Well, that’s not entirely true. There aren’t artificial limbs or organs that have greater functionality than the real deal, but there are some with different, useful functions. For instance, many people with hearing aids greatly appreciate the ability to turn down the volume at will. There are also special electrode sensor/computer systems that allow paralyzed people to control a cursor or even turn switches on and off just by thinking. [/qupote]**
True enough and while being able to reduce volume might be handy I wouldn’t qualify it as a “super power”. Also you can get the same result with parafin soaked cotton swabs stuck in your ear. You can use paraboli microphones to enhance hearing but again this hardly qualifies as a super-power.
Also true, but those flex limbs don’t offer much in the way of mobility other than on the circular track or in the hurdles. I wouln’t want to race someone with those prosthesis but I also wouln’t be too scared of getting a roundhouse or a boot to the ass from one either.
I do want to put in a plug here for my favorite fictional superhero, Exo-man. There’s a wonderfully cheesy movie from the 1970s I think, about a scientist who is shot and paralyzed from the waist down, he develops an exoskeleton to power his body and enable him to walk, and even gives him super strength…for a couple of hours at a time. Then put the exoskeleton back in the truck for a recharge.
I think the exoskeleton could confer someone mad-scientist type with super powers. Not the ability to stop bullets, but maybe the ability to leap tall buildings with a single bound. There only problem is that you’d have to be absolutely bent on suicide to try using these powers. At a very minimum, how careful would you have to be with arms and legs enhanced to a strength that you could tear your own body apart by accident?
We use a lot of technological gadgetry to give ourselves “superhuman” senses. Binoculars, microscopes, “night vision” using photomultipliers, infra-red imaging. And I read recently about a device using “adaptive optics” (a flexible mirror, originally designed as part of the Star Wars project for focusing laser weapons in an atmosphere, now used in optical astronomy to remove atmospheric distortions) to give vision which is perfectly in focus on all parts of the retina.
You may be able to build a visor or helmet which incorporates some or all of these. You could build in a computer which combines and prioritises the information, e.g. by colouring “hot” objects red on a monochrome image, or by emphasising moving objects by false colour. While you’re about it you may as well include a laser rangefinder/microphone so you can eavesdrop on any conversation near a window within your line of sight. (You could put a parabolic directional microphone on it as well, but that would be a bit cumbersome. Maybe just sound amplification would do.)
Apart from minaturisation and power supply, a big problem would be controlling the thing. You don’t really want to be fiddling with controls on the side of a visor. You want the control to be hands-free and instinctive.
E.g. focusing into the distance and raising your eyebrows could give you distance zoom, while focusing closely and frowning could give you close range zoom. Rapid double-blinks could toggle infrared on and off.
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned Alan Moore’s Watchmen yet. I’m guessing that the original poster enjoys superhero stories; if so, check it out. It’s an interesting look at a world where regular people decide to put on costumes and fight crime.
There’s some work being done on direct connections for special devices, which seems closer to super-powers than using a visor.
http://www.csbps.org/happen/implant.shtml talks about neural implants for blind people (OK, one blind person, but give them time). The implants could be connected to all sorts of sensors.
Similar electrodes can be used for control of external devices, like artificial limbs.
You can’t ever hope to be a super-hero until there’s a super-villain to fight. Then, necessity becomes the mother of invention and gadgets…
Soooo… wait until a disgruntled worker gets disfigured and disses the city, then a super-hero can rise to the occasion, and re-gruntle and rehab the reject.
I can’t help but think of a Navy SEAL desperately debugging his code while under fire.
“What is this?! There’s nothing wrong with my effing code! AARGH! Work dammit work!”
Now, as for supersoldiers and stuff, Ghost in the Shell (the manga series) has always impressed me. Almost impervious cyborg bodies that look exactly like ordinary humans, wow…
Personally I think that neural cybernetics is going to be a big thing in improving human combat abilities.
Information is the most important thing a special forces needs, and computers in your brain and spine can (hopefully) bring it to you much more efficiently and faster than any external devices.
