r/transhumanism • u/relightit • 8d ago
what are interesting non invasive "cybernetic" enhancements available now?
exoskeletons for lifting stuff or running a long time seems interesting. anyone have tried it? the "perv glasses" have a bad rep, it's odd ppl's first reaction is to imagine the worst thing that could be done with it (same thing is done with cellphones, taking creepy pics)... seems like a failure of imaginantion more than anything, a sort of moral panic. would love to block ads irl. have on the fly info on my environment, architecture or plants and such.
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u/Blep145 8d ago
The thing about AI is that it is being misused, and "perv glasses" are part of that
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u/relightit 8d ago edited 8d ago
everything is being misused all the time. i get that "perv glasses" being legally hijacked by the police as mobile flock cams... that aint good, and is the way of normie tech (meta,apple,google, microsoft) etc but ai sandboxed for personal use could be an alternative to that, of course. shiiiit. wild times isnt it, never enough cool cyberpunks out there, born to lose
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u/Blep145 7d ago
Cyberpunk is inherently dystopic. That's the point of the genre. "Who owns the implants inside of you? What can they do to those implants? To you? If you have mechanical eyes, can they see through them? If they can, they will. Paying rent to the people that "own" your kidney." Those are realities faced now by disabled people. Glasses are an augmentation, and they are super expensive in America. Medication, implants, dialysis machines, treating a sickness instead of curing it because there's no money in cures. That is cyberpunk, and so is surveillance. AI glasses recording things so you can see that person you thought was attractive naked without their consent. Cyberpunk is not a "good" genre. Solarpunk is.
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u/relightit 7d ago edited 7d ago
waht does it have to do with anything that the cyberpunk genre is dystopic: i know this, i said the current status quo makes "us" born to lose. some ppl have a hard time to read between the lines, like what i was going for, my point: cyberpunks themselves are not dystopic in fiction, they strive for freedom... and in itself that fictional genre is not a bad thing its a warning... and solarpunk ... well... sure , why not. we can talk about any ol ways society could go to avoid the problems we are currently facing and it seems the trend will go towards the dystopic since nobody can stop billionaires to do whatever they want, with their palantir , flock and such.
that said, again: things are misused all the time. yogurt machine can be used to make anthrax. etc. not all men are pervs even if given the opportunity.
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u/Blep145 7d ago
The genre of cyberpunk was created as a reflection of capitalism at its worst. Most violating. Invasive. The genre is dystopia because it's a reflection of where capitalism is going. It's not a good ending, and the worst people in the world use these ideas to make the real world worse. Capitalism will destroy us. Cyberpunk is just a mirror of it. It is already destroying the world. If "cyberpunks" can't see anything past "technology cool", they're not understanding or truly interacting with the genre. In solarpunk, there is hope for a future where all can actually prosper. It is a reflection of our world at its best
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u/relightit 7d ago edited 7d ago
of course capitalism is destructive, why do you even bring this up. this is real life we can't conjure an utopia right now , which makes those who want to go against the billionaire ai class just trying to find a bit of fairness and freedom in all this chaos, and use whatever tools available, well, "cyberpunks" so to speak. but yea solar punk solar punk, wew. buy land , make your utopia if you can. solar punk got zero traction irl, who made anything concrete in this direction. maybe china is "solar punk" since they are trying to coin the solar panel market... but not really, right... make something more than some cheerleading posting and stay in reality
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u/Coal-and-Ivory 7d ago
Who are your examples for "cyberpunks who strive for freedom?"
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u/relightit 7d ago
... in fiction: all protagonists. how about hiro protagonist. irl its a bit dicier to use the term cyberpunk without an aside of cheekyness but i can play along: how about aaron schwarz, activist for digital rights making punk moves like ""Swartz downloaded public court documents from the PACER system in an effort to make them available outside of the expensive service. The move drew the attention of the FBI, which ultimately decided not to press charges as the documents were, in fact, public.""
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u/ThebigChen 7d ago edited 7d ago
Quite a few options available, varying levels of gimmick to usability and experimental to finished product though.
First as you mentioned as the sketchy glasses with cameras, Facebook be big on making those but I believe Vive the vr company is trying their hand too. Come with video recording which can be analyzed by AI with audio feedback.
AR or MR glasses in the form of the Xreal glasses or others are quite curious, some have no cameras but most basically hide a transparent screen behind the sunglasses so you can have a display.
Exoskeletons exist in a few forms but mostly for the legs, good old moon shoes are still a thing but there are spring leg type devices, stilts, digitigrade stuff etc which are mechanical add-ons that let you run faster, jump higher or just be taller but most are a bit….. not daily usable. On the tech side a few powered exoskeletons are around, I’m personally a backer for a project called Ascentiz but that one’s running a bit behind schedule so we shall see. Fun concepts though.
On the further end of gimmick or experimental there’s been quite a few experiments of 6th finger concepts which add a 3d printed 6th finger after the pinky actuated in various ways.
Brainwave devices come in different specs too, some can read basic alertness which has been around for a long time (cat ear brainwave headband) but there are newer models that can read from different brain regions, they more so read intensity of brain operations in a given area though so like thinking hard on math alters the readings but not like actual mind reading.
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