Definition
A cyborg is a hybrid creature — part biological, part mechanical or electronic — in which engineered components are not external tools but integrated parts of the organism. Cochlear implants, neural prosthetics, and brain-computer interfaces are early examples; deeper fusions are on the way.
In Harari's framing, the cyborg path is one of three converging routes by which Sapiens may give way to something else. Biotechnology rewrites our organic substrate; cyborg engineering bolts inorganic parts onto it; the design of fully inorganic life skips biology altogether. All three end the same way — with Sapiens no longer the dominant or definitive form of human-like intelligence.
Why it matters
How it works
Cyborg integration proceeds in layers. First, prosthetics replace lost function (hearing, sight, missing limbs). Then implants augment normal function (memory aids, attention regulation, sensory channels we did not evolve). Finally, persistent neural interfaces let external systems read and write to the brain in real time — at which point the boundary between the person and their hardware becomes a design choice rather than a biological fact.
Each layer compounds the last. Once augmentation is normal, refusing it becomes a competitive disadvantage; once that disadvantage is structural, augmentation stops being optional and the cyborg is no longer a fringe case but the new baseline.