# Cyborg Soldier 2050 **Entity class:** Research report / prospective military technology assessment **Full title:** *Cyborg Soldier 2050: Human/Machine Fusion and the Implications for the Future of the DOD* **Report number:** CCDC CBC-TR-1599 **Date:** October 2019 **Authors:** Peter Emanuel, Scott Walper, Diane DiEuliis, Natalie Klein, James B. Petro, and [[wiki/James Giordano|James Giordano]] **Study period:** September 2018–August 2019 **Sponsor:** Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering **Study group:** DOD Biotechnologies for Health and Human Performance Council **Publisher:** U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center ## Definition *Cyborg Soldier 2050* evaluated possible human–machine enhancements through four future use cases: ocular sensing, optogenetic control of muscle, auditory enhancement, and direct two-way neural data transfer. The report assessed technical feasibility by 2050 or earlier, not current deployment. Its authors also examined safety, ethics, interoperability, social reception, and conditions under which an enhanced service member could be compelled to adopt a technology. The report's front page explicitly states that its findings are **not an official policy or position** of the Department of the Army, National Defense University, Department of Defense, or U.S. Government. Sponsorship and publication are documented institutional relationships, not authorship or binding policy. ## Relationships - **Primary document:** [Full 42-page report, CCDC CBC-TR-1599](https://wespenrevideos.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/US-Army-SuperSoldiers2050.pdf), with the [Executive Summary republished by the U.S. Army's Mad Scientist Laboratory](https://madsciblog.t2com.army.mil/193-cyborg-soldier-2050-human-machine-fusion-and-the-implications-for-the-future-of-the-dod/). - **Documented contributor:** [[wiki/James Giordano|James Giordano]] is one of this report's six named authors. The later [[wiki/Cognitive Warfare|Cognitive Warfare]] Innovation Hub study also cites Giordano and lists his commissioned essay; this is a shared-personnel link, not proof the two reports are one program. - **Technical route:** [[wiki/Neural Interfaces and Continuity Architecture|Neural Interfaces and Continuity Architecture]] and [[wiki/Human-Machine Symbiosis|Human-Machine Symbiosis]] provide the relevant architecture; [[collections/Neurotech|Neurotech]] and [[articles/2026 Annual Report on Brain-Computer Interfaces|2026 Annual Report on Brain-Computer Interfaces]] distinguish the report's forecasts from later evidence. - **Cultural narrative:** Recommendation 4 calls for reversing distorted, dystopian portrayals of enhancement and presenting its potential more realistically and positively, while also addressing transparency and privacy. ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > “The cyborg technologies assessed in this study go beyond augmentation, which restores function from injury or disease, and are envisioned to enhance performance through a range of modifications from the functional to the radically structural beyond the normal baseline for humans.” > **— Emanuel, Walper, DiEuliis, Klein, Petro and Giordano**, *2019, Cyborg Soldier 2050, §2* [[reminders/Cybernetics/Human Machine Fusion Could Go Beyond Restoring Function by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group|Human Machine Fusion Could Go Beyond Restoring Function by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group]] > “Efforts should be undertaken to reverse negative cultural narratives of enhancement technologies. Across popular social and open-source media, literature, and film, the use of machines to enhance the physical condition of the human species has received a distorted and dystopian narrative in the name of entertainment.” > **— Emanuel, Walper, DiEuliis, Klein, Petro and Giordano**, *2019, Cyborg Soldier 2050, Executive Summary, Recommendation 4* [[reminders/Cybernetics/Researchers Urged a Better Cultural Story for Human Enhancement by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group|Researchers Urged a Better Cultural Story for Human Enhancement by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group]] > “One could argue that failure to invest in responsible development of these potentially lifesaving technologies would be unethical.” > **— Emanuel, Walper, DiEuliis, Klein, Petro and Giordano**, *2019, Cyborg Soldier 2050, §6.5* [[reminders/Preservation/Not Developing Lifesaving Enhancements Could Be Unethical by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group|Not Developing Lifesaving Enhancements Could Be Unethical by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group]] > “This technology is predicted to facilitate read/write capability between humans and machines and between humans through brain-to-brain interactions.” > **— Emanuel, Walper, DiEuliis, Klein, Petro and Giordano**, *2019, Cyborg Soldier 2050, Executive Summary* [[reminders/Neural Interfaces/Brain Interfaces Could Enable Human to Human Data Transfer by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group|Brain Interfaces Could Enable Human to Human Data Transfer by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group]] > “Under what circumstances, if any, could a service member be compelled to undergo an enhancement that has been fielded?” > **— Emanuel, Walper, DiEuliis, Klein, Petro and Giordano**, *2019, Cyborg Soldier 2050, §6.11* [[reminders/Neural Interfaces/Can a Service Member Be Required to Accept an Enhancement by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group|Can a Service Member Be Required to Accept an Enhancement by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group]] The four capabilities are the study group's projected areas of technical feasibility by 2050 or earlier. > "Ocular enhancements to imaging, sight, and situational awareness; restoration and programmed muscular control through an optogenetic bodysuit sensor web; auditory enhancement for communication and protection; and direct neural enhancement of the human brain for two-way data transfer." > **— Emanuel, Walper, DiEuliis, Klein, Petro and Giordano**, *2019, Cyborg Soldier 2050, Executive Summary* [[reminders/Neural Interfaces/Four Routes to the Cyborg Soldier by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group|Four Routes to the Cyborg Soldier by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group]] The report forecasts direct neural-microelectronic exchange as a possible communications pathway. > "The potential for direct data exchange between human neural networks and microelectronic systems could revolutionize tactical warfighter communications, speed the transfer of knowledge throughout the chain of command, and ultimately dispel the 'fog' of war." > **— Emanuel, Walper, DiEuliis, Klein, Petro and Giordano**, *2019, Cyborg Soldier 2050, Executive Summary* [[reminders/Neural Interfaces/Neural Data Exchange Could Transform Military Communication by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group|Neural Data Exchange Could Transform Military Communication by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group]] The report describes a possible fully artificial eye; the visual-prosthesis wiki is a technical comparison, not this study's demonstrated system. > "In essence, the eye would be completely artificial and capable of pulling in any manner of sensory data and feeding it directly into the brain for interpretation." > **— Emanuel, Walper, DiEuliis, Klein, Petro and Giordano**, *2019, Cyborg Soldier 2050, §5.1* [[reminders/Neural Interfaces/An Artificial Eye Could Feed New Senses to the Brain by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group|An Artificial Eye Could Feed New Senses to the Brain by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group]] The projected controller would guide a novice's movement through a proposed optogenetic sensor-and-stimulation system. > "The optogenetic controller would, in effect, take control of the motions of a warfighter's limbs, thereby allowing a novice (i.e., the warfighter) to perform functions professionally." > **— Emanuel, Walper, DiEuliis, Klein, Petro and Giordano**, *2019, Cyborg Soldier 2050, §5.2* [[reminders/Neural Interfaces/An Optogenetic Bodysuit Could Guide Movement by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group|An Optogenetic Bodysuit Could Guide Movement by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group]] The study projects legal and ethical imbalances as enhancement spreads; it does not report those precise 2050 outcomes as present facts. > "The BHPC study group projected that introduction of augmented human beings into the general population, DOD active duty personnel, and near-peer competitors will accelerate in the years following 2050 and will lead to imbalances, inequalities, and inequities in established legal, security, and ethical frameworks." > **— Emanuel, Walper, DiEuliis, Klein, Petro and Giordano**, *2019, Cyborg Soldier 2050, Executive Summary* [[reminders/Personhood/Enhanced Humans Could Disrupt Legal Frameworks by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group|Enhanced Humans Could Disrupt Legal Frameworks by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group]] The study identifies unequal access and performance as a design and distribution question. > "Each of these technologies will afford some level of performance improvement to end users, which will widen the performance gap between enhanced and unenhanced individuals and teams." > **— Emanuel, Walper, DiEuliis, Klein, Petro and Giordano**, *2019, Cyborg Soldier 2050, Executive Summary* [[reminders/Selection/Enhancement Could Widen the Performance Gap by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group|Enhancement Could Widen the Performance Gap by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group]] Recommendation 4 addresses public understanding and cultural reception as conditions for fielding. > "Although not intrinsically a DOD mission, defense leadership should understand that negative public and social perceptions will need to be overcome, if these technologies are to be fielded." > **— Emanuel, Walper, DiEuliis, Klein, Petro and Giordano**, *2019, Cyborg Soldier 2050, Executive Summary, Recommendation 4* [[reminders/Cybernetics/Enhancement Needs a More Credible Public Story by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group|Enhancement Needs a More Credible Public Story by Cyborg Soldier 2050 Study Group]]