Technological innovations such as implants, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) are playing an increasingly prominent role in our lives and offering solutions to the biological challenges faced by humans. Technology is redefining the way that the human body can function and challenging our understanding of the body.

After losing his legs to an IED while serving in Afghanistan, Harry Parker had to grapple with his new identity and disability, supported by technological innovations. His prosthetic legs are a constant reminder of how he relies on technology to move about the world and interact with it in a ‘normal’ way.

Drawing on his own personal experience and extensive research into the many other forms of interaction between biology and technology, Harry will explore the frontiers of man and machine and consider how innovations in robotics, computing and AI may be about to permanently alter our understanding of what it is to be human.

The event is part of the Chelsea History Festival. You can view the full programme here.

Harry Parker is the author of Anatomy of a Soldier(2016), translated in eight languages. He grew up in Wiltshire and was educated at Falmouth College of Art and University College London. He joined the British Army when he was 23 and served in Iraq in 2007 and Afghanistan in 2009 as a captain. He is now a writer and artist. Harry was the Creative Director of the Chelsea History Festival from 2019 to 2021.

Hybrid Humans: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Man and Machine