Hey all. After reading a ton of stuff in old (and new) newsfeeds recently, it seems that cyber is becoming a reality. My question is, what kind of an education would you actually need to build this stuff in reality? In the opinions of my esteemed fellow DSers of course.

I was thinking stuff along the lines of neurology, mechatronics/robotics, and maybe prosthetics/orthotics.

Looks like a good start, though there would probably be a bunch of others to go along with it just to get to the specializations required for Neurology... BioMolecular electronics/engineering would also probably be a good basis as well from a truly cyberpunk perspective... I am sure that you could find others as well...

I think this one's still in the stages of "how does what you know translate into this new field?" Electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, programming, physiology, biochemistry, neurology, all of them fit in there. So I don't think it's a matter so much of going and getting formal education in each and every field (although that couldn't hurt), but of taking what you know and being able to apply it in a meaningful way. And not only that, but knowing who to work with, really. It's going to take teams of disciplines working together (outside the occasional wunderkind, that is; I'm sure there's some dude out there in a garage that's about to revolutionize the field...maybe...maybe we're a bit beyond that).

If you're asking because you're thinking about working in that field, I'd suggest you find people/company that work in that field and ask them the question directly. Ask them what they need now and what they think they'll need x years from now (x being the number of years between now and when you get out of school). Not only will you have a solid information, but you'll also be able to get contacts in the field. They might help you get a better idea of what's going on and make sure if that's really what you're interested in. And if that's what you really want, they'll be able to help you get a job once you've finished your studies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionics
This should about be it neh?

If your grades are good, you could look at getting into one of the medical engineering courses (essentially an engineering program leading into med school/MD school).

Such courses are notable rare, when I attended university, there where only two such programs in North America, one at Berkley and one at The University of Western Ontario (in London, Ontario, the uni I attended.)

Johns Hopkins has had a biomedical engineering department since 1970. One of the guys I did an internship at an orthopedics firm with back in the late 90s was in it. I, on the other hand, got into the medical device industry by having a BE in mechanical engineering degree with a concentration in Machine Design, and an eagerness to learn new things. I went from interning for an orthopedic instrument design firm to working as a manufacturing engineer at a Class II and Class III medical device manufacturer.

Most of our product development folks have backgrounds similar to mine. Slog your way through engineering school, intern for someone like Zimmer or Stryker, and have a ball. It's a really cool industry that's doing increasingly amazing things every day.

Actually I'm doing a bio/psych/business degree right now, I was just curious.

I was unaware of the John Hopkins program. Not a surprise though, such is secondhand information (got my info from a guy in the Medical Engineering program that I fenced with, and it was ages ago.) Very cool field though.

Bioengineering

University of Utah had a pretty extensive program, my wife worked on the artificial vision project about 16 years ago when she was getting her masters.

There is a university in England that offers a cybernetics/bionics program. I cannot remember the name; just google around.

I know that one of the Scottish Universities also offer a course in Bioelectronics. And Biophysics, but thats less applyable I think. But saying that I am aware that these courses are probably quite shite at the moment, probably only set up a few years ago and only now getting into the swing of things.

Surely it'd be one of the Universities associated with Professor Warwick.