English scientist James Young has been living with only one arm and one leg ever since he was struck by a train roughly four years ago, but thanks to some new prosthetics funded by Konami’s The Alternative Limb Project, he now not only has all of his limbs, but he can also use his arm as a USB charger and flashlight. Oh, and it also comes with its own drone and built-in smartwatch.

Young is the subject of a new documentary on BBC called “Bodyhack: Metal Gear Man,” and he recently conducted an AMA (ask me anything) on Reddit, discussing what his life is like now as one of the world’s first (and coolest) cyborgs.

In response to a question about how he has been treated since getting his new bionics, Young explained that people’s reactions have been very different compared to when he had traditional prosthetics.

“People in public mostly tut at me, kiss their teeth, and mutter under their breath ‘Oh lord, that’s terrible…’ and ‘Oh, you’re doing SO well’ and ‘I would probably kill myself if I were you’ then… ‘Oh, no, I mean… uh,'” Young said. “This kind of thing is relentlessly common in the UK if I am wearing no prostheses or just a leg, or my boring arm. Something different happens in the USA where people grab my hand and thank me for my service to their country. Awkward.”

“With my new bionic prosthesis, you can see in the documentary, people are pretty stunned, slightly excited or mind boggled. I think maybe we got it looking pretty cool, which pleases me. In general people seem happy to kind of think or be aware I am ‘making an effort’ to ‘return to normality’ so they don’t tut… but mostly they look very confused, which works for me.”

Young said that while he is happy with his current bionics, he is still looking forward to upgrades in the future as the technology advances. He also noted that while it will likely be many years before bionics are considered better than natural limbs, he believes that one day full-bodied people will elect to have their limbs replaced willingly once the technology is there.

Image courtesy of BBC