But your question is whether it will happen and the reality is it already does.
The human augmentation sci-fi trend
- Thread starter Vexr
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But your question is whether it will happen and the reality is it already does.
Doesn't even need to be monitised.
The worlds 100 wealthiest families (Or even the worlds 10) could easily finance a full-throttle R&D program for genetic eugenics all for themselves out of loose change!
I didn't bring up ripping off arms nor did I start this thread...
I think we agree on the necessity of limb replacements when there are health issues. However, I find limb replacement procedures intended to provide raw physical strength advantages unlikely. They would be regulated like any potential weapon, banned on airplanes etc. so they would not be desirable. There are all sorts of machines that do heavy lifting in construction, you won't get a powerful synthetic arm to use as you see fit just like you can't run around wielding with a greatsword.
Well said.
General public are simply being used to research, develop and fund this crap. In the end it will be used against the public. Same as the internet. People need to wake up and resist this nonsense.
Also there's a MASSIVE difference between pacemakers and metal replacement bones and this superhuman augmentation crap. The current replacements are like for like, not intended for superhuman strengths but the same old misinformation trolls are spreading the same old crap maybe because they have shares in this crap or are a student looking for funding.
It makes having a **** a potentially rather dangerous activity that could lead to accidental castration.
They'll get stuck in every letterbox when attempting to push poo through them?
Well, you know how getting it done by someone else is always better? What if someone else is He-Man?
You think a letterbox is gonna stop RoboArm from retracting? If you like bangles then start a collection.
//the problem is that regardless of how strong the arm is, it's still limited by the body it's attached to. You're not exactly gonna lift a truck when you've got an 80kg counterweight.
Then I guess prison rules apply.
If you can do the arm you can do the rest of the skeleton, ants can lift many times their own bodyweight.
Well wolverine had had his entire skellington replaced with adamantium. Has he ever lifted a truck?
No. No he hasn't. So there.
Yeah, human biomechanics doesn't really seem to factor in sci fi.
It's all very well your arm having the strength to punch through a brick wall, but can your shoulder take the reaction force to that? Or your body balance the inertia of swinging it that hard?
It would have to be an exoskeleton.
Otherwise all the soft tissue between the truck being lifted and the internal augmented skeleton would be mashed to a pulp. Not a good look...
Unless of course you want full metal/synthetic arms, hands, legs, feet.
Deleted member 66701
Deleted member 66701
You know just wearing spectacles makes you an augmented human right?
Weelll.
I think by most peoples definition. (And certainly for the purposes of this thread) "Augmentation" represents a technological improvement over the standard issue design. Not just the means to correct a defect.
By that, Binoculars are an augmentation. However, Spectacles are not.
The technological singularity is said to be between 2030 and 2035, the point where AI surpasses the intelligence and complexity of the human brain. If (when?) that happens, it's a fairly steady climb to man<>machine really surely.
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it will be genetic enhancement.
"The singularity" is regarded by many as science fiction. It's pretty telling that those who put their faith in the singularity can often not even explain what exactly it is, or why it would come about. A common expression of this faith is the statement, "When computers get complex and fast enough, they will become sentient." Which is a statement of faith, because there is no evidence that a fast and complex system will spontaneously become sentient.
Anyway, another area where biological systems have a distinct advantage is size.
A single cell in (in theory, in future) be programmed to perform a function; but also to replicate! Making tiny, tiny self-replicating systems possible.
An electronic/mechanical system, by comparison, can't be made anywhere near as small. And self-replicating synthetic systems would have to be many, many times larger. Maybe factory sized
This is a good read
https://www.popsci.com/blog-network/zero-moment/end-ai-singularity-sci-fis-faith-based-initiative
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Those are two of the potential issues that are of course being considered by people working on artificial limbs. The obvious solution to the first is the one that's implemented - limit the strength of the artificial limb to an appropriate level. The sort of superhuman upgrades you envisage are a different thing that requires a different solution. More on that below. The issue of weight is more complex than it might first appear because in practice it's bordering on essential to make the artifical limb lighter than a human limb. For various reasons, artificial limbs are generally perceived by the wearer as being heavier than they are. That might not be the case if artificial limbs with complete sensory feedback are developed, but that's not going to be known for sure until such things exist. One thing that is known for sure is that even partial sensory feedback makes it possible for the wearer to easily incorporate the artifical limb into their proprioception, i.e. their mind perceives it as their limb and they are aware of its [EDIT: bah, I misused an apostrophe and that's embarrassing] positioning without having to look at it. Humans brains are quite adaptable.
For the superhuman strength thing, it seems that the best approached is a full on powered exoskeleton, essentially a personal tank. Think of the suit Ripley wears when fighting the alien queen or power armour in Fallout. You can't really attach superhuman strength to a body of human strength, for the reasons you stated.
I wouldn't be an early adopter, but I'd consider it when it became a mature, well understood technology. Which doesn't really apply as I'll be dead by then.
It's a step on the road, though.
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The other thing being the limits of (today's) materials. The Ripley suit is pretty massive, reinforced in order that it give enough strength to lift heavy munitions, etc.
Cut down the size and you cut down the strength. Cut it right down to the size of human prosthetics and you're limited by materials to relatively low levels of strength. Ie try to lift a bus and all you'll do is bend your nice new shiny arm
Cut down the size and you cut down the strength. Cut it right down to the size of human prosthetics and you're limited by materials to relatively low levels of strength. Ie try to lift a bus and all you'll do is bend your nice new shiny arm