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[crazysheep]

PTW

Ethics issues might also include things like "what happens if you could make a weapon bioimplant for humans?"

[itisnotlogical]

PTW

Ethics issues might also include things like "what happens if you could make a weapon bioimplant for humans?"

I can't see an issue with that of itself; just make it so that people can't get them easily, like tanks or bombs or hand grenades (which you probably can get easily, if you're the sort of person who wants those things). The problem comes is if somebody gets one of those, and you can't remove it without taking off their entire limb or otherwise damaging their body.

What really bothers me is camera-eyes. How do you know that somebody's not recording any given moment? Even if you put an easily-visible indicator on such a bionic eye, there will probably be somebody with the ability to disable it. And of course the NSA would just love more ways to record people's goings-on.

[notquitethere]

What really bothers me is camera-eyes. How do you know that somebody's not recording any given moment?

Did you know that that already happens with people's eyes? It's called memory.

[crazysheep]

Human memory can be fallible, while a computer reading and storing all the input from such bionic eyes isn't.

[itisnotlogical]

Human memory can be fallible, while a computer reading and storing all the input from such bionic eyes isn't.

Plus, ya know, video recordings that can be played back, shown to other people, kept forever in a government archive or some guy's "naughty" folder.

[Karlito]

What really bothers me is camera-eyes. How do you know that somebody's not recording any given moment? Even if you put an easily-visible indicator on such a bionic eye, there will probably be somebody with the ability to disable it. And of course the NSA would just love more ways to record people's goings-on.

This isn't really an issue with hypothetical camera-eyes, we already live in a world with nearly ubiquitous recording devices and where small and concealable cameras are very much a real thing.

[scrdest]

PTW

Ethics issues might also include things like "what happens if you could make a weapon bioimplant for humans?"

Is this that really different from 'what if you could make a gun' or 'what if you implanted a bomb in your trunk'?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

A student from the same department as Kevin Warwick came to my school to advertise going to Reading University. He ended up mostly talking about his cyborg teacher and the VR cave they have there.

I can't see them talking about anything else. I'd drop any other school to be able to enter Reading's cybernetics department.

What really bothers me is camera-eyes. How do you know that somebody's not recording any given moment? Even if you put an easily-visible indicator on such a bionic eye, there will probably be somebody with the ability to disable it. And of course the NSA would just love more ways to record people's goings-on.

This isn't really an issue with hypothetical camera-eyes, we already live in a world with nearly ubiquitous recording devices and where small and concealable cameras are very much a real thing.

If anything, it might be helpful since it will create sousveillance to counter the surveillance. When you gaze into the public, eventually the public will gaze back into you.

[crazysheep]

PTW

Ethics issues might also include things like "what happens if you could make a weapon bioimplant for humans?"

Is this that really different from 'what if you could make a gun' or 'what if you implanted a bomb in your trunk'?

I'm guessing weapon bioimplants would be out of reach of the average person though, due to biocompatible materials not being widely available yet. So, not that different, but reasonably similar.

[alway]

If you can find a way to stop me going blind I'm all for it.
Bionic eyes? Sure! do I get to pick the color?

Pick the color? You could pick the colors you see.

What really bothers me is camera-eyes. How do you know that somebody's not recording any given moment? Even if you put an easily-visible indicator on such a bionic eye, there will probably be somebody with the ability to disable it. And of course the NSA would just love more ways to record people's goings-on.

Google glass will already do that. As do soooo many other products. And it's not like you can really just turn them off either.
So yeah, already happens, already happening; don't need cybernetic eyes to do so.

PTW

Ethics issues might also include things like "what happens if you could make a weapon bioimplant for humans?"

Is this that really different from 'what if you could make a gun' or 'what if you implanted a bomb in your trunk'?

I'm guessing weapon bioimplants would be out of reach of the average person though, due to biocompatible materials not being widely available yet. So, not that different, but reasonably similar.

Even in THE FUTURE, I suspect the interaction would go as follows:
Patient: DOCTOR! Put a gun in my arm!
Doctor: Uh... yeah.... sure.... Just go down the hall and wait in that room with the padding on the walls while I fill out the paperwork.
Patient: Okay!
Doctor to staff: Right then; go call the psych ward, we've got another loony for them.

[10ebbor10]

PTW

Ethics issues might also include things like "what happens if you could make a weapon bioimplant for humans?"

Is this that really different from 'what if you could make a gun' or 'what if you implanted a bomb in your trunk'?

I'm guessing weapon bioimplants would be out of reach of the average person though, due to biocompatible materials not being widely available yet. So, not that different, but reasonably similar.

What's the point though. It's not like it's ever going to be legalized. (Chances for deadly interference are to high). There's also technical problems with reloading and aiming, not to speak of feedback and barrel heating. Also, guns are bulky. (And I can't think of much other legal weaponry. Sure, you could go for some knife or something, but that's quite stupid.)

 Besides, when you're implanting a bomb in yourself your rarely care about the risk of infection.

[Bauglir]

Human memory can be fallible, while a computer reading and storing all the input from such bionic eyes isn't.

Plus, ya know, video recordings that can be played back, shown to other people, kept forever in a government archive or some guy's "naughty" folder.

I actually have no problem with this. If somebody's allowed to see something in the first place, I don't see why they shouldn't be able to record it*. I have bigger issues with remote surveillance, and we've got plenty of that as a society. I'd love to see it get displaced.

*There are situations where they should be forbidden from sharing recordings, obviously. Classified information, etc. And they should, under no circumstances, be wireless-capable.

[WillowLuman]

As it turns out, nature already does half the work for us in cybernetics. If you put an electrode, electrical receptor, or other such device into human tissue, if the body doesn't reject it, then the nervous system automatically tries to connect to it. The brain can even create entirely new signals to respond to and control things it hasn't had to supply input to before

In fact, even an unformed blob of cloned neurons can collectively figure out how to interpret and respond to stimuli. Let me repeat that: not even a brain, just a blob of cloned neurons, connected to circuitry and sonar sensors. So basically, neurons are natural wonders and I have full confidence that cybernetics will be entirely viable.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

As it turns out, nature already does half the work for us in cybernetics. If you put an electrode, electrical receptor, or other such device into human tissue, if the body doesn't reject it, then the nervous system automatically tries to connect to it. The brain can even create entirely new signals to respond to and control things it hasn't had to supply input to before.

Indeed. During the aforementioned Project Cyborg, they found that Professor Warwick's nervous tissue grew onto and enclosed the electrode array not long after implantation.
 
As for the latter concept, the official name for it is Neuroplasticity, and it is a very interesting phenomenon indeed.

In fact, even an unformed blob of cloned neurons can collectively figure out how to interpret and respond to stimuli. Let me repeat that: not even a brain, just a blob of cloned neurons, connected to circuitry and sonar sensors.

Also from Reading University. Not surprising.

Hmm. The logo looks a bit too much like LG's, now that I think of that.

I remembered just now: I did have an idea for another transhumanist logo if you don't like h+: A human footprint with a circuit in it.

[scrdest]

As it turns out, nature already does half the work for us in cybernetics. If you put an electrode, electrical receptor, or other such device into human tissue, if the body doesn't reject it, then the nervous system automatically tries to connect to it. The brain can even create entirely new signals to respond to and control things it hasn't had to supply input to before

In fact, even an unformed blob of cloned neurons can collectively figure out how to interpret and respond to stimuli. Let me repeat that: not even a brain, just a blob of cloned neurons, connected to circuitry and sonar sensors. So basically, neurons are natural wonders and I have full confidence that cybernetics will be entirely viable.

The problem is, sometimes the body does reject them, forming 'scars' of glial tissue, which actually can signal, but use a very different mechanism than neurons (calcium cation wave vs. depolarization).