Cybernetics Eat Your Soul/Quotes

"He is more machine than man now; twisted and evil."

—Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars

"No glands, replaced by tech. No digestive system, replaced by tech. No soul, replaced by tech."

—Dr. Mordin Solus, on the Collectors, Mass Effect 2

"The cyborg would not recognize the Garden of Eden, it is not made of mud and can not dream of returning to dust."

—Donna Haraway, Cyborg Manifesto

"But for analog people like you Mr. Batou, no matter how many digital components you add on through cyberization or prosthetics, your ghost will never diminish!"

—Batou's Tachikoma, Ghost in the Shell

"There's no mechanical replacement for a future, Face. And every time I take a hit, and they have to cut away another part of me and replace it with machinery because I'm allergic to bacta, every time that happens I seem to be a little further away from that young doctor who had a future. He can't come back, Face. Not all of him is here anymore."

—Ton Phanan to Garik "Face" Loran, X-Wing: Iron Fist.

"The Warrior's bland acronym, MMI, obscures the true horror of this monstrosity. Its inventors promise a new era of genius, but meanwhile unscrupulous power brokers use its forcible installation to violate the sanctity of unwilling human minds. They are creating their own private army of demons."

—Commissioner Pravin Lal, "Report on Human Rights", Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

"I think, and my thoughts cross the barrier into the synapses of the machine - just as the good doctor intended. But what I cannot shake, and what hints at things to come, is that thoughts cross back. In my dreams the sensibility of the machine invades the periphery of my consciousness. Dark. Rigid. Cold. Alien. Evolution is at work here, but just what is evolving remains to be seen."

—Commissioner Pravin Lal, "Man and Machine", ibid.

"Every implant exalts you. Every line of code in your subsystems elevates you from your disgusting flesh."

—SHODAN, System Shock 2

"Karenin-that-was-not-Karenin cackled from inside his gleaming silver caul with terrible laughter; while somewhere in the deep recesses of what once had been a human heart, there floated and glittered the memory of a woman, a woman he had loved."

—Android Karenina

"Albert Einstein said technological progress is like an ax in the hands of a pathological criminal. Took me a while, but I finally see his point. How often have we chased the dream of progress only to see it perverted? More often than not, haven't the machines that we built to improve life shattered the lives of millions? And now we want to turn that dream on ourselves, to fundamentally improve who we are. Experience has shown me how dangerous that can be. [...] Technology offers us strength. Strength enables dominance, and dominance paves the way for abuse. Darrow understood this. He knew that using technology to become something more than we are risks losing our ability to love, aspire, or make moral choices, the very things that make us human."

—Adam Jensen, Deus Ex Human Revolution Darrow/Anti-Augmentation Ending

"...work at remaining human inside. I'm not sure I've managed it all that well, myself. Sometimes, I just sit and stare, forgetting for weeks, Jessamyn, for weeks. I can do almost anything with this improved body, but my mind has gotten blasé about it. When you're superhuman, so little seems worth the bother. You must resist that. You must... ."

—Dr. Simon Threadneedle, Krokodil Tears

"Folks that chop up their healthy body to "improve" it invariably die early. No one with EI or full-body myomer replacements has a nice retirement, if they get one at all."

—Captain Jason Henne, BattleTech

Kouji: If I understood what you were saying before... your brain was mechanized because an accident! You were human but you died! And now with that mechanical brain, someone's controlling you.
Iron Mask: Yes, That's right. It's splendid! I don't consider myself necessary. We carry out all our orders perfectly. Death is what worries you. It'll be easy! I know you're worried! So, please, consider it.

Kouji: Even if you don't need your brain... I will not consider it. Even if it is easy, you hear?! You idiot, such a thing wouldn't even be human!

—Mazinger Z