Eyeborg: Future Deus Ex tech possible

Deus Ex: Human Revolution style enhancements may be possible in real life, according to cyborg documentary film-maker Rob Spence.

Spence has augmented his own body with a tiny camera that films the world around him. It fits inside his eye socket, made possible after a childhood accident with a shotgun left him partly blind.

He now goes by the moniker of "Eyeborg".

Spence recently completed work on a documentary charting the development of human augmentations, viewable below. The film compares our current generation of cyborg technology to the technologically advanced world seen in Eidos Montreal's Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

But could existing cyborg tech really evolve into a Deus Ex-style future?

"People are starting to think that way," Spence told Eurogamer. "Technology is moving so rapidly you can start to see the potential in the footage I shot - in some cases with my own bionic eye... You just have to look at how mobiles upgrade every year."

But rapidly changing possibilities could leave the new technology open to abuse, as happens throughout the Deus Ex series.

"Here's a funny but possible scenario," Spence posits. "I could drink beer and smoke cigarettes all year, then chop my legs off, put on turbo legs and still run the 100m. That can't be allowed. It'll be very interesting where society will draw the line."

Humans are already on a path of evolution through the usage of technology and improved scientific knowledge, Spence reasons.

"You just have to look at the rate of change and how different you are from your cavemen ancestors. You're a lot taller, you live a lot longer, you've got clothes - which seems like nothing to you, but a windbreaker would seem like advanced technology to a mammoth."

Technology, however, does not signal "the end of humanity", Spence counters. "It just changes more quickly. Though when that happens there's a potential for social unrest."

Tom Bramwell rated Deus Ex: Human Revolution's dystopian future a 9/10 in Eurogamer's review.