Men with prosthetic arms making prosthetic arms

Great, inspirational image from a Life magazine gallery of photos themed around the subject of prosthetic limbs. There's some other fascinating shots in here, as well. Including an artificial foot that laces up like a Chuck Taylor shoe, a prosthetic leg for an elephant, and a shot of the Cairo Toe—the world's oldest known prosthesis.

Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

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WaylonWillie

The title suggests it is the “men” making the prosthetic limbs, but isn’t it actually the “prosthetic limbs” making the prosthetic limbs?
holtt

Or as they’d say at Denny’s…

Bitch, your prosthetic looks fine to me.
imorgan73

Haha! Losing a limb is funny! Maximum lulz for amputees!
jfrancis

http://www.digitalartform.com/archives/2010/04/one-armed_bandi.html
Anonymous

I too am doing this, it goes against all modern prosthetic ethics and protocol. Check out Shop Work with a Carnes Arm.

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/01/24/shop-work-with-a-carnes-artificial-arm/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReH1mRCWfNw Amputee gets arm back

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxA0ZCQdoKQ Wallace and Gromit

Would love to see the full article. Mark Lesek Tasmania
Dave Rattigan

Never mind Dr Strangelove. The chap on the right is the spit of Peter Cushing. And the one on the left could easily be Terence Fisher, the Hammer horror director who made many of the Cush’s greatest films.
Matt Staggs

YO DAWG WE HEARD YOU LIKE PROSTHETIC LIMBS…
- Anonymous
  
  Dizzam. Beat me to it.
inkfumes

Self replicating cyborgs R kewl.
Micah

Repost?

(Joking!)
Stefan Jones

Alternate title:

Cyborgs prepare supplies for violent world takeover.

(Motto: “Flesh limbs bad! Steel limbs good!”)
pjk

I love that the guy with the hammer hand and apron, pounding away at something in a vise, is wearing a tie. puts me to shame, he does.
Isoko

My high school guidance counselor used a prosthetic arm and was also an inventor of arm attachments. He had created a big floppy hand for volleyball, one that helped hold a golf club… some others I can’t remember.

He was less adept at helping me figure out my future though.
Anonymous

How I learned to stop worrying and love the limb.
Anonymous

HAMMERFIST
tyger11

The Cairo Toe, not to be confused with Camel Toe. Just sayin’.
zuludaddy

The meta. It hurts.
Mark Frauenfelder

Look at the guy on the left. No Peter Sellers / Dr. Strangelove jokes yet?
flosofl

Ah, the Von Neuman brothers I presume.
Anonymous

The immediacy of cyborg jokes makes me oddly proud to be human.
Miriam Heddy

Yes indeed… all good people with disabilities (and images of people with disabilities) are “inspirational.”

See also: Disability BINGO:
http://haddayr.livejournal.com/604179.html
- holtt
  
  Miriam, it just goes to show that you can achieve anything if you really try!
yri

Mark beat me to the Dr Strangelove reference. The one on the left certainly looks like him!
Prufrock451

Wow, that’s like halfway to a Von Neumann machine!