Robot

Yo Mamma

Here's a question:

If, in the future, it becomes possible to begin to voluntarily add bionic and/or cybernetic parts to your brain and/or body, or replace parts of your brain and body... will you do it?

Before you imagine massive, armored, inhuman cyborgs... let's keep it to the kinds of things we could imagine appearing in the foreseeable future...

I doubt many heart patients in 2020 will refuse the small and powerful artificial heart they are sure to have by then.

I doubt many people who had lost a limb would say no to a new artificial one that worked well, cyber or not.

But what about artificial eyes? I doubt a blind man would say no to cameras for eyes... in fact we know that's already been done to a certain extent.

Penis... they've got that too.

Indeed, machines can already replace many of the organs we have in our bodies; and they will continue to get better at doing so.

So it seems we have already collectively accepted that our body parts can be replaced and we will go on and remain fundamentally 'ourselves'.

But what about the brain?

Follow the same process again...
I doubt Michael J Fox would say no to an artificial nano-implant in the brain that controlled his Parkinson's, you think? If it was safe and well-tested... who wouldn't say yes considering the alternatives?

How about adding mental "RAM" if that was available for Alzheimer's patients? A little hard storage their brain could access that they could use to store data like where they live, what their telephone number is, their children's names... etc. And as the technology got better... maybe they could recite their memories into it and not lose any more memory... eventually switching over to entirely digital memory. And at that point... couldn't that person simply be downloaded into a computer? Or transfered into an entirely robot body?

I mean, would it still be them? A sentient being that answers to their name, has all their behavior patterns and all their memories... wouldn't that still be them? And couldn't you just make a copy then? Or lots of copies?

My point is that this process is gradual and yet it IS occuring even now. It's quite possible that some of what I conjectured could come to pass. It seems pretty plausible, doesn't it? And what's right in front of us is usually what we adopt.

say in 2025 it costs the same to get your memory quadrupled as it does to get breast implants today and is reasonably safe...

who's gonna step up and be Johnny Mnemonic...?

additional resource -- i dare you to read this

][cEMAN**

Here's another thought......is it worth it?

I can see a stage where the populous will be going for all of the designer drugs and feel good easy options.

You want a better body? Go buy one. You wanna feel good? Her take this pill.

I think the drug aspect will be the more likely one though - you only have to look at such books as "Brave new world" to see the similarities which are already abundadnt now.

Same questions come into play. If you can replace limbs etc with artificial ones then why not biological ones. I mean they're already working on that now and have most body parts able to be duplicated. Goes back to having the ability to create a designer baby.

Now this then goes on to ask where does it stop? In "Brave new world" there were different classes harvested. I mean it's human nature to want to have more or be better than others. So then if we can create everyone equaly you think we will?

And if we DO design different classes then who gets to say who should be what class because in the end is it up to us to decide someone's fate?

I think 1 thing but doubt it will happen.........

I truely believe at the rate of evolution of the brains of humans and the greater amount of CONSCOIUS use of the brain we will at some point in the future become increadibly advanced creatures in posession of great mental power of logic and reason and as you see with ESP etc much more potential.

Our only obsticle will be ourselves and the fact that we may TRY to recreate our own bodies with artificial parts etc purely due to narcasism.

Look at such films as X-men and think of the background. We look at modern day "Comic Super Heroes" and think that this is fiction and that it would never happen. I believe it is possible but just not for a few thousand more years. The only way the comics make it realistic is to totaly disregard darwins theory and have a sudden JUMP in evolution.

Why not though? Super powers. I mean telepathy and psychokenesis are already posible in some people to varying degrees.

To have super strength is only an evolution away.

Heck even to fly.....I mean we ourselves work with energy - we live work and play using energy WE regulate and with ESP etc it's the ability to focus that energy. Why not evolve to a point where we can mnipulate energy to a point where we can fly etc.

I don't think this is science fiction as such excet that we won;t see it for a loooooong time, but does anybody else believe that we will reach it? I do.

Maybe i'm just crazy though

DeadBankClerk

But what about artificial eyes? I doubt a blind man would say no to cameras for eyes... in fact we know that's already been done to a certain extent.


i saw a program on this on disocvery last year. a blind man had an implant onto his optical nerves, that allowed him to judge distance from his glasses to what ever is ahead of the center of them.

Also on the same program they had a guy that had a prosthetic hand. they hooked it up to motors, controlled by his wrist. so when he moved his wrist one way his hand opened, and when he moved his wrist the other way it closed. it made me happy to see a man with no hand given an (almost) fully functional arm.

and...
they had a sprinter who lost his legs in a car crash. his prosthetic legs are "spring loaded" and he can now run faster than he could berfore he lost his legs. research is being done into externally powered legs, which will make athletes with prosthetic legs able to out run athletes with fully functional bodies.

freaky....

</food for flame>

][cEMAN**

Yeah but that's what I mean.

A blind man is not blind by choice. If it is beyond his control and he NEEDS this upgrade as such then yeah go for it - but if we start using them as an option to upgrade our own bodies then that's a bad idea as we will move further and further to the fully prosthetic body until we become our own thoughs outside of our own body

What i'm saying is that this would be a BAD idea as I really believe in the future we will evolve to a stage where our bodies won't need eyes and we won't need legs to run as we will basicaly become a force consisting of and in control of energy.

RopeDrink

I would hate to have my body altered by implants, attachments etc... If the worst came to the worst and the enhancement had the ability to save my life or whatnot then I would consider it, but as Ice said, what would be the point!?

Fair enough it may increase our abilities (Like the so called Ocular Implants etc) but, just like the body itself, these things have their faults and you would still run risks of suffering ghastly problems should such things screw up, and I don't think I'd like to have a malfunctional, metallic "Heart" inside me - More like a ticking timebomb...

The nearest thing we have to such things is a pace maker - If you're interesting in adding such devices to your body then go have a heart attack and apply for one...