Oscar Pistorius And The Cyborg Future Of The Olympics

Last night South African Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius did not medal in the 400 meter event in spite of being a favorite to win. Why was he the favorite? Because he has friggin' bionic legs. There was a lot of controversy over whether or not Pistorius should even be allowed to compete. He had his legs amputated as a boy and races with a pair of polycarbonate spring blades instead of flesh and blood legs. While there is no doubt that the guy is an amazing athlete, it does seem a tad unfair. Then again, he lost. Still, his nickname "Blade Runner" is a hint at that the Olympic games are going to go cyborg.

Thanks to the continuing advances in prosthetics, computers, and robotics it's only a matter of time before we see more athletes that are part-human and part-machine will compete in the games. Some people would say that, like performance enhancing drugs, it is unfair for some athletes to have an edge because of cyborg upgrades. That's why everyone needs to be a cyborg, to level the playing field. I imagine the 2020 Olympics being like a war between Terminators and the Borg. Think of the ratings!