Beyond human: the rise of the cyborgs and what it means for us all

In 1998 Irish neurologist Dr Phil Kennedy did something truly remarkable. The Limerick-born doctor had long been fascinated by the workings of the human brain and had begun designing a theoretical brain-computer interface in the late 1980s.

But it wasn’t until almost 20 years later that he got a chance to test his ideas, in a procedure in the US that helped create the world’s first cyborg. Johnny Ray was a 52-year-old Vietnam veteran from ...