- Posts: 1069
- Thank you received: 400
×
Bugs: Recent Topics Paging, Uploading Images & Preview (11 Dec 2020)
Recent Topics paging, uploading images and preview bugs require a patch which has not yet been released.
Cyborgs
29 Dec 2014 19:50 #193540
by bomber
I've been annoying people for a long time. OK, that sentence can stand on its own haha. But specifically I've been telling people that I hope to live long enough to see a world where prosthetic arms and legs are available en masse to people as upgrades or fixes against old age. Of course, one part of me wants to grow old, wear a dirty old mac and flash at young cashiers while stealing boiled sweets and resisting arrest, but the other half dearly wants to be some codgery old fucker with robocop style limbs running round causing even more trouble (still pissing himself in public). I used to have long conversations with people about where the line is between person and machine, and where you could go removing stuff and still think of someone as a person. LImbs are often missing by accident or injury so clearly you can lop those fuckers off and presumably replace them, in fact I saw an article that this year some dude got 2 arms that he has some control over by thought. But then how much more can you take away. Could you get to just the head at some point in the future, but then what about just a brain, connected to shit. Is it still a person if it can't experience anything via the normal senses? These conversations were always part Karl Pilkington and part Arthur C Clarke. Like, I find it genuinely interesting, even though the reality is this is never going to be available to the plebs at reasonable cost and I'm sure there are many technical reasons why you have to stop before its just a brain in a fishtank. But artificial hearts work, blood just carries oxygen to the brain, so who knows, why not?
anyway I saw this
io9.com/5828294/machine-man-is-the-cybor...uve-been-waiting-for
seems to be along similar lines, won't be surprised if the twist (hinted at the bottom and mentioning a possible film) is getting to a point where you're like, stick my brain in a tank, no more standing round in bus queues taking shit for me, but the point of this interminably long and nonsensical post is this
Anyone know any good cyborg books that specifically explore the development of the period between man / prosthetics and some extrapolated--ad-absurdum end point as discussed above. A lot of the classic sci fi I've read focus more on the "after cyborgs are around", I suppose "Man Plus" (which was great) focussed more on the protagonists struggle with his new reality.
But feel free to share if you've got any pearlers you want to recommend
anyway I saw this
io9.com/5828294/machine-man-is-the-cybor...uve-been-waiting-for
seems to be along similar lines, won't be surprised if the twist (hinted at the bottom and mentioning a possible film) is getting to a point where you're like, stick my brain in a tank, no more standing round in bus queues taking shit for me, but the point of this interminably long and nonsensical post is this
Anyone know any good cyborg books that specifically explore the development of the period between man / prosthetics and some extrapolated--ad-absurdum end point as discussed above. A lot of the classic sci fi I've read focus more on the "after cyborgs are around", I suppose "Man Plus" (which was great) focussed more on the protagonists struggle with his new reality.
But feel free to share if you've got any pearlers you want to recommend
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
29 Dec 2014 20:07 #193541
by Sevej
Replied by Sevej on topic Re: Cyborgs
Well no books, but Deus Ex Human Revolution is awesome on this front.
For "after cyborgs are around", my pick would be Battle Angel Alita (Gunnm) manga, which is incredible.
For "after cyborgs are around", my pick would be Battle Angel Alita (Gunnm) manga, which is incredible.
Warning: Spoiler!
The manga starts out as a standard sci-fi action manga. There are mainly two society, one in Scrap Town and another in Tiphares, a floating city hanging on orbital anchor. There's a lot of cyborgs in Scrap Town. Basically if you're killed/in an accident, some scrummy doctor may operate you to cyborg without your consent and you'll be in debt. People were considered dead when they're brain's destroyed. The people in Tiphares was pure human. But near the end of the manga it's uncovered that Tiphares people had their brain removed and replaced by a chip to maintain "stability". A nut professor (who is also the main villain and also a Tipharean) simply brush it off saying, "I think therefore I am. I guess that brings little comfort." Awesome manga.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
29 Dec 2014 20:08 #193542
by Not Sure
Replied by Not Sure on topic Re: Cyborgs
Machine Man is a great book. I recommend anything by Max Barry.
There's quite a bit of what you're talking about in the book, people becoming accustomed to voluntary replacements, and even creating a market for them.
There's quite a bit of what you're talking about in the book, people becoming accustomed to voluntary replacements, and even creating a market for them.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Cranberries
- Offline
- D10
- Don't give up.
Less
More
- Posts: 3082
- Thank you received: 2371
29 Dec 2014 22:15 #193547
by Cranberries
Replied by Cranberries on topic Re: Cyborgs
Thinking about Man Plus still makes me cross my legs.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
Moderators: Gary Sax
Time to create page: 0.110 seconds