Why "Cyborg"?

Amusingly, we've discovered that the word "Cyborg" triggers 20% of the people we ask. For the other 80%, it is descriptive, memorable and provocative, and we love that. 

Yes, the word "Cyborg" conjures up images of technology-enhanced beings such as Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, or The Borg in Star Trek. Or maybe for you, Sigourney Weaver wearing the exoskeleton in Aliens, Detective Gadget, Iron Man (with Jarvis!), or the replicant Roy Batty in Blade Runner. It's a rich, fun, often scary trope. 

Another group of Cyborgs are real-world humans with prosthetic implants or extensions, which range from cochlear implants and pacemakers to Brain-Machine Interfaces, insulin meters and pumps, and more exotic things like antennae. A very weak definition of Cyborg might include those of us who wear glasses or watches.

May we suggest that people extended powerfully by software are also Cyborgs. 

If you have melded with Excel, PhotoShop, PowerPoint, Final Cut Pro, or some other app to the point where you no longer think of the mechanics of command structures or need user manuals, you are already a Cyborg. You have developed a software superpower. 

Alternatives are worse

Our runner-up word, Centaur, is also half human, but doesn't evoke melding with technology, is harder to pronounce and remember, and tends to skew male (Centaurides are female centaurs). That said, "Centaur" has two interesting virtues:

• IBM's DeepBlue beating Garry Kasparov at chess in 1997 didn't end chess; instead, it sparked a melding of humans and software, which was called Advanced, Centaur or Freestyle Chess. 

• This recent BCG study about the uses of machine learning in their consulting practice distinguished between Cyborgs and Centaurs. 

What do you think?