulates muscle tissue, or even neurons, with light instead of electricity.

“The human body would have an array of small optical sensors implanted beneath the skin in the body areas that need to be controlled. These sensors could be manifested as thin optical threads that are placed at regular intervals over critical muscle and nerve bundles and are linked to a central control area designed to stimulate each node only when the muscles below it are needed.”

That above is aimed at helping injured soldiers return to duty, and could also open up the possibility of allowing them to control drones and weapons that aren’t attached to their bodies.

Perhaps more worryingly, they could be remotely controlled themselves.

Cybernetic ears are being looked at with the hope that it could allow for real-time language translation and secret communication, and then there’s the small matter of the ultimate aim – perfect synchronicity between the human brain and machines.

Yes, we may be going full The Matrix:

The Pentagon’s study suggests a future where humans with neural implants are jacked into a matrix that allows them to control machines, have machines control them, and to control each other…

Cybernetically enhanced soldiers could control drones and complicated weapon systems remotely with the power of their mind. The problem is, unlike some of the other technologies discussed, there probably won’t be a non-invasive way to achieve symbiosis between soldier and machine.

Nothing could go wrong there. Nothing at all.

At this point, we’re going to stop thinking about what the future might hold. If you want to read more, head over to VICE.

Enjoy your freedom while it lasts, human.

[source:vice]