Cybernetics

[Deepcrush]

Those of us who fall under the "redneck" type groups will be one of the few types of people who won't really go for this. Anything that can't heal on its own or just be fixed with duct tape will forever be a taboo of some sort.

[Tyyr]

There are certainly going to be people who don't want to do it and I doubt anyone is going to be able to make you, but it's going to happen eventually.

[Deepcrush]

True, though the pure achievement will be not replacing with mechanical parts but repairing the organic.

[Tyyr]

That's the issue though, once you hit the limit on the organic parts and the artificial can go beyond it, then what?

[Deepcrush]

Beyond isn't the issue, since production is driven by need. Once someone finds a way to fix the organic parts, metal parts won't be needed. Its a give and take matter much like modern ideals on healthy living.

[Mikey]

That's simply a difference of the type of technology, not a difference of "technology or not." There's little difference in the ethical or other questions whether or not your replacement organ is vat-grown organic tissue or mechanical.

As with my wannabe-replacement pancreas or Tyyr's backbone, I don't even understand the need for a question when it comes to repair. If and when artificial kidneys come along, why would there be any question over whether some guy gets one who would have otherwise been on dialysis? It's simply a newer type of therapeutic option. Having an issue with it is akin to saying, "I don't like people taking these new-fangled aspirins and ibuprofens... we have poultices made of moss and leaves to heal what ails ye!"

The next level is, of course, repairs that some folks consider unnecessary. I wear eyeglasses, and the informed medical opinion is that I should not wear contact lenses. So, would getting replacement eyeballs to correct my vision impairment be a luxury, or a therapeutic option? Some would say that if my glasses work, leave well enough alone; I would say that there's little material difference in getting better eyeballs than in wearing corrective lenses, and in fact there's precious little difference in vision correction surgery and in replacement peepers.

The last question is, of course, replacing parts for no medical reason. When it's time for my daughter to start pitching for college scouts, maybe I want to install that super-elastic elbow ligament or the hydraulic pistons in her quadriceps for a little extra drive out of the pitching circle. Maybe I got picked on for not making the team in school and I want to get those vat-grown deltoid replacements so I can finally tear that phone book in half. Maybe I want to see in the dark.

So, what do we do? Do we offer - or even mandate - better-than-human strength, speed, senses, toughness, etc. for soldiers? For cops? If so, where's the line to legislate what's for those folks only and what's for us plebes? And if that line is a far one, then (not to sound too derivative of William Gibson) what happens with the inevitable cybernetic black market?

[Tyyr]

You're also probably not even going to be able to tell that someone is enhanced. It's not like you're going to walk up to someone and they'll just be a human head on a robot body. More than likely your average cyborg will look just like you. People want to look human so most consumer level cybernetics are probably going to look like human parts. For instance why replace your arm with a robotic one if we can replace the bone with one of stainless steel, titanium joints, then lace your existing muscles with a myomer (there really is stuff like that) like substance. So long as the scaring is minimal you won't know I have an enhanced musculature until you need to change the flat on your car and I just lift the car up for you instead of getting the jack. For your eyes they'll just cut out your lens and replace it with an artificial and optically perfect lens. Then they'll scrape off all your old rods and cones and replace them with newer ones, maybe even bioengineered ones, that give you night vision, infra-red, and an expanded visual range. Organs are all internal. Hell, I can see some people having small computers grafted to their brains to help them do calculations quickly or to allow you to instantly upload pertinent data with regards to your work instantly.

Someone who'd had all that done, and you'd never be able to detect any of it until they did something out of the ordinary.

[Deepcrush]

Of course things could go from being the utopia of robots you vision, to a blend like we see in CBT, to the absolute falling of 40k.

[stitch626]

After reading Facebook for a while, and reading this thread again, I realized a failing of cybernetics.

Until we can develop a true AI, we will still have morons on this planet (and I'm not talking the legitimate kind).

[Teaos]

And it depends on how invasive the surgury is. I'd do it if the cost and down time wasnt to bad. But if I was literally havng my chest ripped open and have a real chance of dying... not so much.

[McAvoy]

Like I said before, if you can enhance yourself, there will be people who will like to hang onto their Mk.1 stuff. There are people who keep tissue or even limbs after they are removed. I have no doubt most will allow their limb to be replaced if that limb is blown off or defective.

I also see new laws from people becoming too much like RoboCop. Where they become too powerful and might be threatening to society.

[Mikey]

Certainly there will be legislation against people that would pose a threat; more likely, as I mentioned, there would also be slightly less fair legislation proscribing classes of enhancements that are described as "mil-spec."

[IanKennedy]

How can this thread have gone on this long without this:


Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

[Mikey]

It just seemed too obvious.

[Sonic Glitch]

It just seemed too obvious.

Has that ever stopped us before?