The Post Social Age

America used to only send college students to play in the Olympics. No professionals were allowed. And then something happened: the US lost at Basketball. We lost because other countries let their professional athletes play and we did not. We didn’t make that same mistake again. We put together the “Dream Team” and the Olympics have been different ever since. 

This is a fascinating article not just because of the future implications to the Olympics, but because of even larger implications. But let’s just talk sports.

To be clear, I don’t use the term cyborg as a way of implying that Oscar is any less human because of hiss disability and I totally appreciate his desire to be considered a runner, not a disabled runner. 

But this is why I use the term cyborg: because, with his prosthetics he is. Take this quote from Dr Bundle who published a study on Oscar:

“This is an intriguing moment in the history of the science of sports,” said Dr. Matt Bundle, a University of Montana professor who co-authored a study about Pistorius as part of the runner’s appeal after being banned from Olympic qualifying in 2007. “An individual is able to use a mechanical device in a way that surpasses the human leg. It’s an important time to note that that’s impressive.”

Compared to this from Wikipedia:

The term cyborg is often applied to an organism that has enhanced abilities due to technology, though this perhaps oversimplifies the necessity of feedback for regulating the subsystem. The more strict definition of Cyborg is almost always considered as increasing or enhancing normal capabilities.

While the article mentions that Oscar is not looking for technological enhancements as an advantage over other runners (and I really do believe him) it doesn’t mean that other’s won’t. And it’s not a stretch to image where this could go. 

If drug enhancements are illegal but technological ones aren’t, what’s to stop people from “disabling” themselves in order to receive enhancement? Or countries who care little about their individual citizens <cough>China<cough> from “modifying” their Olympic hopeful children from an early age. 

This is a historic event and it’s not going to be easy to sort out.