Everyone is Iron Man

Subtle as it is, you can tell something is strange about the way Professor Hugh Hull walks.

At the MIT media Lab, the professor is something of a legend. He started climbing at the age of seven and had both legs amputated in a climbing accident when he was 17. Before, he was considered one of the best mountaineers in America, and then doctors gave him a prosthetic leg and told him, you can never climb mountains again.

Three months later, he got rid of the prosthetic legs and built his own one that expanded and expanded according to the mountain's topography. Soon, he was climbing higher than he had been before his accident. His fellow climbers were sympathetic at first, but soon they began Shouting injustice because his "super legs" gave him an unfair advantage.

After the accident, the teenager, whose whole dream was to climb mountains, became fascinated with physics as the knowledge base for designing prosthetic limbs. He went to college, earning a degree in electrical engineering at MIT and a doctorate in biophysics at Harvard, before returning to MIT for postdoctoral research.

For 27 years, in order to give himself a better pair of legs, he designed all kinds of prosthetics: climbing, walking, running... Now that part of his body is artificial, he can use his imagination as much as he likes.

"When I was dealing with my new body, I saw my legs as giant shoes. One person can have many shoes in their shoe cabinet, and one person can design many different prosthetics for different functions."

According to the rules of civilized society, if a person is in a wheelchair, you are not supposed to stare at it; If a person walks strangely, you should not stare at their legs. Professor Hull probably finds this cultural subconsciousness laughable. Why can't you see how cool and powerful his prosthetic is? He even made his prosthetics beautiful and fashionable.

"What is beauty? Beauty is different in your eyes than it is in mine." "I think it's beautiful, you might think it's ugly, and a lot of people in the world would think it's ugly."

"Why?"

"Because it's a machine, not a person, and it's trying to mimic a human body, I can imagine someone would feel uncomfortable."

"There are people who don't want to touch an artificial leg or be around a person who has artificial legs, they think they're ugly. Most people do, lots and lots of people..."

In his lab, these people would probably pass out. There are machines everywhere, welding, saws, all kinds of mechanical legs, ankles, knees, artificial bones lying on tables, chairs, sofas.

Prof Hull believes that in today's age, the mixing of machines and humans is an inevitable trend, and that this is not a bad thing. "Half the world's population suffers from a physical disability, amputations, paralysis, muscular atrophy... Even if you don't suffer this tragedy, one day we'll all be old, stumbling and out of balance. So much human suffering, through technology, can be remedied."

At the Media Lab, his focus has expanded from designing prosthetics to making normal bodies stronger, faster and more efficient. Their exoskeleton is the first aid system ever designed to simulate a natural gait and walk completely naturally. He envisions the exoskeleton morphing into a "mobile platform" over the next 50 years. Like a second skin, people can wear it and move fastest with minimal energy. People will be running to work instead of driving. When they get to the office, they can take the platform off and hang it on a hanger.

"I think it will be fun, more fun than cars." Professor Hull smiled vaguely. But I can't really imagine what that would be. Is everyone Iron Man?

Perhaps this is Prof Herr's goal - that one day machines will not only completely replace the human body, but even surpass its design.

You think the human body is the ultimate in evolution?