Hybrid Humans: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Man and Machine

by Harry Parker

A gripping, eye-opening account of how technology might be about to alter our understanding of what it means to be human - from the bestselling author of Anatomy of a Soldier

"I loved Hybrid Humans. It is modest, wise ... and a way of looking at the future without nostalgia for the past" - Jeanette Winterson

"Harry Parker has explored the cutting edge of interaction between humanity, computing and AI ... a captivating and cautionary travel guide to a new world" - Gavin Francis, author of Adventures in Human Being

Harry Parker's life changed overnight, when he lost his legs to an IED in Afghanistan. That took him into an often surprising landscape of a very human kind of hacking, and he wondered, are all humans becoming hybrids?

Whether it's putting on contact lenses every day or DIY biohackers tinkering in garages, Parker introduces us to the exhilarating breadth of human invention - and intervention.

Grappling with his own new identity and disability, he discovers the latest robotics, tech and implants that might lead us to powerful, liberating possibilities for what a body can be.

Genres: Nonfiction, Technology, Science, Disability

224 pages, Hardcover

First published February 17, 2022

About the author

HARRY PARKER grew up in Wiltshire and was educated at University College London. He joined the British Army when he was twenty-three and served in Iraq in 2007 and Afghanistan in 2009. He now lives in London. He’s also a painter, attends art school, and has completed a postgrad degree at the Royal Drawing School. He sea-kayaks in his spare time.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I approached this as a companion to To Be a Machine by Mark O’Connell and that is precisely what I found, with Parker’s personal insight adding a different angle to the discussion of how technology corrects and transcends flawed bodies. Parker was a captain in the British Army in Afghanistan when an IED took his legs. Now he wears that make him roughly 12% machine. “Being a hybrid human means expensive kit – you have to pay for the privilege of leading a normal life.” He revisits the moments surrounding his accident and his adjustment to prostheses, and meets fellow amputees like Jack, who was part of a British medical trial on osseointegration (where titanium implants come out of the stump for a prosthesis to attach to) that enabled him to walk much better. Other vets they know had to save up and travel to Australia to have this done because the NHS didn’t cover it.

Travelling to the REHAB trade fair in Karlsruhe, Parker learns that disability, too, can be the mother of invention. Virtual reality and smartphone technology are invaluable, with an iPhone able to replace up to 11 single-purpose devices. Yet he also encounters disabled people who are happy with their lot and don’t look to tech to improve it, such as Jamie, who’s blind and relies only on a cane. And it’s not as if tools to compensate for disability are new; the book surveys medical technologies that have been with us for decades or even centuries: from glass eyes to contact lenses; iron lungs, cochlear implants and more.

Pain management, PTSD, phantom limbs, foreign body rejection, and deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease are other topics in this wide-ranging study that is at the juncture of the personal and political. “A society that doesn’t look after the vulnerable isn’t looking after anyone – I’d learnt first-hand that we’re all just a moment from becoming vulnerable,” Parker concludes. I’ll hope to see this one on next year’s Barbellion Prize longlist.

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.

[Vansa · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 2009, (then)Captain Harry Parker stepped on an IED in Afghanistan. WHen he woke up, he was in hospital in England, alive, but he had lost his legs and was fitted with prosthetics. Through this book, Parker explores what it means to be, as he prefers to be referred to as, a hybrid human, through a fascinating combination of memoir and research. He performs an interesting thought experiment at the beginning of the book, where he looks at people around him to identify the technologies that are practically part of their bodies, to demonstrate how we take our integration with technology for granted. I tried it out on myself: I used to wear contact lenses, and braces, I had the LASIK surgery to correct my eyesight, I listened to this audiobook using earphones ( that are almost never out of my ear). My father had a surgery on his spine 15 years back and a titanium rod shores up his spine. My mother had a surgical port inserted to enable less painful delivery of chemotherapy medicine during her treatment. And this is just anecdotal, for my small circle. As Parker puts it, his usage of prosthetics does not make him an outlier, and merely the difference of degree of use. He had to learn to use his new limbs, a process described in all its agony and hope. Expecting to move when you stand or intend to take a step forward are things one would take for granted, and Parker’s writing conveys how a simple step is the result of many complex interactions taking place within your body. It works very differently for a limb that’s an external attachment, and not a part of your body, something that has to be learnt afresh. These opening chapters are a necessary corrective to the endless narratives about paraplegics who want to be euthanized-of course the right to euthanasia is important, however those narratives ( all by people who themselves are not in that situation) seems to erase the vast majority of people who may not want to die, and seems to ignore that life should be made easier for them-not imply that they’re not worth living. Parker writes of of how distressing it was for him and other patients who were undergoing rehabilitiation and re-learning to walk, when visitors very visibly show that they think the survivors might have been better off dying ( one even tells him as much, adding that Parker’s an inspiration-of course he’s well- meaning but also quite tone-deaf)-that’s not a choice for someone else to make. Specially when there are policy decisions that could make facilities a lot more accessible with just a few changes. An interesting chapter deals with pain-I’ve always found it hard when doctors ask you to rate it from 1-10, and Parker explains that’s because it hasn’t really been understood medically. Pain is supposed to have evolved as a warning mechanism to tell you that something’s not right-which doesn’t explain phantom pains or migraines, for instance. Doctors across the world, and over the centuries, haven’t found a better way of understanding their patients problems, than that deeply subjective rating scale! There’s an excellent chapter where Parker visits the REHAB fair in Germany-one of the world's biggest and most significant trade fairs for rehabilitation, therapy, care and inclusion since 1980. Throughout the book, Parker emphasizes, over and over again, the vast disparity in access to care for the differently-abled-brought to the reader forcefully when parker describes how if he had been at home in England and had been involved in an accident that mimicked the IED, he would probably not be alive; the surgeons at the military base at Afghanistan being specially trained for injuries of the sort, the speed of the airlift so he could get access to the right care as soon as possible. He also mentions that he was eligible for the prosthetic because his injury was sustained in the course of war, and would not have been available for a large majority of the population.He demonstrates very effectively the additional tax, practically, on disabled people: the various cost implications that need to be weighed up while deciding if something is worth spending on: if it has a warranty, if it will take too long to get used to it, possible expenses you might have to forego to afford this. As he eloquently puts it, though, these are cost-benefit analysis people are doing that are entirely qualitative: will this expense make it more fun for me to play with my dog? Will this expense give me a better day at the beach? What sort of price or value can one attach to that? However, as he writes, a lot of these companies are not-for-profit, and there are government bodies that invest in these technologies and provide them at subsidised rates ( the NHS being among them. These are what taxes go towards, for all those who think taxes are pointless and so on ). Part of the showcase is a sort of obstacle race organized, to show the complex movements that some of the prosthetics can enable-it’s a series of daily activities that the competitors have to perform, and when you break those down, the intricate mechanism of the human body is a wonder-all the muscles, joints, tissues, bones, nerve signals that have to work in concert, to let you stand and walk. And how much harder those are when that direct brain-body connection isn’t there: as he writes, it might look simple, but it’s that much harder to perform an action like getting up from a chair without holding on to the arms and a completely different set of interactions have to be performed. There’s an interesting chapter that’s about cyborgs-movies about them have captured the popular imagination, but what’s the technology like? In 2019, a tetraplegic French man, Thibault, successfully tested a brain-controlled exoskeleton, and while the technology might still be in development, and fully successful working model might be years away, Thibault can proudly say he was a pioneer at using this technology, raging at the constraints of his body. Parker narrates this to a friend of his, who’s visually impaired and tells him that there might be ocular implants in the future, that would improve his vision. His friend, however, tells Parker that he doesn’t feel lesser than, or inferior, because f his vision, and he leads his life as best as he’s able, which is ultimately what we’re all trying to do. What he wants, though, is for his visual impairment, and others to not actually be treated as a problem, but be acknowledged in the planning of infrastructure and the provision of services, towards which his friend is an active campaigner. He’s also raging at the dying of the light , in his own way. This is a thought-provoking fascinating book, about being human-we’re all hybrid, in our own ways.

[Erin Crane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars that I'm rounding down. I really liked Parker's style - very clear and concise. It's a style that I wish existed more in nonfiction books.

The beginning worked best for me. But past halfway I started to lose steam or feel like I wasn't learning anything new. There were still some good parts, but I was less entranced.

One of the most interesting things about the book for me was when Parker says that even though his is an acquired disability, he would not undo it or change it. My impression has been that folks with acquired disabilities are more likely to want to "undo" it, but not here. It seems like with time the disability becomes intertwined with who you are and your life's journey. He also mentions Post Traumatic Growth (PTG), which he says is more common than PTSD and can exist alongside it. I appreciated learning that.

One of my favorite chapters (perhaps the same one that talks about PTG, not sure) is The Deal which covers how we're all making trade offs all the time in terms of the side effects of treatments. We're all going to age and probably have acquired disabilities and, again, trade offs to consider. But even as a younger, generally healthy person those trade offs are happening, like when you choose to take birth control medication because the side effects are worth it (or when you don't because they aren't). There's a universality to making that kind of medical decision, but it is heightened with disability and chronic illness.

[Claudia Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading Anatomy of a Soldier, I was so stunned by its quality that I immediately sought out anything and everything else by the author. 'Everything' at the moment is just this book, and it's very different in style while overlapping in content: non-fiction about the technological advances used to compensate for disability. The chapters are logically structured to follow one other, but also work well read in isolation. Presented through the highly personal lens of the author's own experiences as a double-amputee, the text never becomes dry. It's sensitive throughout, even to issues which haven't personally affected him.
Hybrid Humans is a fascinating exploration of the past, present and future topic, which while it won't haunt me quite like Anatomy of a Soldier, I'll nevertheless strongly recommend. I can see myself digging through some of the references too!
Eagerly awaiting more writing from Harry Parker, whether fiction or non-fiction.

[Laura Parkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book at The Notting Hill bookshop and whether through inspiration with being in London surrounded by so much diversity, I picked this book up and thought I would give it a go, it not being something I would usually read.

It was brilliant, I really enjoyed it, so interesting, I love AI and technology and exploring how it will take over our lives even further in the future, it gave me a different perspective on disability in real life, how tough it must be and how we are all just an accident or illness away from relying on technology or medicine to live a comfortable life.

[Neo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aivan perkeleen hyvä.

Palveluksessa haavoittuneen ja molemmat jalkansa menettäneen ex-sotilaan puheenvuoro siitä, miten ihminen nojaa teknologiaan - ja missä välissä muuttuu joksikin muuksi. Kansien välissä jututetaan kyborgeja, tutkitaan uusimpia alaraajaproteesitekniikoita, kurkistetaan vammaisuuden apuvälinehistoriaan ja proteesitaiteeseen, sekä pohditaan toiseutta ja omaa hybridisyyttä.

Sisältää jonkin verran graafisehkoa kuvailua, mutta on kokonaisuutena maallikon luettavissa ja todella vetävästi kirjoitettu. Lämmin suositus kiinnostuneille!

[Fiona Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. Opened my eyes to just how many of us are in a sense hybrid eg with ‘everyday’ things like phones / contacts lenses, to the other end of the scale with exoskeletons and cochlear implants. And the moral questions and inequalities around access to these for marginalised communities. And how far can and should AI go? Reminder that disabled people are often at the forefront of invention and discovery, developing aids that potentially then get adapted for not their initial intended function. And an insight into what being disabled means / feels like and how to tackle ableism.

[Paul Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read exploration of the use and integration of assistive technology into daily life and how it can transform people and their ability to be themselves. Some of the technologies are like a concept car: all sorts of things may be possible and some may make it into mainstream production at some point. Interesting how the the mind adapts to physical changes but feelings and the idea of “normal” are more difficult to navigate.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me think about things I had never considered before. I have to admit some of the details made me squirm and feel a little uncomfortable, but I needed to continue to read to find out what the outcome was.

A really well written book. Great read.

[Jools · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a book! For a relatively slim volume it is packed with well researched, fabulously written information, and a lot of lived experience. I'll be buying a copy for my army nurse granddaughter!

[Ems · Rating 3 out of 5]

mostly personal take on how the future will act on disabled people.

[Paul Bentley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating series of personal reflections on disability and the role of additive technologies.
The final chapter is particularly good. A fascinating philosophical reflection.