How do you define “need”? I would imagine that the flesh & blood parts of a cyborg would still require protection from the elements.
As for the Major in Ghost in the Shell, I assume that her “full body prosthetic” is designed to make her indistinguishable from a regular human (or at least as close as possible since you can tell from a drawn cartoon). That implies to me that while she wouldn’t “need” clothes for any environmental reasons, she’d probably need them just to fit in. Or until she doesn’t want them…which in GinS seems to be fairly frequently.
It’s a bit of an uncanny valley thing. You wouldn’t need clothes if you looked like a robot. But the more human you looked, the more you’d want them so as not to look like a weird walking talking mannequin.
Robocop didn’t wear clothes and he was a good guy! Though yeah, I see your point.
That’s a point and they might be more vulnerable than biological humans in some respects, machines can be difficult to protect from very low temperatures for example.
The cyborgs as depicted in GitS were somewhat odd, very human looking in most repects but apparently suffering from a varying degree of disconnection from their new bodies and the world. A great series though. I’m not sure how ‘cyborgisation’ like in GitS and Deus Ex would catch on, if you were generally young and healthy would you really want to replace perfectly good flesh and blood? If elderly, sick or injured then definitely.
That’s a good description. This conversation was actually sparked by a rather neat looking female cyborg centaur I came across* on Deviantart (trust me that’s downright normal compared to some things on that site), she was depicted as having a completely artificial exterior but with nothing really objectionable showing (breasts but no nipples for example) and sans clothes. I was wondering how that would fly in the real world.
*no, as unfortunate as that use of words is I’m not changing it!
Actually, RoboCop proves my point. He was not built to be a guy with prosthetics, he was built to be a tool, subservient to his programming.
An example of where they could have done this better is the Mech Troopers from the new XCOM expansion. They do have their original torso, but they’re always wearing a carapace over that. It would have been more interesting if they still felt like they needed to wear their usual fatigues while off duty even though the carapace already covers everything.
IIRC, there were varying degrees of cyborgs ranging from no implants at all (100% human) to human with some prosthetics or implants to fully cybernetic bodies with (presumably) human brains like the Major to full-on robots.
A major theme of the series and films was the nature of being “human”, memories, and reality when those things can be hacked, copied or uploaded. Major Kusanagi spent a lot of time pondering whether she was even human at all or if her memories and whatnot were simply implanted.
And, at least in the graphic novel, some of the human-brained cyborgs even ditched the humanoid form factor for a box-on-wheels design. Generally the humanoid full-cyborgs and droids were depicted (and explained in text and in Shirow’s near-interminable annotations and marginalia) as simulating bare flesh, with the most sensitive elements being quasibiologically “grown”. But, Shirow’s work also often features use of a “film” technology that sticks like a second skin for purposes of interface or camouflage (and in his poster art he shows that layer follows every fold and crevice, oh yes…). Humanoids are dressed for the ocassion (though often scantily) and boxes are not.
In the GitS GN it is mentioned that the top-of-the-line full replacement available to the elites involves not just the greater physical prowess but highly enhanced experiential capabilities: “enjoy ten times more pleasures in life than the ordinary person and take her pick of them”.
I think you just answered your own question. If the cybernetic parts enhanced capabilities (like the Bionic Man/Woman) or extended lifespan, people would certainly desire them. Especially if they were indistinguishable from natural human parts (assuming a consistent standard of aesthetics).
Probably less desirable if they made you look like Robocop.
What was the deal with Robocop anyway? Why was it necessary to implant a human jaw into a machine?
I haven’t read the graphic novel but I thought the ‘box-on-wheels’ was a first-generation design and although one character still uses it he’s very much an eccentric (ie: people wouldn’t use it through choice), even the Major has had a series of increasingly advanced designs through her life (although doesn’t she get a little spooked at one point by seeing another person with the same cyborg body as herself)
They also seem able to place the human brain into distinctly non-human forms, such as the tank that was commandeered by the sick scientist after his human body died.
Although you’re correct I don’t think its depicted as being an uncontestably better body, even the advanced designs are shown as having at least some trouble (a female cyborg police officer makes mild complaints about it) with their new bodies, they’re a lot heavier than human bodies, they can’t process normal human food and they require regular maintenance.
I wonder if the cyborg bodies are available as a form of treatment, mentioning the female cyborg officer above, it would be the perfect solution for someone with gender-identity-disorder, an almost fully functional new body of the desired gender.
Its really the topic for another thread but if the financial means were available would you swap your current human body for a GitS style advanced model?
True, and the latter would probably be the most disturbing part, if the human mind can be copied, recorded, digitised etc then it opens up all sorts of possibilities, not all of them positive.
I got the impression that Robocop/Murphy’s head was his originally human skull with metal plating over it and an artificial skin over that. When his wife touches his face in the second movie she says that its cold.
I think what was left of him was his head, brain, spinal column and some organs, the machine was built around that, it wasn’t a simple brain transplant as occurred to the bad guy in Robocop 2 (a movie that isn’t as bad as people say).
