When Sneak normally attends IT conferences he finds himself usually surrounded by the old, the grey and the unwashed to sit through hour after hour of keynote from Vendor X and Service Provider Y about how great their technology is. It is tough going for your loyal reporter, but ultimately yields a fairly high story quota.

The Thinking Digital conference in Gateshead (or Newcastle, for you non-north-easterners) is a bit different. The opening session has borne witness to several visual treats, including a discussion about whether Christians are pro-cyborg or not, and the truly disturbing post-Partridge vision of a grown man miming along to Beatles songs while playing a large inflatable guitar.

Now back to the cyborg news. The debate, between social media entrepreneur Paul Miller and conference organiser Herb Kim, centred in all seriousness on whether us humans are all capable of taking control of technology, rather than the other way around. Now, 'the other way around', as any film buff knows, is likely to take the form of some kind of doomsday scenario as imagined by the creators of the Terminator franchise.

"There are many things that will happen, but they are not inevitable, and conflict is not inevitable either," argued Miller. Phew, good news. The last thing Sneak needs right now is a battle with our cyborg foes set to destroy mankind. I've got a bad back.

14 May 2009