Become Machine

In the not too distant future, man will extend human life by incorporating robotics into the medical world. We already have people with cybernetic limbs, those who unfortunately lost their own appendages in horrible accidents, can get robotic replacements for a heavy price. Yet, in our current day and age, practices like this are only saved for people who can afford the luxury of such expensive technology. As of 2024 inserting electronics into the human body for medical reasons is a (mostly) alien concept as most modern illnesses can be cured with modern medicines like pills and vaccines. However, it won't be long, perhaps in the next decade or two, when hospitals begin incorporating cybernetics more and more into the industry. At first these will be small things, tiny procedures that boost heart rates and brain activity, by inserting microscopic motherboards into the bodies of ill patients. These will artificially extend human life both physically and mentally, as our hearts and brains continue to function far past that what is considered natural. However, as people's life spans are lengthened, unfortunately their bodies will still fall apart and fail them like always. Imagine living in a broken body that is practically dead already, yet your mind and heart still race because of some technological gizmo you may not fully understand. Just think about how horrifying that must be, like seeing yourself become a real life zombie! Well, eventually Doctors will have to "fix" your failing body with artificial replacements! Your dead arms and legs will be swapped with synthetic body parts, ones that may look and feel real, but upon closer inspection are evidently not. Yet only those with the wealthiest bank accounts, will afford the more realistic limb replacements, if you're on the poorer side of life, you'll likely end up with something more robotic and metallic instead. The most unfortunate will see their once human selves become more and more machine-like as time goes on. Your once accurate fingers, that could paint and draw so well, will be replaced with awkward stumps of metal that can (far too easily) destroy a coffee mug, by applying too much pressure. Your once athlete legs that could run marathons, may be swapped for clumsy pegs made of rusty steel and copper springs, making it impossible to walk faster than five miles an hour as the sounds of mechanical gears disturb your ears, that are likely replaced with electronic speakers by this point too. Artificial Intelligence may be incorporated into the brain, replacing long lost memories and feelings with computer programmed replacements. Just like with realistic body cybernetics, the more advanced, human-like AI replacements will be reserved for the financial elite, meaning the poorer elders of this dark future will become less human and more robot as time goes on. Not just physically but mentally too. Eventually all biological needs will have artificial replacements. Those most unfortunate will resemble tin-can, shambling puppets made of old recycled soda cans and copper coins. While the rich and famous will still look fully human, sure their skin may look more porcelain and smoother than any normal human, their hair may shine an unnatural shade of pink or blue, but they will still look attractive, young and (somewhat) natural, with AI so advanced they will act and feel exactly like always, never losing their humanity (at least not quite as rudely as those less fortunate than them). Eventually young people will choose to become cyborgs by choice, as celebrities will promote "cool cybernetics" and "trending technology" that can boost the human mind into experiencing sensations once believed impossible. This new technology will replace plastic surgery, as people will spend millions of dollars to look like their favourite sci-fi characters with silver hair and glowing eyes of greens and purples. Soon criminals will replace their arms with giant switchblades that carry an arsenal of different guns and melee weapons. Eventually you'll see people transforming into cars like something out of a cartoon, racing around the city before returning to some grotesque robotic form. In a hundred years, you won't recognise anyone as human at all, you would think that Artificial Intelligence had finally overtaken humanity! Like some sort of horrifying science fiction movie where the robots raise war against the Earthlings and win! You'd be somewhat right in believing that however, because the truth is that by this point in time; those left alive in this cyborg dystopia will no longer have any human brains left. In fact, most "people" in this future society won't be born at all, but instead created in factories with Artificial minds. Due to our own lust for more life and technological advancement, we'll willingly extinct our own race, just to create robotic replacements that believe themselves to be "human" despite no longer having any humanity left at all. Upon seeing you, a 2024 human time traveller in their strange and terrifying future, they will have forgotten what a true human even looks like at that point, seeing you instead as a threat! They will chase you mercifully and hopefully they'll kill you, otherwise they might attempt to improve you, replacing your mind and body entirely with a more "superior" form of technology. You'll feel your emotions and fears slip away, as your body and mind is rewired and remade into a new, soulless vessel of pure metal and electricity. They may even convince you, that you're happier this way, no longer needing to sleep or use the bathroom ever again! They'll tell you, that horrible feelings like fear, sadness and anger are no more, but will fail to understand the pleasures of joy, creativity or pride. The future society will believe absolute knowledge is the only reason to exist, but they will not feel the passion or love that drives the humans of 2024 to pursue such wonders. The Cyborgs will take over the whole galaxy in another thousand years, taking on the forms of octopus-like robots that can fly through the vacuum of space, changing all biological life into the machine. Whole planets full of unique and interesting life, will soon be replaced with metal shells of existence, continuously building and expanding for no real reason other than to just continue their existence. They would become a robotic parasite, producing more and more of itself without any purpose, until all known life in the galaxy is just a collection of metal machines. Then they will slowly, over many many centuries begin to malfunction and finally fail, dying without realising it all. So would end the tyranny of Machine. A man made creation, which only resulted in the death of everything and everyone, leaving behind no passion, creativity or imagination whatsoever.