More and more people are joining the ranks of the cyborgs. As the technology behind prostheses becomes increasingly advanced, many individuals are having lost limbs replaced with bionic ones, or having the function of their senses miraculously restored.

Transhumanists believe that this marriage between the human body and technology will eventually give rise to the “superhuman”. They claim that one day, everyone will want to be part-machine. Instead of loading yourself up with cumbersome gadgets and wearable tech, why not just upgrade your body?

You hear “cyborg” and you probably imagine someone with a flame-thrower for an arm and bulletproof armour, when in actual fact even someone with hearing aids can be considered a cyborg. But some of the cyborgs around today have such amazing augmentations that even bulletproof armour couldn’t make them any cooler. Here are five individuals alive today who are part-robot.

Nigel Ackland has the world’s most advanced bionic arm, the bebionic3. It looks so cool it will make you feel inferior for having a boring flesh-and-blood arm. The arm allows him to carry out everyday tasks such as holding the phone and shaking hands with someone. Ackland has given numerous talks stressing the importance of developing prostheses that are not only more functional but also more aesthetically pleasing. Many prostheses involve the attachment of a harness and are considered unsightly or embarrassing by the wearer. He argues that having such an advanced prosthesis has massively improved his psychological wellbeing and his quality of life. Also, he knows no one’s ever going to pick a fight with him.

Kevin Warwick, a cybernetics professor at Reading University, was named the world’s first cyborg when in 1998 he had a microchip installed in his arm which allowed him to operate lights, heaters and computers remotely. Just think. You could turn lights out without even having to get out of bed.

Neil Harbisson was born with achromatopsia, making him totally colourblind. In 2004 he made the decision to have an antenna implant that allows him to hear colours as sounds on the musical scale. The electronic eye at the front of the attena detects the colour and sends the information to a chip implanted into his skull. Harbisson says that while he originally had to memorise which sounds matched which colour, it has now become completely natural to him and has transformed the way he perceives the world. He can, for example, “hear” people’s faces; someone may look nice, but sound terrible to him.

Jerry Jalava, a computer programmer from Finland, lost half of his finger in a motorcycle accident, but has done what any normal human being would do and replaced it with a USB port. It’s a removable prosthetic so he can leave his finger plugged into a computer. Handy.

Ray Flynn is an 80-year-old British pensioner who in June became the first person to be fitted with a bionic eye. He lost his central vision as a result of age-related macular degeneration, a very common form of sight loss. Now he has an electrical implant which sends a video feed directly to the undamaged cells in his retina from a camera attached to his glasses. Although the implant can’t restore highly-detailed vision, it enables the wearer to see the outlines and shapes of their surroundings. Makers behind the bionic eye claim that this is a revolutionary step forward in ending blindness, which provides hope for millions of people across the globe.