These images are found at the very end of the 1280 pg book. Up until that point the book focuses on describing the human subject (object?) in detailed terms (primarily anatomically with a few excursions into mental manifestations and traits as well), potential irregularities in the form and performance of this subject, and suggestions as to how these irregularities may be ameliorated, suppressed or corrected. The very last section before the appendices is the 4 page section that contains these images, entitled 'Replaceable Parts of Irreplaceable You'. And it seems appropriate that this is the last section as it seems to represent, for me anyways, the way forward towards the unspoken telos of the whole work, perhaps the whole project of medicine. In the end, if the parts of the human object are not corralable back into an easy fit with the initial description (normalcy I think we would call it), then they may be replaced with parts that if not formally consistent with the ideal parts at least conform in their performance.It's a controversial point, but, seen from this angle it seems like the final cause of medicine could be described this way: the remaking of the human object towards an ideal form, a form notably not defined in physical terms but in terms of performance. In which case, these images of cyborgs are just a step along the way to the ultimate goal which, supposedly, would actually be robots! Now there's a perverse and contentious thought for you: could the essential telos of medicine actually be the design of robots? Well, the title of the section would seem to imply that this is not true with its declaration that 'You' are in fact 'Irreplaceable'. But, as James Geary has pointed out in his lovely The Body Electric, the word 'irreplaceable' here does seem rather forced, to be expressing a thinly concealed anxiety as to exactly how irreplaceable we are.
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