Stelarc

    Stelarc is an Australian performance artist that uses technology to extend his body. He uses mechanical prostheses to create different body parts. Stelarc has been apart of several projects surgeries to fuse with the machine. In 2006, he surgically appended a third ear to his forearm made of his own skin cells, soft tissue and flexible cartilage. The ear was originally made up on a computer. He had a small microphone implanted in the ear in order to transmit audio signals wirelessly to the Internet so that people everywhere could have the possibility of hearing what his third ear was hearing. As a result of this the idea of a networked body, plugged in and tuned in to other bodies, as well as extending beyond its own skin as a border or boundary.

    The ear ended up getting an infection and had to be removed. So his experiment failed and the idea of mechanical prostheses becomes apart of the human body wasn't a reality for long. For Stelarc he says that the body has become "freed" by the mechanical prostheses. I kind of think this whole process is weird and NOT natural at all..that's why his body rejected the third ear. Trying to change the natural science and nature of the human body is just not supposed to happen in this way and sometimes i think too much technology can harm society. The whole third ear idea is a cool one i would see in a movie or read about but not something i would want on my own body.