If Cyborg Technology Will Be Possible...

Jesus I can't believe no one has replied to this? I think relating it back to Ghost In The Shell, that great quote by Kenji Kamiyama in the liner notes of Solid State Society -

"Nowadays it is getting difficult to create cool, global science fiction. It is because reality has surpassed the future we imagined."

And thats precisely my thoughts on Ghost In The Shell, hitting the nail squarely on the head. Precisely how I wish I'd put it to the sci-fi obsessives who still watch the short sighted generic star trek knock offs.

These are things that could feasibly be possible (cyborgs, brains merging with computers, wi fi internet and the dangers that come with it.) Has any other sci fi explored these possibilities?

I do think that we are still a long way from cyberized brain-cases though, firstly based on how little we still know about the brain and how it works absolutely, just how much power its going to need. The future is a dark one considering energy resources and who owns them, but thats another debate. Although thinking about it, GITS cover that possibility as well what with the time line between now and then including World War III and World War IV. Just I think 2030+ is still abit too soon.

You mentioned using Iraq war veterans for the growing field of cybernetics. I'm willing to admit most of the cybernetic modification we'll see in the near future is going to be tied to amputees. Whether or not it's going to be a war veteran is beyond any of us to predict. It may very well be that a mother of three who was hit in a drunk driving incident could be the recipient of the newest cybernetic care.

I will say that the individual who first receives the experimental care of cybernetic augmentation is going to have a combining factor of:

1 - Most likely to survive the procedure
2 - Receives greatest increase to quality of life
3 - Level of approval by the public

Other than that there's really no way to tell who's going to receive the service first.

What is far more interesting in my opinion is who will provide said technology and care. I'm going to guarantee it won't be the government first. The first instance of most new technologies (not products, but technologies) are ventures by researchers with strong corporate backing. The Military (and that means VA most likely) won't begin providing cybernetic augmentation of the level displayed in GitS until it becomes viable for military purposes.

Given, they'll jump on board and probably take the field to a whole new level of military application once it has been established as a financially reasonable route. But much like robotics, you won't see the first real steps originating from any government. And in reality it makes sense. Why waste billions of dollars when there are corporations more than willing to foot the bill and do the work themselves? Applying early designs to military agendas is much easier.

As for the real science behind brain cases? Being able to swap minds/brains/personas between individual chassis seems a little more difficult in reality than they show in the anime. Our brains have spent our entire lifetimes at adapting to the mechanical abilities, nuances, and abnormalities of our own bodies. Even then our brains kind of suck at it when you consider how uncoordinated we are. How is our mind going to be able to handle that change between bodies that don't even resemble our current frame? Our brains get confused when a finger is removed, providing a phantom like effect of feeling the detached appendage for days, to weeks, and sometimes months. Imagine a brain dealing with the dilemma of having every single nerve below the brain stem immediately replaced.

The brain would have to learn how to re-regulate all of the body functions based on different sensors. Imagine a month long calibration process where your brain is trying to figure out how to properly interpret pain. Imagine not being able to feel pain, much like a CIPA patient. Learning to adapt to a changed body-weight, higher/lower center of gravity, and different internal ear system is going to make you look like a drunk baby. Not to mention when a brain is seperated from so many of it's functions it tends to react in rather erratic patterns, resulting in Shock, Vegetative State, Death, etc.

I'm not saying overcoming that issue isn't possible. But the first person to undertake the procedure (and many afterwards) is going to suffer greatly on the road to a more efficient system.

This is very interesting: ---> http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/11/02/brain.dish/

A scientist from Florida managed to put 25 000 neurons from a rat's brain and connect them to 60 electrodes. these neurons began to reorganize and reconnect themselves spontaneously creating a network. the scientist then connected this to a f-22 flight simulator, where this "mini-brain" of sorts, actually learned, to a certain extent, how to pilot the thing!!! AMAZING!! I thought it was very GITS.

The beginnings are already here. There's a guy who lost both legs who has Bluetooth transmitters in his prosthetic legs so the left foot knows what the right foot is doing. I saw him on TV and he can run up and down stairs almost as well as a normal person. There is a kid who suffers from "Locked In Syndrome" who is learning to talk with a computer that reads the signals in his brain. They have figured out how to convert brain signals into data that a computer can use. The scientist working with the young man said it'll take about two years (the time it takes a young child) to learn to talk with the computer. There is a game controller coming out sometime this year (I believe) that works much the same way. It won't completely control the game but it will control certain aspects of it. They are working on connecting nerves directly to the sensors on prosthetic limbs with the goal of being able to permanently attach prosthetic limbs and have them be powered by the body's own electricity. The world of GITS is dawning.

If GitS technology becomes possible (very big chance it will) human can't be the right difinition of man. By having a brain that can be transported to another vessel (body) it effectivly means the end to aging. Though the series does not point out anybody dying of old age, it would seem that the cyborg brain is capable of preforming better and longer then ordinary human minds.

say today it is rare to become 100 years old, now if we take the GitS world it could be possible to live for atleast 150-300 years. It would all depend on what the cyber brain is made of, but if it is mostly computer parts, then certainly life expectance will rise to unbelieveable levels.

Somehow i hope this is possible to become the future, since i would love to be able to live for 300+ years :D
Internet would also mean a total new world then today. If the internet is a world of it's own, the activity would be enourmous on political and other interest debates. I won't fully be able to understand the possiblities of how it can work toward human development, but it would certainly work to a great benefit for "mankind"

We could however talk negatives: We have no idea of what the human physhe would preform in such a long time. Since most people loss several memories and physical abilities as they grow older, it would seem that the brain might have trouble adapting to the problem.
Of course "humanity" would be extinct as we would take a new form. Since we are now able to take different bodies, we wouldn't have a real identity (like the series points out) and how we percive ourselfs will certainly change if we are able to change shapes and sizes.

Then again the advantages is certainly better then the negatives, so i am certainly for the possiblity of cyber brains.

It isn't a matter of if we will have cybernetic technology. It is a matter of when. If you frequent websites like Gizmodo, NewScientist, DefenseTech (slightly more military stuff, although a new robotic arm for wounded veterans that connects directly to human nerves and has almost human flexibility (not to mention strength), then you'll now that we are getting closer and closer.

If we can hit the level seen in GiTS by the time the series takes place is the real question. And I've think we've got a pretty good shot. (It takes place in late 2020's and early 2030's right?

I realize this doesn't have much to do with the feasibility of the idea overall, but Masamune Shirow pointed out in the original manga one of the problems with "baby steps" towards cyborgs. You can't get a super-strong arm without getting a super-strong body to go with it. The arm is only as strong as the body to which it is attached. Put Batou's arms on your body or mine, and it'll rip right off the shoulder before it hits its limits of strength.

Prosthetics to replace lost parts can happen one piece at a time. Strength augmentation, and augmentation of some types of endurance (tolerance to harsh environments, for example) pretty much have to be done all at once, or they have to be done externally. (Think "Appleseed.")