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| 3 | %% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks! |
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| 5 | %% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them. |
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| 9 | [[quoteright:280:[[VideoGame/{{Homeworld}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/KaranSjet.jpg]]]] |
| 10 | [[caption-width-right:280:Karan's not a SpaceshipGirl, but [[MissionControl she]] does [[ComputerVoice come]] very [[UnusualUserInterface close]].]] |
| 11 | |
| 12 | ->''"[=PAI=]s tend to be able to present more natural user interfaces than the expert systems they compete with, tending to be at least vaguely self-aware, and much more responsive to and on emotional levels. In particular, niche market and custom built models are limited only by legislation requiring that entities surpassing a specified set of standardized metrics cannot be considered property, and must be registered as either custom children or custom dependent employees. While the difference is clear for low end models, standards aside, most will agree that the line between a high end PAI and a designer cyborg human is exceptionally blurry."'' |
| 13 | -->-- ''VideoGame/VegaStrike'' description of the [[http://wiki.vega-strike.org/Terminology:Artificial_Intelligence#PAI:_Pseudo_Artificial_Intelligences Pseudo Artificial Intelligences]] |
| 14 | |
| 15 | [[TechnologyMarchesOn Digital processing technology has come a long way from the days of mechanical relays]]. Transistors, those magical little things that make modern computers tick, have gotten so small we can measure their size in individual atoms -- small enough that we can cram a ''lot'' of them even in devices that fit in the palm of your hand. But despite our best advances, Father Science's thinking machines are still leagues behind those of Mother Nature. Even as flash memory and transistor technologies are [[https://www.cnet.com/news/moores-law-is-dead-nvidias-ceo-jensen-huang-says-at-ces-2019/ close to reaching their absolute limit]], the human brain still casually humiliates our most cutting-edge devices with its immunity to {{EMP}}s, its absurdly low 20-watt power consumption and its storage space [[https://www.livescience.com/53751-brain-could-store-internet.html large enough to hold the entire internet]]. But what if we told you there's a way to take a shortcut past the constraints of electronic computing and hold unimaginable processing power at your fingertips? You can do all of that and more with the ''Wetware CPU...'' at least as far as ScienceFiction is concerned. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | Wetware refers to a biological system. A Wetware CPU is the brain and nervous system of living beings[[note]]typically human beings, because if we'll create an affront to nature and humanity, [[MadScientist we might as well not be pussies about it and go the whole hog]][[/note]] used to power non-organic machinery. In speculative fiction settings, particularly those where true ArtificialIntelligence either doesn't exist or is shunned, it's sometimes the case that the brains of living beings, sapient or not, will be incorporated into machines and used for processing or command and control purposes. It varies whether the rest of bodies are retained, or how willing the beings in question are. When used on unwilling subjects, it may be an element of SciFiHorror, particularly BodyHorror or AndIMustScream scenarios. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Related to BrainInAJar, ManInTheMachine, and CyborgHelmsman. Compare BrainComputerInterface, LivingBattery, UnwillingRoboticisation, and HumanResources. Contrast BrainUploading, where instead of using human "wetware" to run machine software, you use machine hardware to run human "software". Also contrast WetwareBody, for when a machine controls an organic body instead of the other way around. Finally, also contrast TinmanTypist, for when a machine occupies the workstation of a human instead of the latter being wired into where a machine should be. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | ---- |
| 22 | !!Examples: |
| 23 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 24 | |
| 25 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 26 | * ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita'', being a futuristic {{Cyberpunk}} depiction of society rife with cyborgs and body enhancement technology of all sorts, has [[spoiler:the Brain Incubator, made of the brains of the inhabitants of Tiphares/Zalem harvested when they undergo the initiation ceremony, giving them full citizenship rights -- and a brain bio-chip]]. |
| 27 | * ''Anime/{{Betterman}}'' has Dual Kinds, who are a mix of this and LivingBattery; they both power and control the Neuronoid robots by combining their "neural energy" through the use of a mysterious substance known as Linker Gel. [[spoiler:The control systems of both Neuronoids and many of the autonomous mecha in the series play this straighter -- the ubiquitous BlackBox computer systems all contain one [[MindHive or more]] harvested brains. Neuronoids in particular originally used multiple human brains, but this practice ceased because the resulting Neuronoids retained enough awareness to become sentient and autonomous, [[PragmaticVillainy so Mode Warp started using primate, dog, and dolphin brains instead]].]] |
| 28 | * The ArtificialHuman "Fatimas" of ''Manga/TheFiveStarStories'' are created to serve as living computers for the HumongousMecha known as Mortar Headds, so their SuperSoldier "Headdliner" partners can focus on controlling the mechs' movements and not worry about other stuff like its power supply or balancing. |
| 29 | * ''Betterman'''s sister series ''Anime/GaoGaiGar'' entirely {{avert|ed Trope}}s this. Although [[AllThereInTheManual the background information]] reveals that Volfogg's AI and personality were donated by a deceased secret agent, the creation of Goldymarg shows that this does ''not'' involve using the brain itself; rather, [[BrainUploading the donor's mind is scanned]] as a baseline, then the scanned brain pattern is modified with programming as necessary. This is done because a 'natural' Super-AI may take years to program and, even after activation, takes six months to mature to the point of being combat ready, and needs to be taught various information ''manually'' during this time. Importantly, a 'donated' Super-AI also seems to inherit its donor's loyalties, so it's probably not practical to use an unwilling participant. |
| 30 | * In ''Manga/{{Gantz}}'', the titular character is a sort of spherical computer with a comatose, hairless man inside it. Near the end of the manga, [[spoiler:some {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s claim that the man was just an ordinary human who was cloned to operate the sphere]]. |
| 31 | * ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' features this in multiple ways: |
| 32 | ** In episode 2, "Proof of Recklessness: TESTATION", a dead man's cyberbrain is wired into a HAW 206 [[SpiderTank Tachikoma-style tank]]. The tank goes berserk, and Section 9 must stop it. |
| 33 | ** The CEO of an [[CloningBodyParts organ-cloning]] facility ended up choosing to keep his brain stored in a miniature, boxy robot rather than moving to a humanoid chassis. |
| 34 | ** In a subversion, an AI-controlled Tachikoma fakes having a real brain inside his chassis to distract police from the child they're questioning. |
| 35 | ** To some degree, [[FullConversionCyborg full-body replacement cyborgs]] qualify as this. The only thing that remains of their body is a brain inside a human-shaped chassis. As mentioned by Batou at one point, the bodies they use are largely impersonal objects. He advised the female Major that she should upgrade to a male chassis for improved strength. |
| 36 | ** In one episode, when he needs some additional processing power, Ishikawa co-opts the brains of some senior citizens at a pachinko parlor. He then rigs the machines to temporarily increase their payouts as recompense. |
| 37 | * ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'': |
| 38 | ** The Boosted Men from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'' are considered 'Biological [=CPUs=]' rather than personnel. Through experimentation and performance-enhancing drugs, [[SuperPrototype their combat abilities are far superior]] than their successors the Extended from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny''. However, this also made them [[PsychoPrototype much more psychotic]], and they [[FlawedPrototype require extensive maintenance outside combat and are generally completely non-functional in human society]]. |
| 39 | ** In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'', some characters theorize that the NT-D uses a combination of the psychoframe and the pilot as a living (and highly efficient) battlefield processor. It works extremely well, but appears to verge a little too close to AxCrazy at times. |
| 40 | ** In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'', the Alaya-Vijnana is a BrainComputerInterface that allows for one to pilot Gundams and similar Mobile Suit Frames with exact precision and spatial awareness using their own minds, with the physical control layouts of these Mobile Suits only really needed for reload/firing weapons and thruster controls. The only issue with this is that the "Node" component is fused directly to the spinal columns of still-developing prepubescent kids: and that's only if the procedure is ''successful'' due to the High-Mortality Rate that each individual surgery carries with it where the best failure option is to wind up completely paralyzed. Mikazuki Augus himself had underwent the surgery three times. |
| 41 | * The Zentradi Mobile Fortresses of ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' are each commanded by an ancient Supreme Commander who is integrally fused to the ship. |
| 42 | * In ''Manga/{{Mahoromatic}}'', the Keepers use [[spoiler:the brains of "scrapped" cyborgs for facility management. Said brains are [[AndIMustScream still conscious]]]]. |
| 43 | * ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' features the Magi, biocomputers whose wetware is [[spoiler:[[BrainUploading modeled after three aspects (as a scientist, as a mother, and as a woman) of their creator Naoko Akagi]]]]. The Evas themselves [[MeatSackRobot are almost totally wetware]]. Magi even has [[spoiler:a lot of brains inside it]], although this is never explained in-show. |
| 44 | * In ''Manga/OutlawStar'', Melfina serves as [[SpaceshipGirl the navigation system of the titular ship]]. Fortunately, she has considerably more freedom than most wetware [=CPUs=] and can disconnect from the ship when it isn't in flight. |
| 45 | * In ''Anime/PsychoPass'', [[spoiler:the [[ShadowDictator Sibyl system]] is a network of sociopathic brains]]. |
| 46 | * ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' has [[spoiler:Lordgenome]]'s head sealed within a tube and plugged into computers. The scene (from ''Lagann-Hen'') of him [[HollywoodHacking hacking]] into Cathedral Lazengann [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUzzAlorT7Q must be seen to be believed.]] |
| 47 | [[/folder]] |
| 48 | |
| 49 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 50 | * ''ComicBook/AstroCity'': |
| 51 | ** Braintrust is a crime lord with a robot body and a BrainInAJar for a head. He also has telekinetic powers. |
| 52 | ** A.T.A.C.C. is a seven-foot-tall robot bristling with firearms and powered by a BrainInAJar inside. |
| 53 | * Robotman of the ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'' is the brain of a human who underwent a horrendous accident that was [[WeCanRebuildHim transplanted into a robot body to keep him alive]]. His opinion of this tends to vary from "it's better than being paralyzed/dead" to "''maybe'' it's better than being paralyzed". |
| 54 | * ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'': |
| 55 | ** The super-villain MODOK ([[FunWithAcronyms Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing]]) was originally titled MODOC (Mental Organism Designed Only for Computation), having been created to be the organic computer component necessary for the MadScientist organization AIM to create the original Cosmic Cube, as only an organic mind could do the computations. |
| 56 | ** The Supreme Intelligence of the Kree was originally created for the same purpose as MODOK by incorporating the brains of the Kree's best scientists but refused and instead took over the Kree Empire. |
| 57 | ** On a lighter note, the ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' villain Silvermane, himself a cyborg at the time, is reduced to a head and then wired to a small toy car for extra mobility in ''Comicbook/TheSuperiorFoesOfSpiderMan''. |
| 58 | * ''ComicBook/MicronautsIDW'': The [[HumongousMecha Biotrons]] are incredibly powerful machines, but need to interface with an organic being to unlock the full spectrum of their abilities. |
| 59 | * In ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'', Dr. Robotnik's plot during the buildup to issue #100 involves connecting Sonic the Hedgehog's allies the Emerald Hill Folk to a machine to form a gigantic wetware CPU. |
| 60 | * In ''ComicBook/TomStrong'', there are slave merchants that sell human (and alien) body parts as ship controllers. He mentions that humans started doing this in the middle of the twenty-first century. |
| 61 | [[/folder]] |
| 62 | |
| 63 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 64 | * ''Fanfic/MeetingOfMinds'': The Yeerks approach the possibility of [[PuppeteerParasite infesting the Decepticons]] under the impression that they're robots controlled by a BrainInAJar, as they've encountered similar species before. When a Yeerk finds out they're actually MechanicalLifeforms with no organic components whatsoever, he's absolutely dumbfounded. |
| 65 | * ''FanFic/RoarOfTheLION'': This is how [[MadScientist Inori]] creates her [[KillerRobot Extermination Armors]]. [[spoiler:Her latest one is powered by her own daughter Virtue.]] |
| 66 | [[/folder]] |
| 67 | |
| 68 | [[folder:Films — Animated]] |
| 69 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'': Megamind's brain-bots are implied to be this, though the closest thing to a brain one can see is a plasma ball. |
| 70 | * While not exactly central to the plot, this imagery is used in ''WesternAnimation/RockAndRule'' when showing the computer [[CardCarryingVillain Mok]] is using to calculate the summoning of a monster. [[WildMassGuessing Then again]], perhaps the fact that we're shown its partially organic nature at the same time as it [[spoiler:[[NoManOfWomanBorn deceives him into believing that the summoning is irreversible]]]] [[EpilepticTrees isn't a coincidence at all...]] |
| 71 | [[/folder]] |
| 72 | |
| 73 | [[folder:Films — Live-Action]] |
| 74 | * Played with in ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'': This film's version of Mechagodzilla is supposed to be operated by a human controller through a cybernetic interface. However, when Mechagodzilla is activated, the human operator is rapidly disposed of, and Mechagodzilla goes on a rampage through Hong Kong. It comes out later that Mechagodzilla is actually being controlled by what's left of Ghidorah, who was not-quite-completely killed by Godzilla in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019''. So Mechagodzilla is in fact being controlled by an organic entity -- just not the entity that its builders thought would be in control. |
| 75 | * Film example [[WhatCouldHaveBeen that did not come to pass]]: The original proposal for ''Film/TheMatrix'' had the machines keep humans in the matrix in order for their brains to act as a great neural network. (Without taking the brains out of their bodies, note: the rest of the film would have been the same as what we got.) This of course makes far more sense than the physics-defying "power generation" explanation given in the completed film, but it was apparently changed because [[ExecutiveMeddling the studio]] thought the original reason would be too hard for viewers to understand. This explanation for the Matrix survives (in the form of a passing mention) in the Creator/NeilGaiman short story "Goliath," written to promote the movie. Some fans just still pretend that this is in fact the case and that the humans only got a simplified understanding of the situation due to their limited access to information about the machines. In other words, the reverse of FanonDiscontinuity.[[note]]Based on Morpheus' two lectures to Neo about what the Matrix was (the first before Neo left the Matrix, saying that Neo was a slave; and the second after Neo left the Matrix, saying that Neo had been a battery), it makes sense that neither told the whole story: that while the second explanation was more detailed than the first, it left out some things that would have scared Neo even worse.[[/note]] |
| 76 | * Franchise/RoboCop was made specifically to compete with the ED-209 in ''Film/RoboCop1987'', which was fully robotic. The human element of Robocop would allow him to have better judgment. It is successful because the ED-209's AI proves to be... faulty. Ironically, [=RoboCop=] turned out to be not so controllable (having a conscience and all) that OCP attempted to heavily condition his replacements in ''Film/RoboCop2'', leading to a repeat of the ED-209 problem when the people chosen weren't all that stable to begin with. |
| 77 | * Hector the cyborg from ''Film/Saturn3'' is controlled by three brains stacked in a tube full of bubbling water. |
| 78 | * The aliens from ''Film/{{Skyline}}'' want human brains for this reason, as far as we can tell. |
| 79 | * ''Film/SleepDealer'': ZigZagged to the point that it overlaps with CyborgHelmsman -- the world of ''Sleep Dealer'' has no advanced robotic intelligences and automation isn't even discussed ''because'' it's cheaper and easier to hire workers in poor countries with a basic BrainComputerInterface to operate mechanical avatars thousands of miles away than it is to program a computer to perform complex tasks like building a skyscraper or taking care of a human child. Every robot nanny, orange picker, or taxi driver in wealthy nations is directly operated by a worker in a cybernetic sweatshop somewhere in the global south. |
| 80 | [[/folder]] |
| 81 | |
| 82 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 83 | * ''Literature/AfterTheRevolution'': Wetware CPU is used [[spoiler:by the Heavenly Kingdom to get around their blanket BanOnAI while still producing jamming-proof drones. The human brains are 'donated' by 'willing' Martyrs (especially brown and black ones) and the resulting drones are basically sent on suicide missions to destroy as many of the Kingdom's enemies before their brains succumb to infection or lack of energy.]] |
| 84 | * Some of the ''Literature/{{Berserker}}'' stories have the killing machines attempt to use organic brains to introduce more fuzzy logic into their tactical computers. |
| 85 | * In the ''Literature/BiofabWar'' space opera series by Stephen Ames Berry, written in the 1980s, one of the most feared fates that can befall a person is to be 'brainstripped', to have their brain forcibly used as a CPU for the control system of enormous space battleships called 'mindslavers'. |
| 86 | * In ''Literature/BlackLegion'', Khayon's sister Itzara works as the main hub of SpaceshipGirl Anamnesis, along with dozens of artificially grown brains. |
| 87 | * In ''Creator/DeanKoontz's [[Literature/DeanKoontzsFrankenstein Frankenstein]]'', EvilutionaryBiologist Victor Helios uses one as a secretary named Annunciata. Annunciata finds the experience [[AndIMustScream insanity-inducingly horrific]], but is prevented by her programming from defying Victor in any way. |
| 88 | * The title of ''Literature/DemonFour'' refers to a miniature submarine controlled by the brain of a soldier who was killed in WorldWarIII. |
| 89 | * In ''Literature/DestinationVoid'' by Creator/FrankHerbert, the Voidships are guided by an OMC -- Organic Mental Core. Herbert did despise euphemisms for crimes against humanity, but he could churn them out with the best of them. |
| 90 | * Parodied in the ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' novel ''SLEEPY'', in which the MadScientist who has built a telepathic AI insists that neural nets are completely unnecessary. Apparently, one of his rivals tried to create an intelligent computer by hooking a cat's brain to a mainframe and got "a computer that wants to play with string and sit on your newspaper". |
| 91 | %%* In ''Literature/TheDreamOfPerpetualMotion'', this is what is implied to happen to [[spoiler:Miranda]].%%Needs context |
| 92 | * ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'': |
| 93 | ** Because humanity found out the hard way that AIIsACrapshoot, the Orange Catholic Bible states, "[[BanOnAI Thou shalt not make a machine in the image of a human mind]]." To pick up the slack, rich elites rely on mentats, who are humans capable of [[SuperIntelligence nigh-superhuman powers of mental calculation]], essentially turning themselves into organic computers. Paul himself has mentat conditioning. |
| 94 | ** Additionally, the Titans of the ''Literature/LegendsOfDune'' prequels are essentially [[BrainInAJar preserved brains]] in warmech cases. |
| 95 | ** Navigators of the Spacing Guild rely on mental conditioning and tankfuls of [[SpiceOfLife spice]] to essentially turn their minds into prescient navigation computers for their long-range ship that travel the galaxy by folding space. |
| 96 | * In ''Literature/TheEggMan'', the titular character is a "Megabrain" who has had his brain [[MyBrainIsBig grown to a grotesque size]] and adjusted to be used as a sort of computer server where the [[BrainUploading uploaded minds]] of Heaven, Inc.'s culstomers can enjoy an ArtificialAfterlife. |
| 97 | * The ScienceFiction [[SocialistRealism young reader Soviet novel]] ''Экспедиция в преисподнюю'' ("Expedition into the Underworld"), written by the Creator/StrugatskyBrothers under a pseudonym, features these. [[CorruptCorporateExecutive An evil capitalist businessman]] uses thousands of these aboard of his ship. |
| 98 | * In the universe of the ''Literature/HyperionCantos'', this is one of several ways to attain AI, through the creation of artificial brains and DNA-based computers (other [=AI=]s had created [[RobotRepublic the TechnoCore]]). Many of these control spacecraft, including The Consul's [[CoolStarship yacht]] (that particular AI also has a sense of humor, providing much [[PluckyComicRelief comic relief]]). It is also revealed that [[spoiler:the [=TechnoCore=] uses the processing power of every single person plugged into the Internet for their calculations. Please note, the last installment of the ''Cantos'' was published in 1997–two years before the release of ''Film/TheMatrix'']]. |
| 99 | * ''Literature/InCryptid'': In ''Imaginary Numbers'' and ''Calculated Risks'', the naturally telepathic Johrlac force Sarah (one of them) to solve [[FormulaicMagic cosmic equations]] in her mind, of which they each have a part passed down via GhostMemory. To avoid MySkullRunnethOver, she uses the minds of all the other Johrlac (plus part of the minds of her cousins and friends) to offload some of the enormous mental strain, like using a server farm to augment a computer's processing power. |
| 100 | * Somtow Sucharitkul/S.P. Somtow's ''Literature/{{Inquest}}'' stories features multiple technologies for interstellar ships. One type uses "shipminds" which are... harvested... from sentient beings. |
| 101 | * ''Literature/KnownSpace'' short story "Becalmed in Hell" has the [[BrainInAJar brain jar]] of Eric Donovan,[[note]]a ShoutOut to the classic science fiction/horror story "Donovan's Brain"[[/note]] who was mortally wounded in an accident, installed in a spaceship designed to explore Venus. Creator/LarryNiven wrote several other stories featuring either Eric or someone in the same situation; at least one of these involved a philosophical discussion on whether or not they were still "people" (Niven's ultimate answer: [[spoiler:they are]]). |
| 102 | %%* The 1960 story [[http://web.archive.org/web/20081120192734/http://www.planetary.org/solarsailcd/smith.htm "The Lady Who Sailed the Soul"]] by Creator/CordwainerSmith is an early instance of the trope.%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample |
| 103 | * ''Literature/{{Light}}'' features K-ships, each one a heavily armed starship built around alien technology interfaced with a cybernetically altered human in an amniotic vat. The process of conversion is permanent and more than a little nightmarish, and most of its recipients are children or young teenagers. |
| 104 | * The head of Gerald Metaclura is the main computer of the {{Generation Ship|s}} in ''Literature/{{Mayflies}}'' by Kevin O'Donnell. |
| 105 | * In Creator/IsaacAsimov's short story "[[Literature/TheMonkeysFingers The Monkey's Fingers]]", [[UpliftedAnimal a capuchin monkey has his brain surgically altered]] to turn it into a computer capable of generating stories and books of the highest literary quality. The story deals far less with the bioethical and technological implications than [[MostWritersAreWriters how it will affect writers]]. |
| 106 | * In the ''Literature/{{Nightside}}'' series, the Collector is served by a small army of robots built with CatGirl features and directed by living cat brains. |
| 107 | * From ''Literature/{{Otherland}}'', [[spoiler:the Other]] is the brain of a telepathic human infant jacked into a computer and used as its operating system. Further, additional [[PoweredByAForsakenChild unborn fetal brains]] were harvested and stuffed in there with it to give it additional "capacity". It's half-insane from the cruelty and deprivation of its existence, and seeks a way to [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters turn against its masters]]. |
| 108 | * In ''Literature/TheOutside'', Archangels are high-ranking [[{{cyborg}} angels]] who consist only of brains and machinery, their bodies having been removed to avoid distractions from their duty of managing angels. Unlike lower-ranking angels, Archangels have enough bandwidth to communicate directly from the [[DeusEstMachina Gods]], but because they don't have any sense organs, their perception consists entirely of information gathered from Gods and other angels. |
| 109 | * ''Literature/ThePerfectRun'': Ryan's [[CoolCar Plymoth]] has a Genius-grown, non-sentient brain in it to meet its processing needs. Multiple people who see it are horrified, assuming Ryan murdered some random person for an autopilot. Ryan dryly points out that the brain is obviously non-human. |
| 110 | * In Creator/WilliamShatner's ''Literature/QuestForTomorrow'' books, [[spoiler:Jim Endicott's biological mother]] develops a way to link human minds to create the most powerful computer in the galaxy. Her partner ([[spoiler:and lover]]) only known as Delta usurps the technology and uses it to gain power for himself and influence for Earth (by offering to solve any problem the aliens have). Unfortunately, the process of running calculations is not perfect. Every time it is used, thousands of people inexplicably go insane, raping and killing anything around them. Publically, this "madness" is blamed on drugs. However, it turns out that [[spoiler:Jim's mother]] later perfected the process and encoded the information in [[spoiler:Jim]]'s DNA (or did she?). This new process has no unpleasant side-effects but requires that the subjects be consciously aware of it and be willing. Just to illustrate how powerful this "computer" is, the novels have a small fleet of human warships defeat an armada of much more advanced alien ships by taking complete control of the ships and using near-perfect tactics. |
| 111 | * A mechanical-interface variant appears in Rog Phillips's "Literature/{{Rat in the Skull}}", in which a newborn laboratory rodent is hooked up to a MobileSuitHuman as a psychological experiment. Viewing the world through periscopes from the robotic eyes, and controlling its voice and limbs with movements of its tiny limbs, "Adam" grows up thinking the robotic body ''is'' its own body, never realizing it's a rat. |
| 112 | * Conjoiner drives in the ''Literature/RevelationSpaceSeries'' always contain a Conjoiner brain, who controls the reaction. Another Conjoiner who almost became one likens the experience to spending your life playing a challenging video game. However, the Conjoiners keep it quiet because they expect other humans to react badly. |
| 113 | * In ''Literature/TheShipWho'' series, children who are severely physically handicapped but have highly functional brains are placed in [[ManInTheMachine titanium life-support capsules]] known as "shells", which are installed into starships, space stations, and other such things as human computer cores. Shellpeople regard these ships etc as their true bodies and are much more LongLived than their "softpeople" counterparts. Each one has a HandyHelper who forms a MayflyDecemberFriendship with them. Tia, who was [[ICantFeelMyLegs paralyzed from the chin down]] at the age of seven, is delighted to be a ship and feels that her sense of touch and physicality has been restored. |
| 114 | * ''Literature/SprawlTrilogy'': A significant part of the plots of ''Literature/CountZero'' and ''Literature/MonaLisaOverdrive'' is the Bio-chips produced by Maas Neotech that puts them light-years ahead of the competition [[spoiler:and were actually designed by the AI for its own purposes]]. One such biochip looks like a bit of grey matter on the end of a [[NeuralImplanting Microsoft]] sliver. |
| 115 | * The space-faring slavers from ''[[Literature/TatjaGrimmsWorld Tatja Grimm's World]]'' by Creator/VernorVinge kidnap people, remove their brains and then fit them to a computer that suppresses their personality without totally trashing their intellect, to form a useful biological computer. |
| 116 | * ''Literature/TerraIgnota'': A major part of the worldbuilding are set-sets, humans modified since before birth to be living computers, far more efficient than any purely mechanical system. Set-sets make the global FlyingCar network possible: despite hundreds of millions of cars zipping around the world, there are only a single-digit number of collisions a year. They keep their bodies, since all those nerves and senses can be remapped for additional data input - wearing a contact-filled body suit, they're said to have twenty additional senses to perceive a database with. Their existence is a human rights issue that's caused riots in the past; anti-set-set "Nurturists" call their creation a form of child abuse that permanently stunts their psychological development[[note]]technically true: the term "set-set" refers to how their Brillist number sets, a sort of quantified neurological/psychological profile, are artificially ''set'' to ideal, abnormal parameters and then permanently ''set'' again so it never changes from that[[/note]] and deprives them of a normal life, while their supporters (and set-sets themselves) point out that they're perfectly happy and well-adjusted people, and separating them from their computers and concomitant additional senses is akin to mutilation. |
| 117 | * In ''Literature/ThereAndBackAgain'', this is the Resurrectionists' [[PlanetOfHats hat]]. They only do it to clones (and unintelligent animals) for ethical reasons; that doesn't much help the protagonists, however, as nearly all of them are clones of each other... |
| 118 | * The ''Literature/WildCards'' novel ''Double Solitaire'' has Dr. Tachyon's AxCrazy grandson ([[BodySurf in a stolen body]]) [[spoiler:turned over to the Network to become the lobotomized organic processor for a mining machine, in order to pay off the debts of the guy whose body he swiped]]. |
| 119 | * ''Literature/{{Wolfbane}}'', by Creator/FrederikPohl and Creator/CyrilMKornbluth, has aliens kidnapping suitable humans for this purpose. The human "Components" have their consciousnesses suppressed; when one awakens, plot happens. The novel was published in 1959, possibly making it the {{Trope Maker|s}}. |
| 120 | [[/folder]] |
| 121 | |
| 122 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 123 | * In ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'', the Consensus of Parts used human neural matter to satisfy the requirement for organic intuition to navigate the [[SubspaceOrHyperspace Slipstream]]. |
| 124 | * Walter can step inside ''Series/{{Automan}}'' and temporarily fuse with him. |
| 125 | * ''Series/BabylonFive'': |
| 126 | ** Epsilon III -- the planet which the B5 station orbits -- houses a technologically advanced installation called the Great Machine which required a living being to act as a central processing unit. In return the Great Machine rejuvenates the being acting as a CPU and greatly extends his or her lifespan, and through both communication relays and holographic technology allows the person to still move about not only around the machine but on orbiting space stations as well. |
| 127 | ** Shadow starships all used captured lesser races members as pilots fused with the hull. Which enables them to be disabled by telepaths. After spending any amount of time in the machine the pilot's original personality is destroyed and while Shadows can easily remove the interfaces implanted into the pilots, it is very difficult for younger races to do so. |
| 128 | * In ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'', the Cylons' ships -- or at least their FTL drives -- are controlled by "Hybrids", which from the waist upwards look like [[SpaceshipGirl women]] who lie in a tub full of goo hooked up to cables that look a lot like the ones in ''Film/TheMatrix''; ''[[Recap/BattlestarGalactica2003Razor Razor]]'' establishes that they were created by [[spoiler:experiments involving vivisected humans]]. The Hybrid [[TalkativeLoon constantly babbles]] a stream of partly-technical, [[MadOracle partly-prophetic-sounding]], partly-nonsense words, but doesn't seem conscious in any real sense most of the time. When the Cylons give the order to make an FTL jump, the Hybrid gasps "Jump!" orgasmically as the ship does so. When such an order is about to be given at a very significant moment: |
| 129 | -->'''Hybrid:''' ''[crying out in apparent pain]'' Mists of dreams drip along the nascent echo and love no more. End of line.\ |
| 130 | '''Number Five:''' The Hybrid objects.\ |
| 131 | '''Number Three:''' She doesn't get a vote. Jump the ship.\ |
| 132 | '''Hybrid:''' ''Jump!'' |
| 133 | * The Cyberax arc of ''Series/{{Bugs}}'' is basically ''Film/TheMatrix'', only without the need for it, as the wetware is clinically dead. |
| 134 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 135 | ** The Daleks themselves are basically squid-like aliens from the planet Skaro who are permanently encased in a virtually indestructible [[Franchise/StarWars R2-unit]]. |
| 136 | ** As the Doctor says, a Cyberman is "a human brain jammed inside a cybernetic body, [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul with a heart of steel]]." The process of "cyber-conversion" (and the state of existing as a Cyberman) is so painful that they have to have all emotions and pain receptors turned off. A common way of defeating them in the revival is to find a way to turn their feelings (emotional and/or physical) back ''on'', which almost always leads to [[DrivenToSuicide immediate self-termination]]. |
| 137 | ** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin The Deadly Assassin]]" reveals that the ''minds'' of dying Time Lords are transferred to "The Matrix" so as to forecast future developments. The principle's the same, but it's a lot less grisly. Somehow, the Master got hold of the Matrix and beamed one such development -- the assassination of the retiring President -- into the Doctor's mind... |
| 138 | ** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E6TheTalonsOfWengChiang The Talons of Weng-Chiang]]" gives us the Peking Homunculus, which is powered by the brain of a pig -- a particularly ''vicious'' pig. |
| 139 | ** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E7Logopolis Logopolis]]", it's implied the Logopolitans interface much more intimately and directly with their computers. They also have [[MyBrainIsBig gigantic brains protruding from the back of their heads]]. |
| 140 | ** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E3Frontios Frontios]]" has a controversially horrific scene involving a digging machine controlled by a severed human head. This was toned down from the script, which had the entire machine assembled from human body parts. [[Literature/DoctorWhoNovelisations The novelization]] offers no such kindness and describes it in ''graphic'' detail. |
| 141 | ** There's another Dalek-aligned one in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks Remembrance of the Daleks]]". It's explicitly stated that one Dalek side chose a child because a child's imagination, fueled with data from their battle computers, was the only thing irrational enough to break the unending logical stalemate against other Dalek battle computers. |
| 142 | ** The people on Satellite Five in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E7TheLongGame The Long Game]]" have [[BrainComputerInterface ports in their heads to input information and process it]]. Adam, a temporary companion, gets one himself in an attempt to take detailed technical and historical data back to the "present" for personal financial gain, which is why the Doctor throws him out of the TARDIS. In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E12BadWolf the follow-up episode]], the Controller used to control the operations of Satellite Five worked on the same principle, only that was her entire life; she was installed at [[PoweredByAForsakenChild five years old]]. |
| 143 | ** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E4TheGirlInTheFireplace The Girl in the Fireplace]]" has this as the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters of the Week]]'s aim with the titular girl. They believe that her brain is what is needed to [[HumanResources repair their ship]], and specifically her brain when she is the same age as the ship. |
| 144 | ** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E1E2Spyfall Spyfall]]", [[spoiler:Daniel Barton's goal in the plan he's working on with the Master and the Kasaavin is to turn the majority of humanity into living hard drives by having the Kasaavin rewrite their DNA]]. |
| 145 | * In ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'', [[spoiler:people sent to "the Attic" have their brains networked to make Rossum's supercomputer]]. |
| 146 | * ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': |
| 147 | ** [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Pilot]] is symbiotically joined to Moya, a [[LivingShip leviathan]]. While Pilot controls the crew's life support systems and pilots the ship, Moya is capable of moving on her own and can disregard Pilot's instructions if she has to. |
| 148 | ** Moya's son Talyn has a much smaller [[BrainComputerInterface neural implant]] that can attach to a humanoid's neck instead of permanently fusing to the ship. This allows his captain greater independence than a Pilot, but Talyn proves even more willing to disobey instructions than his mother. In season three Stark discovers that Talyn still has a vestigial Pilot den despite the Peacekeeprs' attempts to "breed out" the need for it. Stark uses the partially formed den to temporarily bond with the ship and steer him out of danger. |
| 149 | * ''Series/{{Lexx}}'''s 790-model cyborgs consist of robotic heads attached to the decapitated bodies of executed convicts. A small cube of human brain tissue in the head is used to interface with the body. |
| 150 | * In the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIVDNA D.N.A.]]", Kryten states that his brain includes a bit of biological material, which is apparently enough for the DNA conversion machine to [[HumanityEnsues make him fully human]]. |
| 151 | %%* This, crossed with AndIMustScream, is the ultimate fate of [[spoiler:Wade]] in ''Series/{{Sliders}}''.%%Needs context |
| 152 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'': |
| 153 | ** In the much-reviled ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E1SpocksBrain Spock's Brain]]", the autonomic brain functions used to maintain the circulation of a body are used to control the life support system of an UndergroundCity. |
| 154 | ** The ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS02E04DeadStop Dead Stop]]" has an automated space station that rapidly repairs ships for a fee in certain resources... and a hidden fee in kidnapping one of the passengers in an "accident" to use their brainpower to keep itself running. |
| 155 | ** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' has neural gel-packs to assist in certain computer functions that require that organic touch. |
| 156 | ** [[HiveQueen The Borg Queen]] is one of these; not merely an [[MouthOfSauron ambassador]] like Locutus, but a being functioning as the hub of the collective consciousness. |
| 157 | ** The Spore Drive from ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' allows a starship to travel through a subspace mycelial network. It requires an intelligent being to interface with the fungus and navigate the network -- first a giant alien tardigrade, then Lieutenant Stamets (the drive's inventor) after he injected himself with tardigrade DNA. |
| 158 | ** In the ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS1E06LiftUsWhereSufferingCannotReach Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach]]", [[spoiler:the people of Majalis require a living being to be plugged in to their planetary computer systems to maintain a habitable environment on their world]]. |
| 159 | * ''Series/TotalRecall2070'': Alpha-class androids (still on the prototype stage) use cultivated neurons. Alpha technology is not yet fully understood, as android inspector Farve experienced weird "connections" with people under an Alpha mind-control implant. |
| 160 | * In ''Series/TheTribe'', the Technos are carrying out a secret project by kidnapping various people and hooking them up to an inescapable virtual reality environment for Ram's private enjoyment. The hordes of respawning mooks he fights off are created from those people's minds. |
| 161 | [[/folder]] |
| 162 | |
| 163 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 164 | * "Cabinet Man" by Music/LemonDemon is about a man driven by "electric desires" to turn himself into a half-organic, half-mechanical arcade cabinet. |
| 165 | -->''The news reporters reported that I'd died\ |
| 166 | But all my organs were living on inside\ |
| 167 | Circuit board to brain\ |
| 168 | With two lungs collecting change\ |
| 169 | One big human heart gently beeping'' |
| 170 | [[/folder]] |
| 171 | |
| 172 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 173 | * Angels One and Two, the villains of ''Radio/{{Earthsearch}}''. The human protagonists, who have been raised by the Angels, eventually discover that [[AIIsACrapshoot all such computers go mad with power]]. In Season 2, a concern is raised that the Angels may even have [[ParanoiaFuel incorporated themselves into their brains]]. |
| 174 | [[/folder]] |
| 175 | |
| 176 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 177 | * ''TableTopGame/BattleTech'' downplays this. The giant robot [=BattleMechs=] are linked to the pilots by a neural interface that allows the pilot's own sense of balance to keep the 2-legged machines upright and moving smoothly. The Enhanced Imaging implants used by some Clanners also feed the Mech's sensor inputs into the pilot's nervous system, and they're required for piloting [[MiniMecha ProtoMechs]]. Unfortunately, they also have some degenerative effects that usually result in insanity or death after a few years. |
| 178 | * The Mi-Go in ''TabletopGame/CthulhuTech'' use human brains like this. The consciousnesses inside them still function, however, and are allowed to form social networks so as to remain sane and productive. You just ''know'' this'll come back to bite those aliens in their collectively non-existent ass someday. |
| 179 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}} 2020'' has full-body conversions in which extreme {{transhuman}}ists go beyond simply upgrading the human body and opt to replace it altogether, transplanting their brains into a mechanical body. Since CyberneticsEatYourSoul, society tends to look down on this, [[FantasticRacism branding "full borgs" as "Metalheads" and no longer seeing them as human]]. |
| 180 | * In ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}: Hell on Earth'', automata are machines with zombie brains (controlled by a demon) wired in as the CPU. Cyborgs are Harrowed (ensouled undead), some of whom go so far as the BrainInAJar route. |
| 181 | * ''TabletopGame/GammaWorld'' has Think Tanks, which are human brains connected to computer systems. |
| 182 | * ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'': |
| 183 | ** ''GURPS Steam-Tech'' has a section on how, exactly, one might create AI with {{Steampunk}} technology. This is the final option, with the comment "[[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught It's not cheating unless you get caught]]." |
| 184 | ** ''TabletopGame/GURPSReignOfSteel'': The Denver zonemind was forced to do this after the US Air Force crippled it in a HeroicSacrifice strike during the Final War. For obvious reasons, it keeps this hidden from the other zoneminds. |
| 185 | * In the miniatures game ''TabletopGame/{{Legions of Steel}}'', the eponymous Machine Empire captures humans and other sentient beings and keeps them in a dream state while holding them in a pod (similar to the Matrix, but five years before the movie). Machines, [[CreativeSterility having no truly creative or lateral thinking abilities]], use chemical torture on their captives and read their thoughts (nightmares) to search through them for new ideas. While the Machines searched for ideas with technological application, the side effect was to incorporate horrific images into the design of new fighting robots. Later, the Machines experimented with wetware and artificial brains with true sentience. Unfortunately for the Machines, with true sentience comes free will, and some of the sentient machines (Omega Class) rebelled against the Machine Empire to side with the organic civilizations. |
| 186 | * ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=psychosis%20crawler psychosis crawler]] is strongly implied to be one of these. In fact, you can see the [[BrainInAJar brain in the jar]]. |
| 187 | * In ''TabletopGame/{{Mindjammer}}'', 2-space navigation requires a SapientShip, but the Venu Empire has religious [[BanOnAI prohibitions against AI]], so they wire up human "brainjacks" who inevitably go insane. |
| 188 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'': |
| 189 | ** Cyborgs are brains in jars that are plugged into modified drones. Brains scooped from healthy adults have a tendency to go mad from the radical shift in perception and the effects of all the drugs pumped into them, so the corps that make cyborgs prefer to use the brains of either clones or children. |
| 190 | ** At a less creepy level, the game's lore and mechanics make it clear that, outside of once-in-a-lifetime godlike AI like Deus, the limits of autonomous computer technology fall far short of what the best human minds can do. A metahuman decker with brain implants (and maybe some drugs) plugged into a cyberdeck can run rings around any software agent in the Matrix, and a metahuman rigger with the right implants (and drugs) will slaughter any autonomous drone in physical combat. |
| 191 | * In the RPG ''TabletopGame/{{Underground}}'', there are "bio-drives", which are basically human brains (donated willingly or otherwise) which act as huge-capacity storage media. There are rules allowing {{Player Character}}s to sell their existing brain off as a bio-drive and have an artificial brain implanted. |
| 192 | * Used extensively in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': |
| 193 | ** Non-sentient servitors (robots with human brains for [=CPUs=]) are very common, and used as from cleaning automata to combat drones to spaceship operation aides. Also, some ship captains are permanently wired into their vessels. In the novel ''Storm of Iron'', there is a tech-priest who has discarded everything but his brain and wired himself into the main computer in the fortress he commands. The SpaceMarine Dreadnoughts, fighting machines piloted by mortally wounded super soldiers permanently encased in a life support sarcophagus might also count. |
| 194 | ** Indeed, this is compulsory for [[TheEmpire the Imperium]] -- as any significant levels of AI are explicitly forbidden due to a RobotWar sometime in the 20,000s. Anything with an AI of relatively low level of intelligence (a "machine spirit") has either a human operator or a human ''brain'' and anything otherwise is considered "Abominable Intelligence", the most grievous of [[MachineWorship tech-heresies]]. The Imperium being the Imperium, of course there are exceptions: the Land Raider tanks used by the Space Marines are suspiciously bright for an entirely artificial machine. In some cases, they've fought battles by themselves after their crew was knocked out or killed. But since they're ancient and venerable machines, that's considered okay. Though it doesn't quite stop there, as vehicles tend to have more complex intelligences as they get bigger and more complex. The apex of Imperial AI are the massive and sentient, but seemingly instinct-driven machine spirits within their massive starships, and the machine spirits within the [[HumongousMecha Titan-class warmachines]], which have been known to influence or even override their captains when the captain's focus slips. What really blurs the line is that purely supernatural "machine spirits" are ''real'', as is less benevolent HauntedTechnology, so it's entirely possible no AI is involved at all. Titan (and Knight Suit) intelligences grow to become an amalgam of all their previous operators over time, just to give one example. |
| 195 | ** In the ''Literature/HorusHeresy'' novel ''The First Heretic'', a marine explains to a civilian why they're attacking a planet that has robots: according to him, "mineral" intelligences always have thought patterns incompatible with organic ones, which inevitably leads to rebellion. |
| 196 | [[/folder]] |
| 197 | |
| 198 | [[folder:Toys]] |
| 199 | * ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'': |
| 200 | ** The various [[MechanicalLifeforms biomechanical races]] of the Matoran world all have some organic parts, but we don't know if the brain is one of them. The Bohrok, though, play this dead straight, being robotic drones "driven" by organic Krana parasites. The Rahkshi also count, being suits of PoweredArmor controlled by the serpentine Kraata... with said suits being made from Kraata exposed to Energized Protodermis. |
| 201 | ** Because of his role of maintaining the Matoran Universe prior to Mata Nui, the organic EldritchAbomination known as Tren Krom is this [[spoiler:since it means he had control of the HumongousMecha that it was]]. |
| 202 | * The Headmasters, Powermasters and Targetmasters of ''Franchise/TransformersGeneration1'' are organic beings that link into the HumongousMecha Transformers as heads, engines and weapons; rather than acting as the "mind" of the Transformers, though, they act in conjunction with their ArtificialIntelligence. |
| 203 | [[/folder]] |
| 204 | |
| 205 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 206 | * ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'': |
| 207 | ** In ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:the Guardian Angel that serves as an ExpositionFairy in the game is not a sentient A.I. as she claims, but a Siren named Angel hooked up to machines and constantly pumped with [[GreenRocks Eridium]] by her father Handsome Jack as a tool for his schemes]]. |
| 208 | ** One of the boss battles in ''VideoGame/Borderlands3'' is against Gigamind, a Maliwan AI that turns out to be a BrainInAJar piloting a robotic suit. Later in the game, you encounter [[DegradedBoss weaker versions]] called [=NOGs=] which act as support units for Maliwan troops. |
| 209 | * A number of villain groups in ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' use human brains to control their robots, among them being Arachnos, [[spoiler:Malta, and Nemesis]]. |
| 210 | * CABAL the [[AIIsACrapshoot evil supercomputer]] from the ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSeries'' apparently is the "Computer Assisted Biologically Augmented Lifeform"; it draws some processing power from human beings. At the end of ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSun Tiberian Sun: Firestorm]]'', CABAL is [[spoiler:apparently keeping Kane alive]]. More specifically, the Biological Augmentation appears to consist of [[spoiler:a roomful of various people plugged into it. At the line "Our directives must be reassessed", Kane appears to have merged with CABAL]]. |
| 211 | * In ''VideoGame/CryingSuns'', the depraved Dr. Landa of House Kosh-Buendia has wired the brains of children into battle robots and plugged another child’s brain into the controls of a battleship. |
| 212 | * ''Franchise/DeusExUniverse'': |
| 213 | ** At the end of ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', you are given the choice of merging your character's consciousness with an AI called Helios. |
| 214 | ** One ending of ''VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar'' involves this happening to [[spoiler:everyone]]. |
| 215 | ** In ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', [[spoiler:the fact that Panchaea required this of three women (who are obviously still conscious of their fate when you find them) was one of the factors involved in Hugh Darrow's SanitySlippage]]. In the DLC "The Missing Link", [[spoiler:you witness the horrific process involved in creating them]]. |
| 216 | * Sansha's Nation drones in ''VideoGame/EveOnline'' are controlled by humans brainwashed and cybernetically altered for this purpose. |
| 217 | * ''VideoGame/EYEDivineCybermancy'' allows the player to replace their nervous system with a top-of-the-line computer system, interfacing with the brain for much more improved reflexes. At least, according to vanilla text - the real in-game effect is heightened agility. |
| 218 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Factorio}}'', the recipe for building the [[SpiderTank Spidertron]] requires a fish. Since the model for a destroyed Spidertron shows a fish flopping around in it the implication is that the fish is being used to control the Spidertron. |
| 219 | * In the various ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' games, there are a number of different examples, largely in the form of taking a BrainInAJar and wiring it into a robot. |
| 220 | ** The most common example, found across multiple games, are "Robobrains"; a round, tank-like body on tracks with clawed tentacles for arms and a BrainInAJar for its head. The official line about the ''origins'' of said brains in-universe in early games is that they use brains taken from chimpanzees or other primates, with the use of human brains being a slanderous but persistent rumor. Later games revealed that, yes, human brains ''were'' used quite extensively, which led to the development of the other brain-preserving robot types encountered in the game. |
| 221 | ** Cyberdogs are [[RobotDog cybernetically augmented dogs]] controlled by placing a canine BrainInAJar in the augmented skull. Like Robobrains, they show up in multiple games. |
| 222 | ** In ''VideoGame/Fallout1'', the Master is a mass of MeatMoss that has physically integrated itself into the computers and electrical systems of a Vault, allowing it to control the machinery of the Vault as an extension of its own body. |
| 223 | ** The BigBad of ''VideoGame/FalloutTacticsBrotherhoodOfSteel'' is the Collector, a super-computer given enhanced processing powers by plugging a dozen different human brains into it. However, in typical ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' BlackComedy, the ''quality'' of these brains is questionable -- one of them is a porn star's! The player can cripple the Collector by destroying its integrated brains, and even receive the option to be integrated into it in order to take control of the super-computer and its robot armies. |
| 224 | ** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': |
| 225 | *** [[spoiler:Mr. House]] essentially turned himself into this, to make himself effectively immortal. When the Courier first meets him, he's a bust of his smarmy grin projected onto a massive screen. [[spoiler:When you really meet him, he is an Abomination,[[note]]Literally. The "Purifier" and "Abominable" perks stack on him[[/note]] a withered phantom in the shape of a man sealed within a [[ManInTheMachine life-sustaining sarcophagus]].]] |
| 226 | ---->'''[[spoiler:Mr. House]]:''' From what I hear, I'd want to eat at the Gourmand every night... if I were ambulatory. |
| 227 | *** The Think Tank of the ''Old World Blues'' DLC, robots controlled by the brains of {{Mad Scientist}}s so that said scientists can conduct experiments AfterTheEnd. They also do this to the Courier against their will, although the Courier somehow manages to remain fully self-aware ''without'' their brain, much to the Think Tank's surprise (though it's explained by the gun shot you revived that the start of the game). Eventually leading to the bizarre situation where the Courier has a conversation with their own BrainInAJar and can even ''[[ScrewYourself hit on it]]''. |
| 228 | ---->'''Courier's Brain:''' Are you... Are you coming on to me?! Sweet Lord, I don't even have the words for how repugnantly ''wrong'' that is! |
| 229 | ** ''Far Harbor'', an expansion pack for ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', has the player discover Vault 118, which is inhabited by a small population of rich people who tried to achieve immortality by becoming Robobrains. |
| 230 | * In ''VideoGame/AFinalUnity'', the Unity Device requires living beings to join with it in order to stabilize and repair rips in the fabric of space. |
| 231 | * ''VideoGame/FrontMission1'': This is the core premise behind the ''very'' illegal modifications being tested... and the fact that it happened to the [[spoiler:main character's fiancée]] is just salt in the wound. In a bit of irony, [[spoiler:[[BigBad Driscoll]]]] would end up subjected to it and become a CPU as well for a sort of super-mech, losing all sense of identity in the process. |
| 232 | * ''VideoGame/HalfLife'': |
| 233 | ** In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', the Striders actually have organic brains, which the player gets to see when Dog rips one out in a scene in ''Episode 2''. Probably the same goes for other Synths used by the Combine. This is very likely, since the other Synths the Combine uses are other races that have fallen to them. |
| 234 | ** ''VideoGame/HalfLifeAlyx'' reveals that Combine computers run using "memory worms", processors made out of mutated brains with assorted creatures fused into it, such as an occasional rat. |
| 235 | * ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'': |
| 236 | ** The mothership would have needed an unworkably large bridge crew to handle all command and control tasks, and they could not make an AI to deal with them [[AIIsACrapshoot for certain reasons]]. Neuroscientist Karen S'jet came up with a plan to use a brain for the task and insisted that she herself be fitted into the ship. She reprises her role in ''Homeworld 2'' in the new mothership, the ''Pride of Hiigara'', a century later. |
| 237 | ** ''Cataclysm'' reveals that the Bentusi are connected to their ships in a similar fashion. They seem to consider this a stage in a civilization's development and collectively refer to races that have achieved this feat as "The Unbound". It's implied they helped out the Kushan due to Karan being newly Unbound herself. |
| 238 | ** In ''[=HW2=]'', the BigBad Makaan is a Spaceship Boy, as two cutscenes show him submerged in a liquid tank with wires and tubes sticking out of his body. Presumably, the tank is designed to be able to transfer between ships, as he clearly plans to [[spoiler:take command of the ''Sajuuk'']]. |
| 239 | * ''VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject'': The first two games in the series utilize electronic "[=BioChips=]" which can be collected to employ certain functions. The second game goes on to explain that the "wetware" part is composed of "neuro-synaptic polymer gel", and [[BenevolentAI Arthur]] also turns out to the be prototype of this technology in one of the time zones you visit. |
| 240 | * One of the biggest plot twists in ''VideoGame/LuminousAvengerIX'' is the truth behind [[spoiler:the Butterfly Effect: It's the brain of Copen's younger sister Mytyl, stripped of her body decades ago and hooked up to a machine to be used as a surrogate Muse. The goal of Copen's entire journey is to [[MercyKill end her suffering]]]]. |
| 241 | * ''VideoGame/MapleStory'': [[MadScientist Gelimer]] attempted to use his airship, the Black Heaven, to [[spoiler:overwhelm Maple World with a special chemical that has a high mortality rate (and which zombifies the survivors)]], but he needed a great [[PoweredByAForsakenChild power source]], AI, interface, and security system for such a gargantuan ship, so he resurrects [[spoiler:Lotus, a former commander of the [[BigBad Black Mage]]]], and presumably uses [[MindControlDevice mind control]] and enhancements via technology. Notably, [[ScaleOfScientificSins every single bit of this plan is most definitely morally wrong]]. Orchid, Gelimer's superior and [[spoiler:Lotus' sister]], is clearly livid because of all this. |
| 242 | * The fanmade mod ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}: Rubicon'' features an AI named Haller at the beginning, who is known to be a wetware AI. You are assigned by Durandal to retrieve his wetware chip and send it off in a shuttle to evacuate Haller from his heavily damaged spaceship, ''UESC Chimera''. [[spoiler:However, Tycho later reveals that mission to have been a set-up, as Durandal intercepted the shuttle and in turn cannibalized Haller out of jealousy.]] |
| 243 | * ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'': |
| 244 | ** Joker expresses a fear of this regarding [[spoiler:giving control of the ''Normandy'' to]] EDI. |
| 245 | --->'''Joker:''' See, this is where it starts, and when we're all just organic batteries, guess who they'll blame? "This is all Joker's fault! What a tool he was! I have to spend all day computing pi because he plugged in the overlord!" |
| 246 | ** It's revealed that [[spoiler:the Reapers are composed of organic biomass in a mechanical framework, and their periodic slaughter of all sentient life in the galaxy is actually their reproductive cycle]]. |
| 247 | ** In the ''Overlord'' DLC, Cerberus attempts to gain control of the geth by creating one of these, but the ensuing "hybrid intelligence" immediately goes berserk [[spoiler:because he was forced into the experiment, and is in constant agony from the SensoryOverload]]. |
| 248 | * ''VideoGame/MetalGear'': |
| 249 | ** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', Raiden has had his entire body amputated from the molars down, leaving only the upper half of his head (and his spine) and essentially turning him into a PrettyBoy Franchise/RoboCop. |
| 250 | ** [[BigBad Senator Armstrong]]'s EvilPlan in ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' involves [[PoweredByAForsakenChild abducting orphans and putting their brains into robot bodies]] to make an army of cyborg ChildSoldiers, but Raiden manages to prevent this and ship the brains to Germany, where they can get proper help. |
| 251 | * ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'': |
| 252 | ** ''VideoGame/Metroid1'' has the Mother Brain herself, who was originally a [[{{Precursors}} Chozo]] supercomputer before turning against them to side with the SpacePirates. |
| 253 | ** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'' has the Aurora Units, highly intelligent beings stored in liquid containers. Unfortunately, being part biological leaves them wide open to [[TheCorruption Phazon]]... |
| 254 | ** ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' has the B.O.X, a security drone that has an organic CPU. It goes rogue and Samus blows its casing apart, which allows [[TheVirus the X parasite]] to [[NiceJobBreakingItHero infect it]]. |
| 255 | ** ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' has the Central Units, which serve as the control units of the seven [[MechanicalMonster E.M.M.I.]] units on ZDR. They have a brain covered with a metallic casing and a [[CyberCyclops single eye]], making them somewhat similar to Mother Brain. Despite their seemingly biological core, [[spoiler:the X-parasite infestation halfway through the game changes nothing about them, implying that their brains and eye are entirely synthetic]]. |
| 256 | %%* ''VideoGame/Prey2006'' has a similar premise. |
| 257 | * The Strogg from ''VideoGame/QuakeII'' couple their computers with organic beings, including a factory that [[HumanResources mashes humans into Stroyent]] that has a creature's digestive system working as part of it and a gigantic brain with cybernetic implants in it as their main communication system processor. They're also fond of "Stroggifying" enemies in a method more brutal than the Borg, [[UnwillingRoboticisation implanting cybernetics]] via [[StrappedToAnOperatingTable surgery]] without any anesthetic whatsoever. |
| 258 | * In ''VideoGame/RType'', the R-9C War-Head is piloted by a biological computer made of [[ManInTheMachine amputated pilots linked onto the spacecrafts]], the pilots are contained within a capsule known as Angel Pac. The R-9/0 Ragnarok is also speculated to have used a ''[[PoweredByAForsakenChild 23-year-old girl stuck in a biologically 14-year-old body]]'' as its biological computer, in which the military denied the speculation. |
| 259 | * ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' has [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101214164339/runescape/images/0/07/Barrelchest.png Barrelchest,]] a giant robot crafted by a MadScientist from [[BambooTechnology barrels, ship components]], and a BrainInAJar. Its creator, Mi-Gor, uses human brains in a number of other {{necroman|cer}}tic and {{magitek}} experiments as well. |
| 260 | * In ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxTheDevilsPlayhouse'', General Skun-ka'pe uses the disembodied brain of one with "TheGift" to control the computer systems on his ship and help him find the [[ArtifactOfDoom Toys of Power]]. |
| 261 | * In ''VideoGame/{{SOMA}}'', the structure-gel has the mysterious ability to allow biological entities to fuse with technology. |
| 262 | %%* Xenon's Super Bio Mech computer from ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestIVRogerWilcoAndTheTimeRippers''.%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample |
| 263 | * This is a vital part of creating a cyborg in ''VideoGame/SpaceStation13'', using a human brain plugged into a mind/machine interface as their core processor which becomes an extension of the AI by following [[ThreeLawsCompliant all of its rules]], including [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters the ones the traitor uploads]]. |
| 264 | * ''Franchise/StarCraft'': |
| 265 | ** The Protoss Dragoons and Immortals are the broken bodies and brains of half-dead soldiers, wired into walking tanks so that they can continue to fight. These are directly inspired by ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'''s SpaceMarine Dreadnoughts. |
| 266 | ** The Adjutant was one originally. Female human, head connected to various wires and bits of machinery, presumably to aid in briefing the player in missions. It has been retconned to be entirely robotic, probably to make the "[[BlackAndGrayMorality good guys]]" less {{squick}}y. |
| 267 | * The Heavy Vertical Tank, or HVT from ''VideoGame/SteelBattalion: Heavy Armor'' uses what is called a Human Processing Unit. Within the universe, an outbreak of silicon-eating bacteria has caused what is called the "Data Crash", and human technology is set back into the 1940s/1950s analog technology. However, the so-called [=HPUs=] used within HVT units allow much faster processing and powering of the complex systems within it. While normal Vertical Tanks require a crew of at least four (Commander/Gunner, Engineer, Radio Operator, and Loader), the HVT requires only one, as its onboard machinery uses the Processing Units to make its calculation for it. However, the system has its horrific side-effect: the humans used as [=HPUs=] are basically discarded once it has reached a certain limit of effectiveness and it is implied that HVT units go through these Human Processors like a cannon goes through ammunition. It also provides a justification on why the United People (essentially the [[UnitedNationsIsASuperpower United Nations]] under [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld Chinese management]]) seems excessively cruel to the conquered; they are abducting people left, right, and center to forcibly use them as [=HPUs=]. By the way, the people who were used and discarded as said [=HPUs=]? They're not dead; [[FateWorseThanDeath they're catatonic, with no clear sign if they can make a recovery, if at all possible]]. |
| 268 | * The [[SpiderTank Brainwalkers]] from ''VideoGame/Strider2014'' use human brains as control units. Following the failure of initial versions, which were incapable of thinking strategically during battle, [[MadScientist Professor Schlange]] decided to use human brains to run the robot's decision-making systems and to push its performance to its maximum. From where does he gets these brains? From citizens captured attempting to escape Kazakh City (or at least from those not killed trying to). What's even worse? These machines wear down the brains very quickly, and so they must be constantly replaced with new ones... |
| 269 | * The ''End of Flesh'' expansion to ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars 2'' adds these. The lore explanation is that they are meant to emulate the abilities of the [[AIIsACrapshoot Loa]] without actually using AI. |
| 270 | * The spider-like Cortex Reaver mech in ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' plugs the head of the near- or recently-deceased into their abdomen to use as processing power. The body is left to hang by the neck underneath. |
| 271 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Technobabylon}}'', organic nanomachines called "wetware" are used for many different purposes, from hacking to genetic engineering. |
| 272 | * The player character in ''VideoGame/UrbanAssault'', is a member of the Resistance who's part of a select group that had their nervous systems physically bonded to powerful battle bases called Host Stations. This process is irreversible. |
| 273 | * In ''VideoGame/VegaStrike'', "Pseudo-AI" is used for most tasks where a "true" AI would be too expensive and a simple computer isn't creative enough. "PAI Wetware" is one of legal goods, a thousand times or so cheaper than AI cores. The Rlaan, as proponents of OrganicTechnology, carry it further and creep out the humans by equipping [[AttackDrone armed drones]] with pet brains. |
| 274 | * ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'' has the Maschinenmensch prototype robot, a hulking behemoth created by Deathshead [[spoiler:and piloted [[AndIMustScream unwillingly]] by the brain of [[SadisticChoice the ally you sacrificed in 1946]]]]. |
| 275 | * ''VideoGame/XCom'': |
| 276 | ** The Biodrones from ''VideoGame/XComTerrorFromTheDeep'' look an awful lot like brains mounted in flying saucers. [[spoiler:They are. Human brains, literally butchered into obedience, and fitted with a sonic weapon where their voice box used to be so they can scream their targets to death.]] |
| 277 | ** In ''VideoGame/XCOM2'', it is revealed that [[spoiler:the Commander was being used as a living tactical processor by the aliens]]. |
| 278 | [[/folder]] |
| 279 | |
| 280 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 281 | * Carbon computers in ''Webcomic/AmongTheChosen'' are carried by female, {{transhuman}} hosts by means of artificial pregnancy. It is not clear whether the computers have personalities of their own or if they are just extenuations of their hosts. |
| 282 | * In ''Webcomic/AxeCop'', Wolver Man's cyborg pet Iron Spider Cannon is driven by a mouse brain wired into its circuits. |
| 283 | * In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', Agatha and crew manage to stop a malicious, sentient runaway train -- but [[spoiler:Brother Ulm]] ends up at death's door. They end up saving him by repurposing his brain as the "autopilot" of their new train. He's surprisingly okay with the arrangement. In fact, when they offer him the option to be reinstalled in a humanoid body later, he declines. |
| 284 | * The ψiioniic, [[TheSmartGuy Sollux]]'s ancestor in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', ended up becoming something like this. Thanks to his powerful telekinetic abilities, he was enslaved by [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Her Imperious Condescension]] and harnessed as the LivingBattery for her flagship. It's unclear how much consciousness or control he has left in this state, but since the rest of the ship appears inorganic this trope still applies. |
| 285 | * ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'' has an arc titled "Professor Madblood and the Wetware Interface'', in which Madblood uses Dave's brain as a CPU for a giant robot. Using [[IntoxicationEnsues alcohol]] solution to store the brain might have been a mistake, though. |
| 286 | * In ''Webcomic/SequentialArt'', [[MegaCorp Quinten]] R&D has four "organic processors". Unusual in that they aren't BrainInAJar type, but LittleBitBeastly squirrel girls with radio-implants linking them into HiveMind called "Think Tank". Also, this provides some sort of {{Cyberspace}} interface with true computer AI. They still have free will, if somewhat brainwashed. |
| 287 | * ''Webcomic/SkinHorse'' has Nick, a perverse foul-mouthed helicopter who was once a gamer and web troll until he had his brain scooped out, rewired, and shoved in a jar. Nick may well be the first cyborg brony if InUniverse [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial hints are correct]]. Particularly interesting in that part of the plot is him coming to terms with this to such a point that he now self-identifies as a machine and has joined a robot union. |
| 288 | * In ''Webcomic/SonicTheComicOnline'', Robotnik has become part of a Drakon super-computer and has launched a massive invasion of Mobius in a bid to become the planet's proxy ruler under control of the Drakons. |
| 289 | [[/folder]] |
| 290 | |
| 291 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 292 | * The character [[http://askarastuff.tumblr.com/ "ARA" (Artificial Relay Administrator)]] is a CatGirl cyborg designed to act as an organic supercomputer for a starship. During the cyberization process, the parts of her brain that make her sentient were re-purposed for calculation, which most polities in the galaxy consider a crime against sentient life, [[http://www.furaffinity.net/view/685054/ explained here.]] |
| 293 | * In ''Literature/IlivaisX'', the Phonos Weapons (which include the titular mech) are supposed to use their pilots like this. While they CAN be used with motion control, they tend to be controlled via mind synchronization. The four pilots are altered to be fragile, intelligent, and highly emotionally derailed, because the intent is that they stay in their unit until they are destroyed (which, given their effective regeneration and the pilots' immortality, may well never happen), turning into sentient processors for their machines. |
| 294 | * ''WebOriginal/MysteryFleshPitNationalPark'': [[MegaCorp Anodyne]] built a series of these (explicitly referred to as "wetware") for the consumer market using nervous tissue from [[WombLevel the Pit]], as detailed [[https://mysteryfleshpit.tumblr.com/post/637699886736883712/one-of-the-many-lucrative-results-of-the here]]. Unfortunately, despite their [[BiotechIsBetter immense power]], they turned out to be AwesomeButImpractical due in part to their high power requirements, but also due to most of the knowledge needed to maintain them being lost after Anodyne went out of business following the park's closure in 2007. |
| 295 | %%* Acrylic from ''Literature/NextBreedOfThief'' is one. [[spoiler:So is the system controlling MEPHISTO.]]%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample |
| 296 | * This is common in ''Website/OrionsArm'', though the prevailing idea is that wetware can only get you past the second singularity or so. The lums of the [[MeaningfulName Red Star 'M'Pire]] went and disproved that by creating the [[http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/48114a2e6b39a Silk God,]] a completely organic archailect possibly of the fourth toposophic. However, being the size of a solar system, it's still a lot less efficient than diamondoid-based inorganic fourth-toposophic 'J-nodes', which are only as big as large gas giants. |
| 297 | * ''Website/SCPFoundation'': [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-763 SCP-763]] is a huge patch of MeatMoss supporting dozens of networked human brains. It's [[HumanResources looking for more]]. |
| 298 | * In the sci-fi roleplaying site ''Star Army'', due to their more primitive technology, the race known as "Gartagens" [[http://stararmy.com/wiki/doku.php?id=gartagens:computer_technology use these]] as the AI networks of their spaceships. Since they're depicted as obsessive-compulsive compared to humans, this actually does put them on an almost equal AI footing with the other races of the setting. |
| 299 | * In ''Literature/{{Twig}}'', Jamie, a boy with PhotographicMemory, is regularly plugged into a set of large [[BrainInAJar brains]] which help him store, organize, and process the information he gathers in a useful manner, letting him rapidly make connections between related memories. He essentially acts as an interface tool for the brains, collectively referred to as Project Caterpillar. |
| 300 | [[/folder]] |
| 301 | |
| 302 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 303 | * The [[BrainInAJar Heads in Jars]] of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' interface fairly well with robotics when the plot demands it. This includes UsefulNotes/RichardNixon's head borrowing Bender's body to get elected in "[[Recap/FuturamaS2E3AHeadInThePolls A Head in the Polls]]", and in ''[[Recap/FuturamaM1BendersBigScore Bender's Big Score]]'', Hermes (who had been decapitated) controls the entire Earth fleet, using his Super Bureaucracy Skills, for a [[ThemeMusicPowerUp Theme Song-Boosted]] CMOA. |
| 304 | * The ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheRealAdventures'' episode "DNA Doomsday" involves an organic supercomputer that was built from the DNA up to be a perfect data processing system. When a simulation is run to test the system, a serious error causes the organism to go on a rampage and try to test the simulation in real life -- the simulation being to test whether it is possible to destroy the military base that the computer was built in. |
| 305 | * Kiva Andru from ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'' has a bionic plug port on the back of her skull, which she used to interface her mecha, but she hasn't used it due to MEGAS being heavily modified with a car chassis. [[spoiler:Her [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/megasxlr/images/5/5c/Evil_Kiva.png/revision/latest?cb=20170421232543 alternate universe counterpart]], however, has further modified her port to accommodate a cable, along with the left side of her face being robotic]]. |
| 306 | * In ''WesternAnimation/Phantom2040'', Maxwell Madison was murdered only to have his memories downloaded into a computer, which his wife uses/abuses to resurrect him in the body of several successive biots. Most attempt to commit "suicide" than stay with the psychotic woman, however. |
| 307 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS2E14WelcomeToTheChumBucketFrankendoodle Welcome to the Chum Bucket]]", when [=SpongeBob=] refuses to work for Plankton after Krabs [[LostHimInACardGame lost his contract in a poker game]], Plankton puts his brain in a robot chef. It's funny how Plankton doesn't consider that a robot with [=SpongeBob=]'s brain would be just as stubborn as [=SpongeBob=]. |
| 308 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': In the Bad Batch arc, it's discovered that the Separatists have gotten access to a stolen Republic strategy algorithm via using [[spoiler:the captured, thought-dead ARC trooper Echo]] in this fashion, keeping him in a stasis pod and hooking him up to computers to extract the algorithm from his brain. |
| 309 | * ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'': |
| 310 | ** After being severely injured for his failures, Baxter Stockman goes through a series of mechanical bodies, [[SerialProstheses losing more and more of his real body at each step]]. |
| 311 | ** Also played with during the first ''Fast Forward'' season of the series; the turtles find the journal that Cody Jones had used to learn about them. Once the temptation to read it becomes too great, they read a series of entries centered around each of the turtles. Donatello's entry (much to his horror) states that, after an accident in deep space, his brain is placed into a robot known as the Serling unit. Fortunately for the turtles, it turned out the journal they were reading was a fake prepared by Splinter and Cody when they knew the turtles couldn't resist reading it. |
| 312 | [[/folder]] |
| 313 | |
| 314 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 315 | * [[https://interestingengineering.com/scientists-taught-human-brain-cells-in-a-dish-how-to-play-pong Researchers at Cortical Labs have created a very primitive one out of human brain cells in a petri dish, and they've managed to teach it how to play Pong]]. Notably, it took only 5 minutes for it to fully learn how to play, much faster than most traditional AI. |
| 316 | * The word Computer used to mean a human being whose job was to compute. The earliest recorded use of the term is from the 17th century; Website/{{Wikipedia}} has an article [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_computer here]]. |
| 317 | * [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrot Hybrots]] are robots with partially organic [=CPUs=] made by spreading rat neurons suspended in a nutrient solution on a computer chip. They've only lived a few weeks to a couple months so far, though with better life-support they could live up to two years. |
| 318 | * [=CalTech=] stretched a cell membrane across a computer CPU slot, leaving the gold pins in place, and were able to process data with it (until it died). |
| 319 | * While this trope usually revolves around using neural tissue as a processing unit, another possible way for this trope to come into play -- and possibly even become TruthInTelevision -- is through [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_computing DNA computing]]. In fact, DNA-based computers that can be reprogrammed [[https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/hardware/dna-computer-shows-programmable-chemical-machines-are-possible have already been successfully built]]. Though it's debatable whether this counts as ''wetware'' in the conventional sense of a ''living'' biological component, since it's really just a (bio)chemical computer without metabolic processes. This is sometimes called ''gooware'' to distingish it from genuine ''wetware''. |
| 320 | [[/folder]] |
| 321 |
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