OT: Hardware-to-Organism Interfaces (h2oi)

dmm · #1 February 6th, 2004, 11:47 PM

Geez, everyone always brings up the Borg. The main problem with the Borg wasn't their bioelectronic interfacing, rather it was forced integration into a collective with loss of individuality. (Ed: Sort-of like high school.) Mutilating healthy bodies to allow for implants just emphasized their lack of feeling (not to mention aesthetics).

But if I had NO eyes, then I'd gladly take an implant (e.g., Jordi LaForge). Same with no arm -- prefer to have my own arm sewn back on, even with some loss of function, thanks anyway -- but if that's not possible then I'd take a Borgish arm over nothing. Well, OK, maybe not that drill thing! But how about one of those android bodies that Harry Mudd was going to get? (OK, now I'm drifting off into total fantasy.)

The point is: prosthetics =/ borg

[ February 06, 2004, 21:49: Message edited by: dmm ]

narf poit chez BOOM · #2 February 7th, 2004, 06:53 AM

i know, but it has the potential. and someone has to bring up the problems, just to make sure we aren't doing lemming imitations.

geoschmo · #3 June 15th, 2004, 08:59 PM

New developments in this area...
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/fun.gam...eut/index.html

Grandpa Kim · #4 June 15th, 2004, 09:24 PM

The first one that occurred to me regards eyesight.

How about an artificial lens implanted in the eye. Take out the organic lens, connect the new one to the muscles and it should work as is.

A step further, small camera in place of the eye. This would need muscle and nerve connections to work the way we want it to.

EaX · #5 June 15th, 2004, 09:27 PM

As DMM said the first thing that came up was the borgs, but i think it can be usefull as long we don't end as the borgs

jajaj

Gandalf Parker · #6 June 15th, 2004, 10:09 PM

The problem I see (as a 16 hour a day Internet worker) would be the dangers from the temptations involved with direct neural feeds. Sure Id love to talk around and do my internet job, but Id probably just veg out on the couch and later the bed. Eventually the machines would have to feed me. Eventually they may have to get power from me to keep taking care of me to keep me in the virtual world... seeing the path? I always said the Matrix didnt have to be forced on people, it would have made alot of sense if they had said we went to it voluntarily.

I never did think the BORG was realistic. The idea of pursuing perfection by putting more and more people into a collective mind. I have internet. I can SEE that doesnt work.

[ June 15, 2004, 21:11: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

Deth B0y · #7 June 15th, 2004, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
Eventually the machines would have to feed me. Eventually they may have to get power from me to keep taking care of me to keep me in the virtual world... seeing the path? I always said the Matrix didnt have to be forced on people, it would have made alot of sense if they had said we went to it voluntarily.

And what, as they say, is wrong with that?

Although my own belief structure is centered around being actually uploaded into a machine, i see nothing at all wrong with relying on machines to keep us alive.

They have kept us alive for millenia, after all - from the first time one of our ancestors picked up a stick and whacked one of his enemies half way across the clearing with a skull fracture, we've relied on machines to keep us going, and just not realized it.

Alot of people talk about us becoming cyborgs or such as if it's some sci-fi concept. But we've been cyborgs for our entire history as a species; when it was cold we wore fur. When we had to travel great distances we invented cars and trains and ships and planes. We're already cyborgs, we just need to take the next bold step of getting the technology implanted within us, instead of laying around outside of us.

Though i'm not fond of the matrix, i must also bring up a truth that it revealed: if it tastes like a steak, smells like a steak, looks like a steak, and behaves just like a steak: it's a steak, man. Imagine if no one went hungry, or ever felt sick, or ever got tired. It's impossible in the flesh world - but it's possible in a digital one. That's a big part of why i push so hard for it as a transhumanist.