I'm down to the end of the new book I'm working on. The only section I have left, besides some heavy editing, is the cybernetics section.
Statistically, I pretty much know what kind of bonuses I'm planning on letting cybernetic characters get. I'm not much looking for opinions on rules or powers...
But in the last game I finished I had a cybernetics section, but I don't really want to use it. I knew when I wrote it that it was really similar to other RPGs and was way too heavily influenced by 80's pop images of cyborgs.
What I'm looking for is some information on where people think cybernetics is going and maybe even what modern writers are doing with it. I've found some websites talking about what some modern companies are working on, and some goofy websites about the future of artificial brains and utility fog / nanites, which I might use...
I'm also trying to stay as far away from nanites as possible. I don't think that the technology is ever going to work the way it does in cartoons and putting it in the rules opens up a can of worms so thick you almost have to make the game about them.
Any advice?
There was a bit in the Iain Banks novel I just finished where a Ship Mind implants a neural lace 'seed' in the mind of the protagonist. The seed grows into a fully functioning Neural lace.
So the concept would be that cyborg tech is implanted in a seed state that 'grows' into an integrated cyborg component.
It's a bit different, it kind of equates cyborg tech to stem cells and the tech grows and develops along pre-programmed lines. The idea of a quasi-organic tech being integrated into an organic being kind of gels.
Quote from: jibbajibba;448187There was a bit in the Iain Banks novel I just finished where a Ship Mind implants a neural lace 'seed' in the mind of the protagonist. The seed grows into a fully functioning Neural lace.
So the concept would be that cyborg tech is implanted in a seed state that 'grows' into an integrated cyborg component.
It's a bit different, it kind of equates cyborg tech to stem cells and the tech grows and develops along pre-programmed lines. The idea of a quasi-organic tech being integrated into an organic being kind of gels.
I guess that would make it more comfortable. I always wondered how they explain people getting stronger / taller / fatter after they get some kind of implant that goes through their tissue. That kind of thing is normally pretty painful.
So what is a neural lace?
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-02/talk-hand-new-interface-bionic-limbs
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-04/nerve-hacking-restores-movement-paralyzed-limbs
Quote from: Sigmund;448220http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-02/talk-hand-new-interface-bionic-limbs
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-04/nerve-hacking-restores-movement-paralyzed-limbs
Thank you sir.
np. I find reality pretty dang amazing without even looking for fictional sources. A little extrapolation and you've got a pretty amazing vision of cybernetics that is perfectly plausible.
Yeah, I hadn't read up on this stuff.
I've actually softened up a lot on the idea of nanomachines sense I started writing this chapter. I'm staying far the fuck away from the idea of them breaking down any molecule or atom and making other objects, or forming a fog in the air that can lift things, or any of that other goofy shit, but I have written up some extrapolations of their medical uses and a few other things.
A lot of it is really neat, the real stuff that is.
One thing to bear in mind right now is that most real cybernetics are prosthetics and life-extension devices.
Retirees have more technology crammed into their bodies than the most jargon-spouting cyber-rent boy. Pacemakers, artificial hips and joints, catheters, artificial feeding and breathing devices, mobility devices, and insulin pumps are all common kinds, but last I heard they were beginning to do experiments involving electrical stimulation of the brain to prevent certain degenerative diseases (I don't know if that ended up going anywhere, IANANeuroscientist).
The other big advances are being made for the physically disabled, and are going along similar lines. This field is exploding right now (pardon the pun) as more American soldiers are crippled in the various wars. I'm sure there's a purchasing committee somewhere already evaluating the next generation of artificial legs and arms for VA hospitals.
Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;448278One thing to bear in mind right now is that most real cybernetics are prosthetics and life-extension devices.
Retirees have more technology crammed into their bodies than the most jargon-spouting cyber-rent boy. Pacemakers, artificial hips and joints, catheters, artificial feeding and breathing devices, mobility devices, and insulin pumps are all common kinds, but last I heard they were beginning to do experiments involving electrical stimulation of the brain to prevent certain degenerative diseases (I don't know if that ended up going anywhere, IANANeuroscientist).
The other big advances are being made for the physically disabled, and are going along similar lines. This field is exploding right now (pardon the pun) as more American soldiers are crippled in the various wars. I'm sure there's a purchasing committee somewhere already evaluating the next generation of artificial legs and arms for VA hospitals.
For sure -
I'm working on dividing the different cybernetics into Commercial, Restorative, Covert and Military. Commercial being the post human brain / machine stuff everyone will have instead of cellphones. The covert and military stuff are pretty short lists.
I'm trying to keep this whole thing pretty short and sweet.
One of the great spy fantasies is to have cybernetics simply because no one expects you to have something under your skin.
I'd imagine if cybernetics were a big threat, government buildings and corporations would force you to walk through a fluoroscope or something before they let you into sensitive areas. There are a few things that I think could pass a casual inspection due to their tiny size.
Imagine someone with a tiny radio in their body. I'm not sure how it would be powered, but the antenna could be a very thin wire running across your skin or through your hair or something. If the cybernetics are wired into your nervous system so that you can use it by thinking, it could be pretty useful to someone undercover.
This leads to another question - is the pain of a surgery worth it when it comes to devices you could probably just carry in your pocket? I think that question was asked in Neuromancer. Would you want an iPod permanently installed under your skin? What if a new one hadn't been invented in 100 years? What if you had it on good authority that it wouldn't ever break?
I think I remember reading somewhere about prosthetic legs which actually had the guy running faster than regular legs. They looked kind of like bent-up skis, I mean, you wouldn't take them for real legs, and they must have had all sorts of disadvantages for manoeuverability, but for sheer speed... just like flippers can speed you up under water, these things can speed you up on land. I guess they were just kind of long and springy. Not exactly snazzy sci-fi but it caught my interest.
Yeah, I think that guy is amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNPPbn19UkQ&feature=related
Quote from: Omnifray;448304I think I remember reading somewhere about prosthetic legs which actually had the guy running faster than regular legs. They looked kind of like bent-up skis, I mean, you wouldn't take them for real legs, and they must have had all sorts of disadvantages for manoeuverability, but for sheer speed... just like flippers can speed you up under water, these things can speed you up on land. I guess they were just kind of long and springy. Not exactly snazzy sci-fi but it caught my interest.
Oscar Pistorius has them, as do several other disabled runners. They're not "faster" strictly speaking, but they're lighter, require less energy to move and have more "spring" in them, which a trained runner can use to run more quickly with.
Oh, I just remembered I put this up on FB the other day. (http://www.ted.com/talks/aimee_mullins_prosthetic_aesthetics.html) Aimee Mullins is a Paralympian who's used those carbon fiber runner's legs, and who's got about a dozen different types of designer legs, including jellyfish legs and engraved wooden boot-legs from Alexander McQueen.
The problem is that until you can get yourself cybertechnology that you would CHOOSE to put into you rather than HAVE TO get put into you because you lost a leg in a tragic backgammon-related accident, or lost an hand at the Pat Boone Concert Riot, we're not living in that version of Cyberpunk yet.
Until people star willingly walking into the "chop doc shop" and slicing off their perfectly healthy viable arms, legs, eyes, etc., its just prosthetics, not cybertech.
RPGPundit
Maybe that adds some sense into the zaniness of ninjas and superspies. I'm personally having a hard time thinking of much that normal people would want, but if the point was to simply help you conceal dangerous or illegal items better, it might be pretty popular.
Palladium had the prosthetic fingertip grenade a long time before al queda had the explosive breast implant.