Sci-fi Weapons, Vehicles and Equipment

Say, would anyone here ever accept the Full Jensen treatment if they could and it was possible?

What do you mean by Jensen treatment?

The Adam I never asked for this Jensen Treatment

Oh forced into being a cyborg. Tough call given in his case it was that or death and he wasn't exactly in a position to object. However it puts him on the spot for having to maintain his cybernetic implants and they sort of hold it against him for services rendered.

It would depend on the laws in place and if contracts can force someone into that position. Otherwise I would imagine it is like a do not resuscitate or organ donor card option.

One neat thing they explored in Ghost In The Shell: Arise is the fact that military folks who got the Super Soldier cybernetic upgrades found themselves on the hook for maintaining those upgrades once they left military service, something made more difficult by their cyber upgrades being obsolete (often enough the reason why they got retired out of the military to begin with). So you end up with a bunch of veterans with effectively broken bodies doing what they must to keep themselves running.

Meanwhile, the protagonists in Section 9 mention that one of the perks of being on that team is the cyber maintenance line item in the team budget. The Major herself starts out in a state of indentured servitude to the government because she can't afford to pay them back for her upgrades. The whole situation is a huge mess for the folks involved.

Zero Punctuation made a good point about Deus Ex: Human Revolution and the sequel: anti-aug racism makes no sense because, technically, having a pacemaker implanted counts as being "augmented", and where do you draw the line? It's not like people are lining up to have their legs chopped off so they can be whisked straight from surgery to the ghetto.

Jensen isn't given a choice about getting augs... in either game, actually. Considering that the alternative is death, I wouldn't object too much, although the sheer amount of tech they cram into his body is a bit psychotic. You can play him as someone who resents his augmentations or someone who welcomes them... in DXHR anyway. In DXMD, he's basically cool with it.

Edited by Fighteer on Jul 17th 2018 at 12:42:33 PM

The psychotic amounts of tech is because they deliberately gave him way more then he needed, he had a mutation that made him much more receptive to augmentations then your average person, so his bosses decided to experiment turn him into the showroom floor model so to speak while he was out.

They removed perfectly working stuff to cram more augs in actualy.

As for cybernetics? Bring them on, bit of a transhumanist myself... the day that we actualy get working cybernetics cant come soon enough.

Edited by Imca on Jul 18th 2018 at 2:45:32 AM

That's one valid point: Adam Jensen has a rare genetic mutation that causes his body not to reject augmentations, and we know that research into this gene eventually results in the elimination of the need for neuropozyne. But he doesn't know that at the time.

I'm cautious about human augmentation. On the one hand, I'd love to have superhuman (or even maxed out human) capabilities. On the other hand, I don't like the idea of enslaving or indenturing myself to a MegaCorp (or shady government, or street dealer, or whatever) for the privilege, and DXHR makes a decent (if a bit ham-fisted) point that it creates a common vulnerability: what if someone messes with the software that runs everyone's augs?

Edited by Fighteer on Jul 18th 2018 at 9:53:02 AM

Shut off your wi-fi?

I'm a huge fan of all kinds of transhumanism myself, but future maintenance of my augments would have to be unambiguously guaranteed from the start for me to consider it. Especially given how often I've had to repair or replace all my tech that isn't a part of my body. I guess you could solve that with self-repairing nanobots or something though, maybe.

Maintenance is covered in my cyberpunk story, cyborgs are basically guaranteed repairs for their cybernetic parts under health care bills, and many basic repair supplies are sold in pharmacies like bandages or cold medication.

More advanced cybernetic limbs are repaired by contract work, but usually the people who have cybernetic parts that go beyond just limbs or a replacement heart are usually in specialized work that needs those repairs anyways.

The story is basically transitioning from cyberpunk to post cyberpunk.

This is why most of the military in my verse is upgraded with chemical, biological, and pharmaceutical augments, not cybernetics.

I imagine if the technology for cybernetic body parts was at all available there’d be a few people with them.

The military actually seems like the most likely place you’d see that. We’ve had soldiers in the modern day go back into combat with prosthetic limbs, with more advanced technology I’m sure that would be much more common.

It depends on the job really in my verse, and who you are working for. Some companies though have made more common cybernetic limbs for day to day people, and companies like Open-Bionic have advanced with the tech.

Or just design augmentations that are going to last longer than the expected lifespan of the recipient. Shouldn't be too hard to do that...

The military has a larger pool of people with missing limbs than most companies.

Or have a system where the limb itself can be replaced with upgraded models, and the socket is the only thing that stays.

Edited by archonspeaks on Jul 18th 2018 at 6:40:24 AM

De Marquis: You would be really surprised. Even the most simple of prosthetics need regular maintenance, adjustments, refitting, and wear out. It is one of the biggest costs for those with such devices. Our squishy parts have the advantage of being partially self regenerating which is why our limbs last so long. The average life span for most of those devices is 3 years.

Edited by TuefelHundenIV on Jul 18th 2018 at 8:44:09 AM

Yeah I know, I'm just saying what the job is may affect how you get cybernetic limbs.

Hell this setting also has something called gene-paste, it hasn't popped up here in awhile but it still exists.

Think 3D print matter but for organic life, being synthetic stem cells that can be programmed to do certain biological tasks, such as seal a wound or in some cases outright grow cloned organs.

What I mean by certain jobs is that some jobs don't use any cybernetics whatsoever, instead using genepaste to just fix up their troops better than new.

There's no real major competition between gene-paste augmentation or cybernetic augmentation, it depends really on what you are looking for and what you may need, both have their roles and niches filled.

Edited by EchoingSilence on Jul 18th 2018 at 8:45:53 AM

How the hell has something like that not popped up in a while? Based on the description it has the potential to essentially be a panacea, it could treat basically anything. It should be the main treatment in every hospital.

I mean I haven't mentioned it much, because we haven't discussed it at length.

And it has the potential to, but part of it's issue is the availability and access to it. These synthetic cells take awhile to grow in vats and are highly dependent on nutrient rich solutions.

Also it can't cure disease, it's purely about physical damage not immunodamage due to the cells being essentially based around rebuilding damaged body parts, such as open wounds or missing limbs. That's why it can be used to "print" new organs or body parts.

Hell it even is used for genetic augmentation.

If it can be used for genetic augmentation it can be used to cure disease. We’re talking about a technology that could essentially eliminate genetic disorders, and could probably serve as a decent cure for most diseases as well. The second it was invented whatever company owned the patent would be rich beyond belief.

I doubt production would be an issue, as it could basically replace a wide variety of conventional medications.

The problem is that I don't want it to be the be all end all, so I'm trying to think of legitimate reasons why it isn't a be all end all cure.

The most I got is a side effect that overuse can actually damage a body's own healing factor through atrophy, as many see the idea of just injecting yourself with programmed "Repair" paste around where you've been hurt as a easier solution.

Also that rich beyond belief thing, not very good for storytelling in my eyes as this thing would basically replace most biotechnologies from how it sounds when you put it.

Edited by EchoingSilence on Jul 18th 2018 at 9:23:37 AM

Well, it’s a cyberpunk story, so powerful biotech corporations wouldn’t exactly be surprising.

I’d just accept it as it is though. Would it really be so surprising to live in a future where genetic disorders could be easily treated? You mentioned a powerful healthcare system already, so it wouldn’t be surprising if the government provided access to this treatement for people. It’s not like it would completely eliminate suffering or anything like that, and there’s still a variety of social ills that would be present, but it could be interesting to imagine a future where most injuries and diseases could be easily treated.

This is very true. I'll keep it as is for now, it's a regulated substance anyways and the cyberpunk aspects can still be played up.

It does have it's use in cybernetic augmentation, being used for gene therapy to better accept cybernetics with little rejection.

I'll find some way to keep it from being a be all end all cure.

I don’t see why having it be a broad cure is an issue, particularly if you’re going to be exploring post-cyberpunk stuff.

If you can do gene therapy with it it can treat genetic conditions. If there’s a robust healthcare apparatus they probably have access to this technology. The idea that genetic conditions are rare in this setting due to widespread access to a genetic panacea isn’t surprising.

Edited by archonspeaks on Jul 18th 2018 at 7:41:06 AM

I'm mostly worried about making things too easy for my characters. Though I could make it so that paste syrettes are short term solutions while long term fixing needs a hospital.

Though considering I said the story is "Transitional". I could make the increasing presence of gene-paste cures part of the symbolism of things going from cyberpunk (few people have access to this) to post-cyberpunk (it becomes part of standard health care).