Artificial Body Parts Superior to Natural Ones

[Kalyyn]

Do we need pain in artificial limbs? I'd say no. What's the worst that can happen? If you ruin the bionic, you can replace it. Walk through all the fire you want, all you're losing is money.

[Deleted]

Well, we do need some sensation in it, like feeling if something is hot or cold, mechanical failures on external body parts could be easily indicated aswell but what about internal ones?
Like a mechanical lung or heart. They will have to have some backup systems just incase of failure, but you have to be notified about something like that pretty much right away.

[Herecius]

I support artificial limb and sensory replacement. I support it so hard. I want to know where technology can take us.

[Saphyron]

i'm alright to this so long as they keep them away from wireless interaction, I would hate to start reading articles about folks limbs/organs getting hacked.

ghost in the shell ^_^

[Eats Compost]

I'm not sure that machinery fine enough to replicate organic movement would ever be cheap enough to be in widespread use. Worst-case scenario, it could end up being a class thing that only the wealthy or outright rich could afford. I'd imagine that upper classes being physically superior wouldn't do much to shrink wealth gaps, either.

[Dedweight]

Well if it makes you feel better, soldiers are currently given prosthetic limbs and then asked if they want to be redeployed, not the other way around.

Not to mention a Psych Evaluation to make sure their mentally capable of going back, not like they would give them a prosthetic and just toss them back out to the front lines.

That said I'd be fine with this to an extent, I mean we already have artificial hearts and I've heard stories of us being close to having functional prosthetic eyes, so I can only imagine bionic limbs on the level of Deus Ex being not too far off.

[Threshold10]

I would gladly get artificial organ and limb replacements if they performed better then what I have. The biggest interest I have is will it be possible to replicate the human brain?

[Romeo83x]

Well, one thing that modern engineering can do and mother nature can't would be omnidirectional limbs. You can only move your arms and legs in a fixed direction and range of motion because of the joint construction. A mechanical limb would have a full 360 degree range of motion without any limitations.

[Deleted]

That said I'd be fine with this to an extent, I mean we already have artificial hearts and I've heard stories of us being close to having functional prosthetic eyes, so I can only imagine bionic limbs on the level of Deus Ex being not too far off.

Well, I haven't seen or heard of any actualy functional prosthetic eyes, there is some device that they can implant into the eye that helps with age related blindness.

And yeah, wish we were closer to being able to replicate the brain, but it should be interesting to see if we can develop an actual self aware AI or replicate our brain first, though, those 2 things are very closely related.

[Deleted]

Hello, I'm putting together a presentation on the advancement of artificial body part technology and what possible effects it could have when we develop and can create body parts that are better than what humans naturaly have, and I'd love to hear some opinions on it.

It most likely is gona have a huge effect on the job market when it becomes affordable to the middle class, "augmented" humans being able to preform the same jobs better than regular humans. Why would a business hire a normal human when the other one can preform the same job better and for the same money? Might even see businesses hiring only people with a specific upgrade. Of course not everyone is going to be willing or have the money to replace their perfectly fine, natural body parts with artificial ones and this will segregate them from the people who do.
Unemployment would just get worse, with even more people on welfare the economy would get worse and might just go spiralling out of control.

Personaly I don't see goverments being able to properly regulate such things, as they usualy screw things up. We also shouldn't outlaw such research, standing in the way of science is never good, technology isn't inherently good or bad, it just depends on how we use it.
Not to mention all the people who lost limbs or body parts for whatever reason, blind and deaf people, we don't have the right to deny them proper replacements just because we are afraid what might happen, do we?

And yes, i got the inspiration from Deux Ex. :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGzpzlvf0Gs The live action trailer sums it all up pretty nicely.

Robotic arms and legs are already available. The most recent arm ones are actually controlled by aligning them to your own nervs, making them controlled by your brains nervsignals. The leg ones are automated in a way, the leg is "smart" and recognizes when it needs to bend the knee and so on, to help you move it. I read a long article about it in a swedish science magazine called Illustrerad Vetenskap (illustrated science). I think the article was called "The bionic body".
Artificial limbs can even create a sense of touch.

But they are not so good as to replace a fully healthy bodypart, they are only replacements for lost limbs. I'm unsure wether or not we'll actually come so far as to make mechanical limbs that could be superior to real ones, because as we all know, all things mechanical require maintenance. And technology this advanced probably needs to be replaced. Your real arms last your entire life, while a mechanical arm might have to be switched and maintained many many times.

---------- Post added 2012-11-10 at 08:24 AM ----------

Well, I haven't seen or heard of any actualy functional prosthetic eyes, there is some device that they can implant into the eye that helps with age related blindness.

And yeah, wish we were closer to being able to replicate the brain, but it should be interesting to see if we can develop an actual self aware AI or replicate our brain first, though, those 2 things are very closely related.

The way with eyes is not to make prosthetics, but to regenerate your own ones through stem cells. Stem cells are what I see will be the treatment to our more advanced organs, like eyes, brains, nervs, muscles, skin and so on if they're damaged in some way.

[Deleted]

Then it's pretty much just a question of money and willingness. If you're willing to pay for the rest of your life for maintanance and upgrades when necessary to be able to walk faster, see better and whatever else. Also, prostethic eyes that would enable you to just zoom in on things, take pictures, wouldn't degrade like biological ones as long as it doesn't malfunction and whatever else. I know I'd love something like that and would get one in a heartbeat if possible. :P

[Grummgug]

I want an artificial liver. One you can turn up and down. Like if you wanna get drunk cheaply then you just turn it down and it breaks down alcohol more slowly. Or if you need to sober up to take the care home you just turn it all the way up and wait 15 minutes.

Why not just develop a system where you throw a switch and you are drunk. Then reverse it and you are sober. Seems a lot simpler than even messing with actual alcohol to begin with.

[LilSaihah]

I wonder how long it'll be before synthetic spines/discs can be created and feasibly installed. If you can replace the spinal cord, you can replace anything, not to mention the obvious implications for spinal injuries.

I eagerly await installing wheels in my feet so I can cruise around without walking.

[dense]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HofoK_QQxGc

Had to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuMa854gXuk

had to too

[Deleted]

Why would a business hire a normal human when the other one can preform the same job better and for the same money?

Technically, I would hope this falls in the same category as racism. It's discrimination towards unaltered humans.

---------- Post added 2012-11-10 at 02:57 PM ----------

If you can replace the spinal cord, you can replace anything

Well, you're close, but I think the brain is more difficult to replace than the spinal cord.

[Elim Garak]

Technically, I would hope this falls in the same category as racism. It's discrimination towards unaltered humans.

No. Augmented guy is really better. So that's not discrimination.

[StayTuned]

No. Augmented guy is really better. So that's not discrimination.

Agreed. I don't see it as racism if the difference is a fact. I'd like to be augmented... Skin on the outside, mecha muscles underneath.

Benching 300 kilos? Running 24 hours? NP

I'd drink oil if I had to for something like this.

[Deleted]

No. Augmented guy is really better. So that's not discrimination.

Exactly, how could we solve this? Simply putting quotas on how many unaltered humans a business must hire doesn't actualy fix anything, it just puts a band-aid on the problem. Businesses will obviously hire the guy who would make them more money, that's just how capitalism is.

[Deleted]

Ridiculous concept. Even if human augmentation was possible, imagine the bills for maintenance of the non-organic parts, the trips to the shop every now and then. AND FOR FUCKING WHAT ?! So you can lift 100 kilos or run faster ?!

[Elim Garak]

Exactly, how could we solve this? Simply putting quotas on how many unaltered humans a business must hire doesn't actualy fix anything, it just puts a band-aid on the problem. Businesses will obviously hire the guy who would make them more money, that's just how capitalism is.

There's plenty of work for non-augments. Elsewhere.