Thread title says it all. We’ve already got some fairly sophisticated prosthetics that allow for modest restoration of some lost physical capabilities. The future inevitably holds improvements on these technologies, the interface between these prosthetics and the human central nervous system, and, ultimately, we may be able to restore some lost mental functioning as well.
It’s natural to extrapolate we might be able to not only repair, but enhance, some day. IOW, a perfectly healthy person could be given better hearing, vision, perhaps even memory or computational power. We might have the option to have synthetic parts grafted onto our bodies that make them “better than [we] were before, stronger, faster”, as well as even smarter.
Would you opt for such enhancements, if you could afford them? Would you only do so if they were superficially unrecognizable? Yes or no, why do you feel that way?
Even if it was quite obvious, I would not wind having an extendable arm that would support the whole of my body weight, and which I could use to swing from. The NES taught me how usefull that would be.
Sheesh. I think I need to step away from the desk for a while. I read that as “We’ve already got some fairly sophisticated prostitutes…” Bionic Prostitutes!
As for being bionic, I would accept it if there was no other way for me to live/function. I can’t see having it done as an elective procedure just for the heck of it. I would view it similar to today’s plastic surgery craze.
Absolutely. I’d have to, if only to find out what it’s like. If only as a sociological experiment. If only to look really cool at science fiction conventions. There’s just no way I could say no.
Why on Earth not? What’s the drawbacks? I’m assuming the technology will advance to the point that everything I do bionically won’t be accompanied by “neeneeneenee” sounds and look slow-motion.
Unless somebody comes up with a reason why meat is better, seems like a no-brainer, if you have the money to burn.
Well, one very simple reason I could think of for “not” would be that the prosthetic might change your appearance. So does it have to mesh perfectly with your human form?
But I don’t want to bias the results of the survey too much!
I’ve thought about this question myself. The debate I go through is where does the mind end in the flesh? Replacing legs with mechanized limbs capable of 60mph running speeds seems like a no brainer… but… what about augmenting your brain with a device that replaces dying brain cells with nanobots that do the same job?
I’ve read studies on the human heart claiming it gives off more electrical impulses than the brain. The digestive system gives you that “gut feeling.” Being that we have such little understanding of conciousness, I wonder what effects “going bionic” would have the mind.
Uh, and because this is a servey… I’d sure love to have a prehensile tail, bionic or geneticly grown onto my ass.
Myself, I’d love a new bionic spine – one that’s free of arthritis, thank you. And maybe a bionic intestine that is not subject to bouts of colitis. I think I have a while to wait.
Everything else, I don’t see a point to it, beyond basic improvements to fix illnesses/defects. I can use motorcycles to go 60 MPH, etc. However, if the bionic body prolonged life significantly, and equivalent biological medicine didn’t prolong life nearly as much, I might reconsider.
Certainly, if I could afford the maintainence and fuel I’d have as much of my body replaced as possible. Ideally, I’d have at least two bodies. One would be a large, armored unit designed for maximum durability and function, without regard for appearances. That’s where I’d keep my brain/central processor. The other(s) would be human looking, and remote controlled. I’d normally park my primary body somewhere and live through my humanoid ones, but use my primary when performance is more importance than looking normal.
If bionics could make me smarter, stronger, faster, more agile, more perceptive, more durable, and/or longer-lived, I’d jump at the chance to use them. I’d get as many augmentations as physically possible.
Well, I’m nearsighted and would love to get Lasik someday, but it’s too costly for me right now. If there were a different, cybernetic treatment to correct vision, I’d say yes, I’d get it.
If there were something available to make hearing better than average (my hearing is normal), I wouldn’t bother. Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke.
This is such an easy choice I feel like there’s some catch you’re not telling us about. Is my bionic body liable to take on a life of it’s own and start shooting everyone up like Yul Brenner in Westworld? Will I short circuit if I get damp? Cause otherswise OF COURSE I’ll take bionic improvements! I really don’t care if it is all creepy glittery silver. It’ll just be a look.
I wouldn’t be opposed to it, on moral or ethical or emotional grounds, or anything. However, a lot of it probably just wouldn’t be worth the trouble or expense for me. (How often would I really need to use superhuman strength, especially if I’m not the only person in the world to have it. Or even one of the few to have it.)
Mental augmentation, however, I’d probably be game for. As long as it was just augmenting, not replacing, my existing brain. (I’m not going to have my mind “scanned” and recreated on software. Until I see some really convincing evidence to the contrary, my meat brain contains the closest thing to a “soul” I have. Anything else would just be a copy.)
Of course, I’d also wait to make sure all the bugs were worked out before doing it myself. (So I wouldn’t end up lobotomized, or insane, or assimilated, or something.) Once all that’s taken care of, I’d be more than happy to have wireless high-speed access to the internet and my computer, and a coprocessor or two.
Of course, knowing me, I’d probably take to the above so well that I’d eventually just go “Cyberbrain Autistic” and escape into Nerdvana, shutting out all contact with the “real” world until I eventually died. But then again, at that point, that’d all be fine with me.
I wouldn’t be opposed to it in concept, but what about the upgrades? Would this technology move and change as fast as we’re seeing now in say, the computer field? I’d hate to shell out major bucks for something fantastic only to find out that it’s obsolete in eight months, and totally unsupported in three years.
In fact, I’m kind of waiting on the LASIK and type eye fixes to come down in price before I take that plunge. The technology keeps getting better and cheaper; at what point do I say, “That’s good enough”? I bet I would be even worse with a bionic eye, even if I had a nice spotting scope with a rangefinder implanted in it. I’d keep waiting for the next improvement, and putting it off indefinitely.
I’m just waiting for bionic eyes. Soon as they’re feasible, break out the melonballer and gimme a new pair! The ones I got don’t work for shit. I’d really like ones that have built-in cameras, so you just have to look at something and <click> you got a photo or video of it. Also, I want a direct neural computer interface. Fuck all this video card shit, plug that computer directly into the back of my skull and let my visual cortext do all the graphics work.
Hearing. I have a minor loss in the upper ranges, which has been replaced by a continuous hiss/ringing. I’d fix that if I could.
Thumbs and fingers. My thumbs and a few fingers are worn out, and there are a few things I can’t do without a lot of pain. Prosthetic hands are pretty primitive at this point, but if they advanced to the point that I could play the guitar again and carve again, I’d do it.
Eyes. My eye doctor tells me I have the beginning of cataracts. The current fix for this is implantation of artificial lenses, and I’ll probably have it done eventually.
