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In many ways this news article demonstrates the gap between sci-fi and reality. Cyberpunk imagined a world in which human minds could be uploaded to machines, and humans, as immortal cyborgs, could live alongside androids who performed ‘the work’. Medical science has made incredible leaps – with his titanium chest Edward Evans (further) illustrates William’s and Bendelow’s (1998, pp. 79-85) claim that humans have become increasingly plastic and bionic. However, through scientific enhancement, Evans gains a ‘normal’ life rather than superhuman/transhuman superiority. The ethical complexity is therefore diminished; technologies which ‘equalize’ opportunity are accompanied by far less fear than technologies which promise superhuman performances for the few that can afford them (if/when the technologies are developed).

The same tension exists within digital technologies and education. If the market alone is allowed to determine what technologies are developed, there’s every chance that the privileged few will be given access to more tools to increase their in opportunities, rather than tools which increase opportunity for all. Of course, this is a simplistic reading though, in which technology is still viewed as a tool rather than part of the sociocultural fabric of life.