How do you feel about human augmentation?

[Crazy Eddie]

This includes artificial limbs, organs or prosthetics that enable people to live a somewhat normal life under ideal circumstances.

How do you feel about the whole notion of artificial parts for the human body that allow it to have functions that were once lost again, or enhance functions that are damaged?

Same way I feel about eyeglasses and contact lenses, dentures, glass eyes, wheelchairs, knee replacement surgery, heart transplants (or artificial hearts), kidney dialysis, hair plugs, wigs, prosthetic arms and legs and hearing aids, or any of the other things we already have available to us.

That is, I'm fine with it as long as it doesn't hurt. If it hurts, then I only use it if I need it to survive (but still not fine with it).

 

[Tenacity]

Would have come in handy when the 16th President was hunting vampires.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I don't see why people object strongly to this idea.

Me neither, to be honest. A driver's license is effectively a national ID anyway.

As for augmentation: The basic thrust of my gist is, I have no problem with it as long as it's optional. That includes all this transhumanist stuff. If people want to go all or upload their minds into a computer or whatever, then (as long as they don't go all Skynet on our ass) meh.

And I definitely have no problem with any of these things..

eyeglasses and contact lenses, dentures, glass eyes, wheelchairs, knee replacement surgery, heart transplants (or artificial hearts), kidney dialysis, hair plugs, wigs, prosthetic arms and legs and hearing aids, or any of the other things we already have available to us.

... because in many cases, such as replacement organs or limbs, they're necessary for survival.

I doubt Khan was a megalomaniac because he was augmented

Khan and his ilk were literally designed to seek power. They can't NOT rule. I'm sure you've heard the phrase "superior ability breeds superior ambition"? Given this, I can entirely understand the Federation's ban on genetic engineering.

I mean, what do you think would have happened if the Augments had WON the Eugenics Wars? Genetic engineering would be required for all, and nobody would be able to "opt out". That sound like the kind of world you want to live in?

(Also see Gattaca for another very likely result from all this.)

 

[Spot261]

I'd say by the popularity of anabolic steroids there's be a market for people wanting to enhance themselves

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I'd say by the popularity of anabolic steroids there's be a market for people wanting to enhance themselves

Yes Russian Athletes for one

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

(Also see Gattaca for another very likely result from all this.)

Gattaca is a very sobering tale in this respect. Not a very pleasant world at all.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Would have come in handy when the 16th President was hunting vampires.

I'm the only person that likes that movie. Wanted a sequel.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Yes Russian Athletes for one

And even American ones! No one is safe.

I'm the only person that likes that movie. Wanted a sequel.

Yeah, Abe Lincoln: Terminator really was an underrated entry in the franchise.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

And even American ones! No one is safe.


Yeah, Abe Lincoln: Terminator really was an underrated entry in the franchise.

No the actual movie Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. The way it ended was sequel bait. I just want that sequel to happen. Alas the movie was a flop.

 

[bbjeg]

If there was a market for self enhancements, I'd wait until the third or fourth version. I wouldn't want to beta test a new set of eyes. If I lost an arm on the other hand (heh), I'd totally replace it. I'd go all out and get a Terminator lookalike arm.

I wouldn't however upgrade my brain.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

If there was a market for self enhancements, I'd wait until the third or fourth version. I wouldn't want to beta test a new set of eyes. If I lost an arm on the other hand (heh), I'd totally replace it. I'd go all out and get a Terminator lookalike arm.

I wouldn't however upgrade my brain.

I doubt in this lifetime we'd ever get to the stage of even tampering long term with the brain or enhancing / replacing it. That might not ever happen.

 

[PurpleBuddha]

Or it might happen 20 years from now.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Or it might happen 20 years from now.

That is rather optimistic.

 

[bbjeg]

At one point the earth was flat, they said we'd never fly, they said we'd never reach space, or how Trump was a horrible sack of crap that would never be president, and they were all wrong.... well, Trump is a horrible sack of crap, but never say never. Someone in the 19th century could never fathom the internet. Imagine what will exist a century from now.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

At one point the earth was flat, they said we'd never fly, they said we'd never reach space, or how Trump was a horrible sack of crap that would never be president, and they were all wrong.... well, Trump is a horrible sack of crap, but never say never. Someone in the 19th century could never fathom the internet. Imagine what will exist a century from now.

OK point taken.

 

[psCargile]

I wouldn't however upgrade my brain.

Brain enhancements would give everyone with them a strategic advantage over everyone that doesn't. You would eventually have to get one to be on the same playing field, or be like the people nowadays without direct deposit , debit cards, cellphones, and internet access.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Brain enhancements would give everyone with them a strategic advantage over everyone that doesn't. You would eventually have to get one to be on the same playing field, or be like the people nowadays without direct deposit , debit cards, cellphones, and internet access.

I'd be worried with things like that, brain upgrade, what's to stop nefarious people from hacking brains, and taking control of other people?

 

[psCargile]

Nothing. Same thing that stops people from online shopping.

 

[Markonian]

I mean, what do you think would have happened if the Augments had WON the Eugenics Wars? Genetic engineering would be required for all, and nobody would be able to "opt out". That sound like the kind of world you want to live in?

(Also see Gattaca for another very likely result from all this.)

Ask Princeps Julian Bashir and Helot Ezri Dax of the Khanate warship Defiance. (Star Trek: Myriad Universes novel Seeds of Dissent)

 

[psCargile]

To further explain: Norton protects my laptop and phone, Lifelock protects my identity, and my credit union has been damn good about protecting my account. There are countermeasures in this battle.

Inspired by technology presented in Ghost in the Shell, the fiction I've been working on since 2008 has people with symbiotic, nanotech computronium within their bodies, something I call a "weave", and what Elon Musk recently envisioned as a "neural lace", that is essentially all our devices and social media (and more) in your head. Of course, a person has to have ways to protect themselves against hacking and malware.

If it can be done, it will be done.