Would you do physical augmentation for computing/gaming?

Vermillion_Raventhal

I had a dream the other night that the government in the future was forcing all citizens to become synthetic or biomechanical.  Essentially, to use less/different resources.  The process was basically you get a couple of shots and all of your cells changed into blended machine/DNA. 

You would become ageless and skin absorbed solar energy for less food.  Never got around to actually getting the shot.  You also would be able to be jacked into games/net and etc.  Never got it done to me I  the dream just kind of info session. Too much doomsday coronavirus and Westworld.

Anyway.  How far would you go for gaming? Full jack installed in your head? Chips or limb replacement to control games with mind? Mind being uploaded to a VR reality?  What's your limits?

Cryomatrix

I prefer the inception route, hardware gets infected easily. 

Theocritus

I am not getting any chips, implants, or any other technology into my body, not even a consideration.

Nyghthowler

I have M.S. , and as it progresses it gets harder to game because of the loss of motor control.

That said, I would happily go the Matrix style data port in my head, everything controlled by thought route.

VengeSunsoar

Dermal plating forearm bone spurs, cyber eye , cyber ear, wired reflexes, data Jack. I'd do those in a nanosecond. 

AlBQuirky

Theocritus said:

I am not getting any chips, implants, or any other technology into my body, not even a consideration.

Since all his tech is made by mankind, no way, no how. Hell, we can't even make bug-free games, let alone human-machine interfaces!

However, replacing a couple of my human joints might be good, just not cyberization

bonzoso21

After it's been rigorously tested on a bunch of people poorer than me and all the issues resulting in death or organ failure have been ironed out, and I've had my Lawyer-Bot 6000 go over that EULA with his latest Fine Tooth Comb Rev. 3 software, why not?

TEKK3N

Being a cyborg sounds cool, until you really think about the implications.

Once you connect to the Matrix, you can be reprogrammed by any hacker or government agency without your knowledge.

External hardware is way safer.

Wizardry

The end result should always be the game and nothing else.We can barely find a decent game as is without adding peripheral costs.This is why i laugh at VR,none of these developers are going to spend MORE,take MORE time to basically lower their profit margins.

So VR will for at least MANY more years be nothing more than a gimmick that makes VR headset manufacturer's rich and cheap shallow VR game devs rich as well.

I mean there are games that would take 1 month to make by 1-3 people,cost literally nothing and are making loads of money,like all those casino type games.Epic proved it as fact when they stopped developing Fortnite and turned it into a shallow BR game,no more costs,less people needed,more profits,makes for a VERY easy decision.

The clsoest we have come already is chip manufacturer's claiming their chip is specifically designed for said game,example Nvidia gpu chips or Intel cpu's etc etc.

Bottom line,i am not bending over for ANY manufacturer ,they NEED to supply me with a good product first,then i'll take a look at peripheral costs after.Seeing that out of my last 40 or so purchases only about 2-3 games were any good,i would say game devs have a VERY long way to go to simply make a good game.

I will make a short list of game types that have not come close to where they COULD be or should be.I will give an average rating based on the highest end games,omitting 95% of the crap.

rpg's         6/10
mmorpg's  6/10
arpg's          2/10
puzzle         2/10
shooters    4/10

This is how far away these archetypes are from actually being a AAA product.So tell me how many more years we have to wait just for SIMPLE AAA games before we start adding VR or any other peripheral costs?My guess,at least 20-30 more years seeing that we have already hinted at VR back in the 80's and this is now 40 years later and barely scratching the surface.

Vermillion_Raventhal

The biggest fear we should have of cybernetics is advertising being blasted to our minds or over our vision.

Tuor7

It's all fun and games until you get hacked.

bcbully

Yes

iixviiiix

Something like full body vr like right now is good enough for me . The idea of feel what the character feel is kind of scary me .

cameltosis

Funnily enough, I was actually chatting with my housemate last night about the future of medical science and what sort of breakthroughs we expect to see in the next 20-40 years.

I'm of the opinion that we'll start seeing biomechanical organs becoming more mainstream, potentially to the point where we all have them. That got us thinking about other types of augmentations we might get.

We proposed a special "augmented olympics" event, where rather than being natural, we let the athletes do whatever the hell they want. Doping / steroids would be accepted, as would augmented bodies. Sprinters with mechanical legs would be able to do the 100m in 5 seconds, instead of 10. Gymnasts would have joints that could spin 360 degrees. Javelin throwers with mechanical arms who could throw 500m. Goal is literally to push the limits of what we can do. (we were pretty baked when thinking this up.....)

As to what I would do?

All depends on the technology itself. I think I would be open to being augmented if the tech was airgapped and invisible to the outside world. But in the pursuit of gaming?! I just don't know, I think the experience would have to be absolutely amazing in order to convince me to get surgery.

I do, however, like the idea of having some sort of data storage capability implanted so I could just transfer data to my brain, rather than having to learn it myself. I'd also love some sort of implant that would deal with the various negative effects of living, for example, something that would remove hangovers, or help me feel more alert in the mornings, or something that would regulate body fat so I could eat whatever I wanted and not have to exercise. These are all just shortcuts through life though, so probably not a good idea or very ethical....

Vermillion_Raventhal

cameltosis said:

Funnily enough, I was actually chatting with my housemate last night about the future of medical science and what sort of breakthroughs we expect to see in the next 20-40 years.

I'm of the opinion that we'll start seeing biomechanical organs becoming more mainstream, potentially to the point where we all have them. That got us thinking about other types of augmentations we might get.

We proposed a special "augmented olympics" event, where rather than being natural, we let the athletes do whatever the hell they want. Doping / steroids would be accepted, as would augmented bodies. Sprinters with mechanical legs would be able to do the 100m in 5 seconds, instead of 10. Gymnasts would have joints that could spin 360 degrees. Javelin throwers with mechanical arms who could throw 500m. Goal is literally to push the limits of what we can do. (we were pretty baked when thinking this up.....)

As to what I would do?

All depends on the technology itself. I think I would be open to being augmented if the tech was airgapped and invisible to the outside world. But in the pursuit of gaming?! I just don't know, I think the experience would have to be absolutely amazing in order to convince me to get surgery.

I do, however, like the idea of having some sort of data storage capability implanted so I could just transfer data to my brain, rather than having to learn it myself. I'd also love some sort of implant that would deal with the various negative effects of living, for example, something that would remove hangovers, or help me feel more alert in the mornings, or something that would regulate body fat so I could eat whatever I wanted and not have to exercise. These are all just shortcuts through life though, so probably not a good idea or very ethical....

I feel like to truly explore the universe man will need to be modified to survive more shit on less shit and for longer times or infinitely.  Don't know if this will be biological or biomechanical.  Being able to survive different atmosphere, radiations, and eat things that are easily reproduced would go a long way. Question is would we still be human after that.  

Ethics questions are certainly there.  I know most look down on designer babies but if you could ensure your kid would be resilient genetically wouldn't you do it?  Or if you could fix learning disabilities without a chip.  What about chips that stop criminal urges? It's a lot.

Mendel

I doubt I'll live long enough to be faced with that decision.  The best case for me would be as an early adopter of this kind of technology, and that's not something to interest me (normally).  I'd hope to not be so desperate to extend my life that I would become someone's guinea pig; although it might be the best case for me to live on indefinitely through the disease/condition/reaction I might have to such surgery (Mendel's syndrome).  I've already got a cover and centerfold in the New England Medical Journal to my credits, I don't really need more.

Oh wait.  You weren't thinking of this as a porn application, were you?  They'd probably want to rethink the whole "free porn on the internet" thing in that case.

centkin

That is some dystopian society if it is forcing everyone into cyborgization/digital reality.  I can see it being something that is offered -- I mean a lot of people would want the added lifespan etc, but I don't see it being forced on anyone.

It could eventually become impractical to be organically pure in a society where the significant majority went cyborg, but just like we allow certain religious groups to not get medical care, we wouldn't force cyborg even if it were a practical necessity.

Ungood

I believe every gamer is mentally ready and even looking forward to getting jacked into the Matrix.

Amaranthar

Ungood said:

I believe every gamer is mentally ready and even looking forward to getting jacked into the Matrix.

Not me. 
Too many ways for control by others in the making. There's already too much going on, they can even watch you from your technology in your home. 
All it takes is some bad apples in government (people like the guys reading private e-mails of girls they're interested in, etc.). And a decision that you aren't important because of some false premise of "for the good of the whole." 

Why would anyone want to grant access on such a personal level? 

Scot

I think Vermillion needs to watch less SF TV and films.

I have noticed a disturbing tendency on Reddit to use themes and solutions found in fiction as explanations and solutions for real world topics. It is significant that in your dream the government was forcing people to do this (a perennial SF plot) when in fact most people would jump at the chance. Ageless and only need the sun for nutrition, sign me up!

Anyway back to the jack in the head, I would have no issues with one, not sure you would need a cyber limb to game and a jack would connect your brain to the virtual internet, no need to upload your mind to do that.

cheyane

For computer/gaming perhaps not but as I am getting older I would not mind getting augmented knees, eyes, ears and other parts of my body that start to fail and if it happens to help me play games all the better I guess.

Vermillion_Raventhal

Scot said:

I think Vermillion needs to watch less SF TV and films.

I have noticed a disturbing tendency on Reddit to use themes and solutions found in fiction as explanations and solutions for real world topics. It is significant that in your dream the government was forcing people to do this (a perennial SF plot) when in fact most people would jump at the chance. Ageless and only need the sun for nutrition, sign me up!

Anyway back to the jack in the head, I would have no issues with one, not sure you would need a cyber limb to game and a jack would connect your brain to the virtual internet, no need to upload your mind to do that.

Well, for one thing it's uncertain if YOU actually survive the process. Your DNA and memory does. Is it actually you on the other side of a complete cellular change who knows.  

Scot

Vermillion_Raventhal said:

Scot said:

I think Vermillion needs to watch less SF TV and films.

I have noticed a disturbing tendency on Reddit to use themes and solutions found in fiction as explanations and solutions for real world topics. It is significant that in your dream the government was forcing people to do this (a perennial SF plot) when in fact most people would jump at the chance. Ageless and only need the sun for nutrition, sign me up!

Anyway back to the jack in the head, I would have no issues with one, not sure you would need a cyber limb to game and a jack would connect your brain to the virtual internet, no need to upload your mind to do that.

Well, for one thing it's uncertain if YOU actually survive the process. Your DNA and memory does. Is it actually you on the other side of a complete cellular change who knows.  

Mate wait until you are 75, then come back to us and tell us if that's such a big leap.

If I talk about something two years in the future my dad says "how do you know I will be here then." That's how fatalistic we get.

Caffynated

Of course I would. Living in a cyberpunk setting is a major life goal

Forget implants, plop my brain in a jar and wire me directly into an android body.

Hatefull

DMKano said:

First of all I am huge believer in human augmentation - it's only a matter of when.

It will be a combination of gene augmentation, nanotechnology, cybernetics, AI... etc

 it will all blend together to advance humans way beyond where we are today.

Human 1.0 (current state) will undergo huge changes as medicine and technology advances.

This is inevitable - especially with super-advanced AI (also inevitable IMO) - the only way for humans to keep up with the eventual singularity and not becoming 100% obsolete will be by drastically enhancing our mental capacity - because our 1.0 brains/minds simply won't have the ability to process such advanced information/concepts, because our brains have a finite ability.

Ever expanding self-improving super intelligent AI doesnt have such limits.

Now having said all that - I am going to happily die out as human 1.0, just my personal choice.

I think our entire purpose of humanity is to go beyond all natural limits - and this is why as soon as we invent a self-sustaining, self-replicating and self-advancing AI - our purpose is done and our human 1.0 race is done as well as those that choose to go on will be enhanced far beyond our origins and will cease to be human (eventually).

Humanity in the end was always meant to be a stepping stone for real AI, I can die peacefully knowing I was a minuscule part of that stepping stone - purpose fulfilled

Interesting points. I think about this type of thing quite a bit. All my wounds cause my body to be in pain near constantly, and I would love to replace a limb or two with a fully functional augment, and much like you, I believe we will see this in future.

On another note, that may be of interest to you, there has been a proposal made that making an AI that can be a D&D GM would be a great way to test the decision making ability of said AI. Imagine logging in and having a no kidding gaming session that never has to end. Article

Mendel

Amaranthar said:

Ungood said:

I believe every gamer is mentally ready and even looking forward to getting jacked into the Matrix.

Not me. 
Too many ways for control by others in the making. There's already too much going on, they can even watch you from your technology in your home. 
All it takes is some bad apples in government (people like the guys reading private e-mails of girls they're interested in, etc.). And a decision that you aren't important because of some false premise of "for the good of the whole." 

Why would anyone want to grant access on such a personal level? 

This.   If you have problems with a 5 second stun or a 15 second mez, augmentation isn't going to be your thing.