MSNBC Reports Bionic Arm- But They Don’t Know About the Two Soldiers in Iraq…

[…] On a philosophical note–A DARPA program administrator spoke to me about artificial limbs and the army’s work on “bionic” prosthetics (read more here and here).  He asked- “what if your daughter came up to you 10 years from now and said Daddy I want to be the fastest runner in the world- please cut off my legs and give me the prosthetics ones”.  We are approaching the technological inevitability when replacement body parts may surpass the abilities of our natural ones.  Legs that run faster or eyes that can see farther, sharper, or in the dark.  Would you get one implanted?  I also spoke with a doctor who was in charge of drug and genetic testing at the Olympics (genetic as in making sure the boys anre boys and the girls are girls at the DAN level).  He asked a similar question about performance enhancing drugs and cited reports of college students using performance enhancing sleep deprivation drugs designed for the military.  If a drug was available with no short term side effects that could allow you to not nned to sleep for a few days and enhance memory and performance what proportion of college students would take it before exams?  What is the limits you would go to to enhance your performance.  I think my wife fears the day I come home with a Matrix-plug in the base of my skull…. […]