Salvation through technology. This hope has characterised the vaulting ambitions of those who continually push us to the boundaries of what science and machines can achieve.

Cybernetics, an inter-disciplinary study of control and communication in the animal and the machine, is one such field that seems to hold open the door of immense possibilities for human advancement.

However research into connecting humans and machines also brings with it a bucket load of fears over whether we are in danger of eventually turning over our lives to those who control the machines, or perhaps even, like the wildest imaginings of the science fiction writers, to the machines themselves.

In a new report even so staid an organisation as the US National Science Foundation has finally jumped on the cybernetic bandwagon. In a report titled "Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance: Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information Technology, and Cognitive Science", the organisation calls for more research into the possibilities of people linking their brains together to form a global collective intelligence.

These guys are actually talking about the implantation of things into our bodies, which would then connect with computers and through the machines we would be able to form a communication link with other humans.

This is nervous system to nervous system communication, brain to brain. The National Science Foundation, a US government organisation, recommends that the US designate as a national priority the research and development of technologies that "enhance human abilities and efficiencies".

The report identifies six priority areas as "nano-bio processors for research and development of treatments, including those resulting from bioinformatics, genomics and proteomics; nanotechnology-based implants as replacement for human organs or for monitoring of physiological well-being; nanoscale robots and comparable unobtrusive tools for medical intervention; multi-modality platforms for increasing sensorial capabilities, particularly for visual and hearing impaired people; brain to brain and brain to machine interfaces; and virtual environments for training, design, and forms of work unlimited by distance or the physical scale on which it is performed." This being a report by the US government what is left unstated in the report is the eventual use of the technology by the Defence Department as a means of waging war in ever more creative ways.

Most of us probably became aware that such research is being conducted through Kevin Warwick, whose experiments with his body has focused the public's attention on what is happening in the field.

Warwick, a professor at the University of Reading in the UK, made the headlines in 1998 by having a silicon chip transponder surgically implanted in his left arm. Reading University has had a cybernetics programme since 1963.

Warwick's original experiment allowed a computer to monitor him as he moved through halls and offices of the department of cybernetics at the university. The chip sent signals to operate doors, lights, heaters and other computers without him doing anything physically.

He went further this year by putting in a custom built implant that sent signals back and forth between his nervous system and a computer. In an interview on BBC Radio Five this week Warwick described how he was able to feel signals sent by a similar temporary implant in his wife's arm.

He then goes on to describe his attempt at making himself a cyborg as exploring "the possibility of upgrading human intelligence, giving ourselves ultimately extra memory, the ability to think in lots of dimensions, with hundreds of dimensions." At the moment we as humans can only think in three or four dimensions," he said. "Wouldn't it be great to think in 20 dimensions? This is a way of taking intelligence, the power of machines and using it for upgrading humans for the good." His book on the experiments, I, Cyborg, is due out soon. The language used for the book's blurb is indicative of what we should be keeping a good eye on, as members of the public who may ultimately end up using the end results of these experiments.

"In the years ahead we will witness machines with an intelligence more powerful than that of humans," Warwick warns. "This will mean that robots, not humans, make all the important decisions. It will be a robot-dominated world with dire consequences for humankind. Is there an alternative way ahead?" Warwick's vaulting claims, that he eventually hopes to achieve the transmission of emotions, mental states and sexual arousal via machines, has led to accusations that he is more of "a media tart" rather than doing real research.

His valid defence is even if he has a talent for getting his work publicised, he is in the end making the public aware of issues that arise from such research.

"Surely it is the job of all scientists to put what they are doing in plain simple English so that everybody can understand," he said on the radio.

"There are enormous ethical questions about superhumans. Should we look at humans as obsolete? There are enormous moral and ethical questions.

Everybody should be involved. Only when scientists put their work in simplistic ordinary terms can everybody get involved." His next step is moving toward implants in the brain allowing thought communication so that we "will be able to think to each other".

Let us make a pledge to keep track of these developments, not only because the research and its possibilities are exciting, but also because we want to be aware of the dangers it might pose to our children and us.

Tech Tattle deals with issues in technology. Contact Ahmed at editor@offshoreon.com