Enhancements and Ethics

As you may have guessed from a cursory glance at my blog title, I like cyborgs. They are really cool.

Of course, cyborg (cybernetic organism) refers to a being that is part organic and part robot/machine, as opposed to being fully artificial. I am sick to the bone of the science fiction trope "DOES THE ROBOT FEEL???" and much prefer the closer-to-home question of how much machine a man can be and still be considered a man.

With cyberpunk, my favorite genre, proclaimed "dead" while it is in many ways flourishing and alive in our daily encounters, questions of how much technological betterment humanity can afford are very relevant - or will be in the near future. Do we DNA-screen our babies, give amputees bionic limbs, perform surgical procedures for the smallest of quirks, transfer Facebook from computer to eyelid? How much of it would help us, how much would ultimately hurt us, how much would be used and then abused by government, military, organized crime? What reactions would we see, and who would the extremists be? The possibilities, both beautiful and frightening, are endless. As are my thoughts and will to speculate. I can discuss these things forever; heavy doses of skepticism, conspiracy theory and distrust of the medical system are to be expected, but then I've been overexposed to fiction and "natural alternatives" during my short time on earth. Heh.

Were some of these visions to actually become reality, they would most likely seem scary or threatening. I'm fascinated by them and love juggling concepts, but I prefer they stay pushed into their cozy nook in a won't-be future. That way, I can keep thinking cyborg arms are the best thing ever without actually having to face the thought of what a weapon-modified one would do if it were available for use. (Yeah, I'm very yellow. Not afraid to show it; maybe a little bit ashamed of it.)

Now it's your turn. Say any kind of futuristic über-technology was within your reach. If you could get any physical enhancement you wanted, what would you go for? Would you be ready for the consequences? [PENIS ENLARGEMENT JOKE HERE.]

Me? The first thing I would do would be fix my eyesight, and get vision worthy of a fighter-plane pilot. As for those mechanical arms ... awesome as they are, there would be no point in cutting off a perfectly good organic arm to get there (not to mention that it would be very disturbing!). But a slick, strength-amping reflex-booster exoskeleton? YES PLEASE.