History Quotes / CyberneticsEatYourSoul

->In many ways, he felt better than he had in decades, the countless aches and uncertainties of organic life now behind him. His new machine body was far mightier than the frail form he had tolerated for so long, and his thoughts were swifter and clearer than they had ever been. Yet there was an emptiness gnawing at his mind, an inexpressible hollowness of spirit that defied rational explanation. In that moment, he knew with cold certainty that the price of physical immortality had been the loss of his soul. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone With great sorrow the Silent King beheld the fate he had brought upon his people]]: the Necrontyr were now but a memory, and the soulless Necrons reborn in their place.

->No glands, replaced by tech. No digestive system, replaced by tech. ''[[ThisIsUnforgivable No soul]]...'' [[ThisIsUnforgivable replaced by tech]].

-->-- '''Quicksilver,''' ''WesternAnimation/SilverHawks.''

->But for analog people like you [[TheBigGuy Mr. Batou]], no matter how many digital components you add on through [[HollywoodCyborg cyberization]] or [[ArtificialLimbs prosthetics]], your [[OurSoulsAreDifferent ghost]] will never diminish!

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

-->-- '''Music/MiracleOfSound''', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6RI2_lVMhg "The Natural Heart"]]

-->-- '''Music/MiracleOfSound''', [[https://youtu.be/w-CoE46ZsD0 "The New Black Gold"]]

->'''Bill:''' What's a Cyberman?\\
'''Doctor:''' A technologically-augmented human being, designed to survive in a hostile environment. Perfectly sound idea. Unfortunately, all they want to do is [[AssimilationPlot to turn everyone else into Cybermen too.]] They go viral.
->-- ''Series/DoctorWho'', "The Doctor Falls"

-->-- '''[[ScaryDogmaticAliens Holy Guardians]]''' upon completing Synthetic Ascension, ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}''

Our hope's dissolved\\

-> ''Broken body, built anew''
-> ''spirit lingers, torn in two''
-> ''Metal fingers grip my heart so cold''
-> ''Slave to the [[TitleDrop New Black Gold]]''
-> ''there's a heartbeat under my skin''
-> ''Search my electric soul''
-> ''for the hidden man within''
-->--''[[https://youtu.be/w-CoE46ZsD0 The New Black Gold]]'' by '''Music/MiracleOfSound'''

-> ''This isn't human anymore''
-> ''Look into the natural heart, following the beat of the chemical''
->''This isn't human anymore''
->''Tearing the connections apart, falling at the feet of our pedestals''
->''Are you still human at the core?''
-->--''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6RI2_lVMhg The Natural Heart]]'', by '''Music/MiracleOfSound'''

->''"If you are going to munchkin out in cyberpunk you have to cyber yourself up to the maximum... Some games try to penalize this with the half-hearted penalty of "losing your humanity", a concept that is in no cyberpunk literature and just exists as a feeble attempt to prevent munchkinism."''
-->-- '''The Munchkin's Guide to Powergaming'''

->He's more machine now than man; twisted and evil.
-->-- '''Obi-Wan Kenobi''', ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''

->No glands, replaced by tech. No digestive system, replaced by tech. ''[[ThisIsUnforgivable No soul]]...''[[ThisIsUnforgivable replaced by tech]].
-->-- '''Dr. Mordin Solus''', on the Collectors, ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''

->The cyborg would not recognize the Garden of Eden, it is not made of mud and can not dream of returning to dust.
-->-- '''Donna Haraway''', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Haraway#.22A_Cyborg_Manifesto.22 Cyborg Manifesto]]''

-->-- '''Batou's Tachikoma''', ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex''

->There's no mechanical replacement for a future, Face. And every time I take a hit, and they have to cut away another part of me and replace it with machinery because I'm allergic to [[MagicAntidote bacta]], every time that happens I seem to be a little further away from that young doctor who had a future. He can't come back, Face. Not all of him is here anymore.
-->-- '''Ton Phanan''' to Garik "Face" Loran, ''[[Literature/XWingSeries X-Wing: Iron Fist]]''.

->The Warrior's bland acronym, MMI, obscures the true horror of this monstrosity. Its inventors promise a new era of genius, but meanwhile unscrupulous power brokers use its forcible installation to violate the sanctity of unwilling human minds. They are creating their own private army of demons.
-->-- '''Commissioner Pravin Lal''', "Report on Human Rights", ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri''

->I think, and my thoughts cross the barrier into the synapses of the machine - just as the good doctor intended. But what I cannot shake, and what hints at things to come, is that thoughts cross back. In my dreams the sensibility of the machine invades the periphery of my consciousness. Dark. Rigid. Cold. Alien. Evolution is at work here, but just what is evolving remains to be seen.
-->-- '''Commissioner Pravin Lal''', "Man and Machine", ''ibid.''

->Every implant exalts you. Every line of code in your subsystems elevates you from your disgusting flesh.
-->-- '''[=SHODAN=]''', ''VideoGame/SystemShock2''

->Karenin-that-was-not-Karenin cackled from inside his gleaming silver caul with terrible laughter; while somewhere in the deep recesses of what once had been a human heart, there floated and glittered the memory of a woman, a woman he had loved."
-->-- '''Android Karenina'''

->Albert Einstein said technological progress is like an ax in the hands of a pathological criminal. Took me a while, but I finally see his point. How often have we chased the dream of progress only to see it perverted? More often than not, haven't the machines that we built to improve life shattered the lives of millions? And now we want to turn that dream on ourselves, to fundamentally improve who we are. Experience has shown me how dangerous that can be. [...] Technology offers us strength. Strength enables dominance, and dominance paves the way for abuse. [[spoiler: Darrow]] understood this. He knew that using technology to become something more than we are risks losing our ability to love, aspire, or make moral choices, the very things that make us human.
-->--'''Adam Jensen,''' ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' [[spoiler: Darrow/Anti-Augmentation Ending]]

->...work at remaining human inside. I'm not sure I've managed it all that well, myself. Sometimes, I just sit and stare, forgetting for weeks, Jessamyn, for weeks. I can do almost anything with this improved body, but my mind has gotten blasé about it. When you're superhuman, so little seems worth the bother. You must resist that. You must...
-->-- '''Dr. Simon Threadneedle''', ''[[Literature/DarkFuture Krokodil Tears]]''

-> Folks that chop up their healthy body to "improve" it invariably die early. No one with [[UnusualUserInterface EI]] or full-body [[SuperStrength myomer replacements]] has a nice retirement, [[PowerDegeneration if they get one at all]].
-->-- '''Captain Jason Henne''', ''TabletopGame/BattleTech''

->Everybody let us say goodbye to all our notions,
->Cause it's not enough left to say that we're humane when we're left behind,
->It's too late to think that we can worship human emotions,
->Cause we've already evolved into machines in our minds.
-->--'''Röyksopp''', ''Vision One''

->The process of absorption fascinates... [unclear] one's body might somehow swallow the item, like unto a serpent or the surface of some [viscous?] fluid. Yet it doth seem a mutual [process]. For not only doth the body absorb the [weapon] but also [doth the] weapon, in some strange way, seem to [absorb] the body...[RECORD CORRUPT] as the weapon becomes like unto my flesh, so doth mine flesh... [unclear] like unto the weapon. Indeed, I trace this [stylus] upon mine arm, and the shape and form of the weapon appears under [my touch?]. It doth not appear in mine hand so much as mine hand doth arrange itself so as to become the weapon... [BREAK IN RECORD] capakhity of mine new form to abkhorb weaponsh ish akhtonishing... [unclear] a whole lakhgun! But I do shtart to lokhe zhe shenshation in mine shkin. Mine jawkh are [hardening?] and mine ribkh are protruding from mine [chest]. Zhey are of a dull, metallic sheen and tekhts show zhey are a mix of [bone?] and shome metal I cannot identify... [BREAK IN RECORD] thsi wil be mmmylsat [RECORD CORRUPT] cannnnnnnnnnnot useth esse febel mahcinsse aaaaany log;ner [RECORD CORRUPT] tothe eyeof the larybinht the hearto fthe maichnettttto the pppplaceo f... metalll...
-->-- ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''

->''"Artificial enhancements are no substitute for the human soul."''
-->--'''Cyber Sub-Zero''', ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9''


->“I decided I wanted to be cheerful, so I had my brain reworked. Now I’m ''always'' happy and I love ''everyone!'' How does that sound?”
->Paul’s sense of human politeness had waned over the many years, and he did not stop the honest answer that came to mind. “Unearned, cheap, and soulless.”
->Thrym answered, “I ''love'' rude people! And if I ever get tired of this, I can make myself sad, too! But who would ever want to be sad? Actually, I can’t get tired of it. I started to get tired of it once, so I had my brain reworked so now I ''can’t'' get tired of it. Ever!” He let out a squeal that sounded at once childlike, orgasmic, and vaguely exhausted.
->“I’m happy that you’re happy,” Paul said.
->“I’m happy to ''be'' happy,” Thrym said, “I think.” He then said, a little more quietly, “How are things on Earth?”
->“I haven’t been there in a long time. I’m hoping to go back, soon.”
->“Is Callisto boring?” Thrym asked. “I’ve heard it’s boring.”
->“I suppose it is,” Paul conceded. “Eppleberg was hardly exciting, either, but I miss it.”
->“I’ll go back to visit Earth, some day,” Thrym said. “I’ll need to change my body all around again. This one can’t take the gravity. I... remember the sun shining on the hills. I’ve got perfect memory now, so I remember it perfectly. And it’s like... I want to miss it, but I’m just not built to miss anything any more. Not much, anyway. Maybe I can have my brain reworked to miss things.”
->“Then you’d be sad,” Paul said.
->“Hey yeah!” Thrym laughed, a little desperately. “That’s no good! I almost made myself sad! Thanks Paul.”
->“You’re welcome,” Paul said.
->“And there’ll always be ''time'' to go back. I don’t get old. I can’t die any more!” Thrym said.
->“You will eventually,” Paul said. “Everyone dies eventually. It will just take a lot longer for you, is all. The universe itself is mortal.”
->“Really?” Thrym said. “Well I love death. And I love life too! I love everything! I think. Really nice seeing you again!”

->It's our human qualities that give us courage, endurance and the power to tell right from wrong!
-->-- '''Quicksilver,''' ''WesternAnimation/SilverHawks.''

->It's one of those summer days in Sarn, when the sweat dries on your skin the moment it dares slither from your pores. Lorenzi and I are sipping coffees, iced with cubes from the north. There's a tremor in his voice as announces that he is going to see Malachai tonight, to have a gem implanted in his hand. The palm of his left hand to be exact. Once I have run out of expletives and paused for breath while the waiter wipes spilled coffee from our table, I manage to ask him why. "So that I might have the fastest fingers in the Empire," is his reply. Lorenzi, first violinist of the Sarn Symphonic, and my dear friend, is going to become a Gemling.

->Ten days pass and Lorenzi's hand is healed. He plays for me, a piece that he has written during his convalescence, something he will debut this evening in God's Theater. The gem casts a bloody hue over his violin as his fingers fly across the strings. They are an ephemeral blur, too quick for eye or mind to follow. And the music... there's only one experience in my life that compares. The night I had with Marylene before she died.

->It has been a month now, and once again Lorenzi and I sip iced coffees in the Perandus Markets. Though we sit only a narrow table apart, Lorenzi is a world away. The nightmares began a couple of weeks back. He toys absently with the vial that I have bought for him from the apothecary, yet I know he won't drink from it. The soothing of his wits will mean the slowing of his fingers. The music is Lorenzi's life, and to Lorenzi, the music and the gem are one and the same.

->A year has gone, and the day is once again hot enough to dry the sweat on my skin the moment it dares slither from my pores. I sip an iced coffee and think of Lorenzi. He played last night, in God's Theater. Fleet, furious, and wondrous, he was. We passed in the foyer, and I looked into his grey face, his pale blue eyes. I don't know what he saw, but it wasn't me. I don't know what I saw either, but it wasn't Lorenzi.

-> ''Slave to the[[TitleDrop New Black Gold]]''

->“Really?” Thrym said. “Well I love death. And I love life too! I love everything! I think. Really nice seeing you again!” Spider-Thrym then trundled away.

-->-- '''Commissioner Pravin Lal''', "Report on Human Rights", ''SidMeiersAlphaCentauri''

-->-- '''[=SHODAN=]''', ''SystemShock 2''

-->-- '''Ton Phanan''' to Garik "Face" Loran, ''[[XWingSeries X-Wing: Iron Fist]]''.