ALS Sufferer Wants To Be First Cyborg

If nature has taught us anything, it’s that, we aren’t the masters of our destiny. No matter how advanced or intelligent we as a species become, there are certain aspects of our lives of which we have no control over. British roboticist Dr. Peter Scott-Morgan, discovered this in 2017, when he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) or more commonly known as ALS.

MND attacks the brain and nerves, causing death to neurons controlling voluntary muscles. This eventually paralyzes all muscles, such as those that enable breathing and swallowing. The prognosis wasn’t good, and the 62-year-old was given just two years to live. However, Scott-Morgan chose not to accept this as his reality. Instead he went to work on finding a way around the problem.

Credit: Cardiff Productions

He wants to replace all his organs with electronic systems, which will make him the world’s first cyborg. The procedure began late last year when he underwent several operations to help extend his life with technology. Though he hasn’t reached the full monty, Scot-Morgan now relies on synthetic speech and avatar for more effective communication with others.

Lama Nachman, director of Intel’s Anticipatory Computing Lab is one of several people working with Scott-Morgan to make his dream a reality. Nachman previously worked with famed physicist Stephen Hawking, also an ALS sufferer, to converse through the Assistive Context-Aware Toolkit, that helps people communicate with word prediction and speech synthesis.

Scott-Morgan on the other hand, would need to just gaze at letters on his computer screen to form words and sentences. The AI system also supports word prediction capabilities, which allow him to quickly string together sentences during a conversation. And in the future, Nachman hopes to include more sophisticated features that will allow the scientist to express emotion.

England’s Channel 4, a public-service television network, aired Scott-Morgan’s extraordinary journey

The AI system will listen to an on-going conversation, then will prompt alternative suggestion and tones, depending on the criteria. One day, Nachman says that people like Scott-Morgan might be able to use brainwaves to control their own voices. This is possible with the help of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), which include skullcaps fitted with electrodes.

This is Nachman’s area of expertise. She and her team work on context-aware computing and human artificial intelligence (AI) collaboration technologies. The goal is to help the elderly and those with disabilities function effectively in contemporary environments. It’s a noble cause, and is one that will one day help people overcome their disabilities.