# Does a cyborg need to wear clothes? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 30, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149 "2013-11-30T19:06:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/1 "2013-11-30T19:06:37Z")
OK, this is inspired by an ultimately rather heated debate I had with a friend earlier today\*. Anyway assuming that Deus Ex / Ghost in the Shell or other science-fiction style mechanical upgrades become possible and common place in the future and somebody received a full-body prothesis, basically none of their original biological body left, would they be considered naked in public and have to wear clothes or not?\*\* How about someone in a non-humanoid cyborg body? Enquiring minds want to know! \*he publicly besmirched my honour and I challenged him to a duel at first light tomorrow morning, wish me luck! \*\*Picture a sleeker version of Robocop if that helps. btw hah ‘Victims of Science’ has just come on my playlist, appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/2 "2013-11-30T21:24:13Z")
If a woman who’s had a double mastectomy, lost both nipples and had no reconstructive surgery needs to keep her top covered, I’d say a male android who looks like a walking Ken doll has to have some shorts painted on too, just like Ken. In those jurisdictions where walking around with your naughty bits showing is actually forbidden, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/3 "2013-11-30T21:28:30Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > If a woman who’s had a double mastectomy, lost both nipples and had no reconstructive surgery needs to keep her top covered, I’d say a male android who looks like a walking Ken doll has to have some shorts painted on too, just like Ken. This presumes that our standards of decency are rationally derived. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/4 "2013-11-30T23:55:32Z")
If they have organic genitals/erogenous zones, or reasonably realistic looking facsimiles of same, like Terminators, they must keep those covered. If the only organic parts they have are normally unclothed, like Robocop’s face, they need not bother with clothing. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/5 "2013-12-01T00:26:25Z")
Clothing customs need not and often are not entirely rational. If said cyborgs resemble male or female human beings they should be clothed accordingly. If they do not, or their prostheses make them appear clothed, they need not. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/6 "2013-12-01T01:48:04Z")
I think a cyborg’s need to wear clothes would depend upon whether it had to blend in with the general populace. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/7 "2013-12-01T02:48:44Z")
I personally think a shiny metal ass is the Little Black Dress of the future. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/8 "2013-12-01T03:05:21Z")
I think it’s more interesting when cyborgs still feel the need to wear clothes. It humanises them, and makes the exceptions - the lobotomised berserkers and the “cyberpsychos” - stand out more. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/9 "2013-12-01T04:35:06Z")
If cyborgs’ prosthetic bodies are still sensitive to temperature, then they would probably want to wear clothes when it’s cold outside. They might be in danger of freezing up. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/10 "2013-12-01T04:41:21Z")
Some of them need to blend in before they start eliminating Sarah Connors. “Your clothes. Now.” ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/11 "2013-12-01T04:44:44Z")
That wasn’t a cyborg, it was a robot with a disguise. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/12 "2013-12-01T05:08:53Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > Anyway assuming that Deus Ex / Ghost in the Shell or other science-fiction style mechanical upgrades become possible and common place in the future and somebody received a full-body prothesis, basically none of their original biological body left, would they be considered naked in public and have to wear clothes or not? The Tin Woodsman didn’t wear clothes. And there was a young girl present! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/13 "2013-12-01T05:20:03Z")
It depends on if their cyborg bodies are meat-colored or not. You can [get away](http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/SilverHawks-1980s.jpg) with [a lot](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/35/Authority9.jpg) if you go chrome. “Once you go chrome, you never go…” Um…I got nothin’. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/14 "2013-12-01T05:25:12Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > It depends on if their cyborg bodies are meat-colored or not. You can [get away](http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/SilverHawks-1980s.jpg) with [a lot](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/35/Authority9.jpg) if you go chrome. > > “Once you go chrome, you never go…” Um…I got nothin’. home. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/15 "2013-12-01T08:14:05Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > That wasn’t a cyborg, it was a robot with a disguise. From the movie: Kyle Reese: He’s not a man - a machine. A Terminator. A Cyberdyne Systems Model 101. Sarah Connor: A machine? Like a robot? Kyle Reese: Not a robot. A cyborg. A cybernetic organism. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/16 "2013-12-01T21:01:51Z")
If you kill the “org” part of the “cyborg”, and it gets to keep walking around, it’s not a cyborg. It’s a robot. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/17 "2013-12-01T21:36:15Z")
In THAT movie (which was where my quote-ish 1st post came), the Terminator was consistently called a cyborg. Argue with the movie. 😉 (I think you have a good chance there) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/19 "2013-12-01T22:13:01Z")
The Terminator actually is properly referred to as a cyborg. It’s a cyborg that started as a machine and added organic parts rather than the other way around, but yeah, it’s a cyborg. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/20 "2013-12-01T22:51:16Z")
T-800’s are cyborgs. Living flesh over metal endoskeleton. T-600’s were robots with rubber coverings. ---
**Author:** ![runningdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@runningdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runningdude)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149/21 "2013-12-01T22:54:13Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > OK, this is inspired by an ultimately rather heated debate I had with a friend earlier today\*. > > Anyway assuming that Deus Ex / Ghost in the Shell or other science-fiction style mechanical upgrades become possible and common place in the future and somebody received a full-body prothesis, basically none of their original biological body left, would they be considered naked in public and have to wear clothes or not?\*\* How about someone in a non-humanoid cyborg body? Enquiring minds want to know! > > … Depends how anatomically “correct” the artificial body is… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-cyborg-need-to-wear-clothes/675149.md?page=2)