According to some definitions of the term, the metaphysical and physical attachments humanity has with even the most basic technologies have already made us cyborgs. In a typical example, a human fitted with a heart pacemaker might be considered a cyborg, since s/he is incapable of surviving without the mechanical part.

As a more extreme example, clothing can be seen as a cybernetic modification of skin; enabling us to survive in drastically different environments by constructing things that aren't naturally existing in those environments.

A notepad can be seen as rudimentary memory augmentation. he boundary blurs even more when controlled fire or agriculture are thought of as modifications to our digestion processes. Most definitions only consider technologies made possible by the industrial revolution, especially those that are inside the body.

In the feminist thinking of Donna Haraway the cyborg becomes a starting metaphor for exploring ways of breaking down the nature/culture binary. She demonstrates how the desire to separate these two aspects of the world is becoming increasingly difficult and attempts to utilise this confusion of borders in order to create new ways of acting politically. This line of thought is known as cyborg theory.