Cybernetic Enhancements

[Taz]

This is really a bad idea. I ain't kidding when I say the stuff would make you sick, a terminator, non human.

 

There was some guy at MIT or someplace like that about 8 years ago I think. He would walk around all the time with an internet linkup hooked up to his body. He had a hand keyboard at his waist hooked up to some visual screen glasses for one of his eyes. He would walk around using one eye to see the world, while the other eye was in the internet. He could answer questions as fast as google delivered the answeres. I saw all of this on a 60 minutes interview.

 

What was interesting to me? The interviewer, Morley Safer, kept scratching at his face for no apparent reason.

 

The guy with the internet hookup? That part of his body, the eye and the brain behind the eye, was changing and becoming non human. Did you know people have energy? And that they can pass on their feeling and sensations to other people via this energy?

 

Morley Safer kept scratching at his face because he could feel where the internet guy was damaging his own face by wearing that internet hookup all the time. It was like the eye and brain around the internet screen were going dead or something. They were turning into machine.

 

It all sounds and looks really cool. Seriously, you don't need a weapon arm. Make your arm strong, then put a weapon in it.

 

 

BorisP, most of your knowledge of cybernetics seems to come from sci-fi, which is probably why you use the word Terminator too often. It seems like you're influenced by what you see on TV and in the movies. I don't intend to sound judgmental but you sound more like preaching than making an opinion. I would suggest you research into it, and find some unbiased information to base your argument.

 

It also seems like you have quite the imagination, and jump to conclusions very easily. Take the 60 Minute example. Just by observing the interviewer scratching his face (or whatever), you conjured this whole story about how a monitor in a student's glasses is slowly turning his eye into machine and killing off that part of his body. Now that would be prime sci-fi material for a script, but seems somewhat out of place in a scientific discussion.

 

Don't get me the wrong way, I am not discouraging you from participating in this conversation, and would gladly welcome any additional contributions from you on this or any subject. I'm just doing a little human observation.

[Engineer101]

how about creation of Biometal, Living breathing and produceable metal. Biometal Machines who can act like humans do.

[MrDad]

;) ;) ;) ;)

[ipbah]

Only a legitimate medical reason would make me throw away my arm, heart or whatever and even then i would prefer a biological solution to a mechanical solution.

 

Enhancing the body to be outside human limitations is just asking for trouble imho as it brings up all kinds of social and economical issues and the world has enough of those already.

[werecow]

maybe one day we could all become like a "ghost in the shell"

 

cybernetic enhancements...cyberbrains...live web feed directly into our brain...not too far away or out of reach i dont think....

[Engineer101]

one day this will spur a fanatical crazy military army that doesnt like Machines and want it destroyed. (cyborgs included)

[maverick]

yeh but imagine having a direct input into your brain and learnin stuff matrix stylee

 

[Rockabilly]

I think the next generation will have cybernetic enhancements available to them, starting with the military.

I have thought NVG (Night Vision Goggle)contacts would be a big step,(I use NVGs a lot and would prefer 2 ounces to the 28 I strap on my head). The next logical progression would be retina replacement for thermal/ night vision enhancement.

I would take on cybernetics from the lower back down. I would want my arms and hands to remain unenhanced. It would be great to be able to carry more and take an increased load on without all of the strain to the bones. Although it may take some getting used to while playing the drums, I think at some point cybernetics will be close to the real thing, Jedi style.

-Rock

[Robotdoll]

There's a lot to be said for enhancements, just for looks alone.

 

Astronomer Niels Bohr had a gold nose. If ever he was losing an argument, he'd remove it and polish as his opponent was talking. It would usually cause the opponent to lose his composure and allow Bohr to take the lead again.

 

Same idea.

 

'bot

[grimace]

maybe one day we could all become like a "ghost in the shell"

 

cybernetic enhancements...cyberbrains...live web feed directly into our brain...not too far away or out of reach i dont think....

 

The cybernetic enhancements from Ghost in The Shell also create new dangers and avenues for wrong-doing... which is what GiTS specifically explores. Notice how only a few select people are given cyberbrains?

 

One point to ponder for those who can't understand why anyone would not want transplants ...the person who underwent the world'a first arm transplant asked for it to be amputated.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2828947.stm

 

Same goes for the man who underwent the world's first (and only AFAIK) double arm transplant.

[thanatos355]

cyborg me baby! i want the full workup.

[MrDad]

yeh but imagine having a direct input into your brain and learnin stuff matrix stylee

Imagine someone inputting false information into your brain, Matrix-style. Is that not how the human race was enslaved as bio-batteries?

[Reaper]

Well one would hope that by the time we have such level of enhancements people will have grown a better sensibility, or forced to.

[xtremeskiing]

In reference to the human race, By the current definition, "We are Borg"

 

Wear contacts, glasses, pacemaker, dialysis, you get the idea, then you have only proven that "Resistance is Futile" and I am very proud to wear my borg-tacts.

[Oma]

There's a lot to be said for enhancements, just for looks alone.

 

Astronomer Niels Bohr had a gold nose. If ever he was losing an argument, he'd remove it and polish as his opponent was talking. It would usually cause the opponent to lose his composure and allow Bohr to take the lead again.

 

Same idea.

 

'bot

Errrr....don't you mean Tycho Brahe?

With the silver nose (lost his original in a duel) - Actually he died due to following etiquette to closely (it was considered bad form to go to the toilet during a feast, so his bladder burst -> died)

 

But hey, both Niels and Tycho are danish (well, they WERE, anyway...)

[theunknown]

the idea of implants is all good and well... but surely the first step is to understand our body first?

 

Anyone who feels our current form has reached its limitations is delusional, we use less than 20% of our brain, our strength is under our full potential, our life span is halved because of the crap our western culture promotes as normal and beneficial, hell even our common sense and reasoning has much room for improvement. Maybe instead of looking to a machine to make us better we should focus on learning, understanding, taking advantage of and simply looking after what we already have? To be honest our body is a machine, and its already far more advanced than anything we will ever be able to merge with it. If we were to harness what we currently have to its full potential... I couldnt begin to imagine what the human race would be like.

 

Just a thought, because when we finally do reach our potential, we'll have the knowledge to ascend so cybernetics won't be needed anyway :) .

 

-The Unknown

[juhan]

There goes a billion years of evolution out the window....

 

With implants, why the hell are we bothering to evolve anymore? That said, stop messing with our genes unless its for medical reasons!!! (Imagine a race of super-humans. That'll throw us way back into 4000BC with a master race and slave race.)

 

DOWN WITH CYBORGS!! Even Gene Roddenberry's vision of the 24th century had plain jane(pun intended) humans (save 7 of 9 but she's hot so she's excused) :p

 

=Han=

[azuro]

do you really believe in evolution??? i thought the theory has long been ruled out. the idea alone is simply absurd.

 

taking our body to its full potential sounds nice. but wasnt it somehow intended to be just the way it is? something about maintaining the 'balance'. besides... pushing to the limit would only prove more hazardous. humans can alwayz work their body, just dont over do it. then it comes to maintenance... if u work out too much, u'll have to maintain it or else ur muscles would deform and u'll end up having a weird flabby body. well, its what they say... simply quoting. :p

 

[Oma]

do you really believe in evolution??? i thought the theory has long been ruled out. the idea alone is simply absurd.

He heh...you're joking, right?!

 

Anyway, we're not evolving right now since nobody dies without procreating (- well, some of those poor sods in the other 2/3 of the world are...) - and since we're not evolving we might as well take matters into our own hands. Not wanting to gain an advantage is unnatural since it provides you with less offspring in the end....

[theunknown]

what are you on about?... ofcourse we're evolving. You mean to say a species can evolve without procreating? very interesting as that usually leads to extinction.

 

An example of evolution in today society it the height difference compared to 100 years ago. Another is all the alergies and defects seen in people these days, the ratio's compared to 100 years ago are terrible. Evolution is essentially a natural genetic mutation to help the next generation deal with the environment better. However in some/alot of cases all the toxic crap we induce and live in distorts this mutation and thats where alot of major medical problems that have only emerged in the last 100 came from.

 

Basically we're killing ourself, unless something is done in the next few decades, the human race will run itself into the ground within a few hundred years. Example, humans are responsible for the introduction of AIDs into our culture and look how devastating that is, AID's didnt exist until we started playing around with the immune system and if we could learn to keep our pants on chances are within the next 100 years AIDs will be around but under control.

 

Incase you havent noticed, i hold very little respect for western culture. We promote good practices without understanding long term effects, and with our current level of understanding about the bodies inner workings the majority of 'good practices' are indeed the opposite.

 

-The Unknown