A discussion on damaged limbs and prostheses.

[Dirty Hipsters]

I was recently listening to The Dollop, a comedic podcast about American history, and they had an episode about a kid whose arms were torn off in a farming accident (and the kid was a HUGE BADASS about it). After the accident the kid's arms were reattached, but they never worked at full capacity again.

Episode can be found here if you're interested:

http://thedollop.libsyn.com/149-john-wayne-thompsons-armageddon

At the end of the episode the hosts talked about modern prostheses and posed the question:

If you had a body part that was damaged, maybe if your legs didn't work, or your hands were damaged and couldn't grip things properly, etc, and you could cut off that body part and replace it with a prosthesis that would work better (not 100%, but an improvement)? Would you choose to get that body part replaced or no?

One of the hosts thought that he would probably keep the body part rather than getting it replaced, because it would make him feel more human, even if it wasn't working. Personally I'm on the other side of the spectrum. As Pat from Best Friends Play would say "chrome me the hell up!"

To me my body isn't "me." What I am is my mind, and my body is basically just a permanent form of transportation. To that end I eat right, I exercise, and I try to keep my body in the best condition that time allows (I go to the gym, I run, I'm at 10% body fat and I have a 6 pack). If some part of my body was damaged and unusable I would not hesitate to have it replaced by a prosthesis that would allow me a greater range of mobility or dexterity than my damaged limb provides.

What about the rest of you? How do you feel about hacking off a damaged body part to replace it with a prosthesis? Would you be willing to do it, or do you think doing so would make you feel less normal or less human?

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Absolutely, wouldn't even be a question. Yes. I'd learned to walk or hold or see or whatever.

Besides even if it only half works, a glowing red eye is too good to pass up.

 

[Saelune]

Being able to function > Human Pride. Especially if it was my hands or ability to sense things. I don't think I could stand living anymore if I couldn't play video games.

Plus I'm kind of hoping I will live long enough to become a relatively immortal cyborg.

 

[DefunctTheory]

That's a bizarre question. Of course I would. Real life isn't 40K or Dues Ex, I don't have a 'Soul Meter' gauging how human I aim, and I'm not going to suddenly self identify as a toaster because my hands or something is not flesh.

Hell, I try not to get offended on other people's behalf, but how does someone say 'I'd feel less human with a prosthetic' in this day and age? There's loads of people running around with fake limbs, artificial heart valves, composite metal bones... and someone thinks they feel 'less human?' That's just strange.

 

[wulf3n]

I can't really say what I'd do. I wouldn't feel any more or less human by having/not having a prosthetic limb.

Intentionally removing the limb does seem a bit too permanent for me. I mean the prosthetic may work better now but medical science may reach a point in which it can repair the damaged limb and have it work better than the prosthetic

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I have a snapped tendon in my thumb on the right hand, makes gripping with said hand a bit of an extended chore. I'd love to have some form of prosthesis to aid with that rather than getting a fusion surgery to "fix" the problem since they can't repair the tendon. Note: the tendon in question is the one that bends the thumb so its permanently straight and after 10 years of being unused in a bending capacity I've got no knuckle wrinkles on the joint. I still have about 50% usage as I can still touch thumb to pinky but I can't bend at the tip.
I'd love to get a prosthetic that just helps it bend naturally without having to cut anything off, I'm sure there's a way to do it.

 

[Queen Michael]

If somebody could fix my eyes with tech, I'd say heck yeah.

 

[Vausch]

If I could afford one of those implants that gives you 50/20 vision and the surgery was incredibly low risk, I'd take it in a heartbeat. I don't much care for wearing glasses, especially after discovering what it's like to have them destroyed and you can't see or do anything for a week.

 

[Wrex Brogan]

Fuck man, why stop at the limbs? Just download my brain into the robot, let's not pussy-foot around it. Hell I'll go all DOOM on it and just put bits of my brain in a robot body, that'd be tits. I'm just a meat popsicle, so taking the important meaty bits and putting them into a not-as-meaty body is 100% a-ok with me.

AND! No more joint pain! That'd be nice.

...though if that happens, I dunno if I could really answer the captcha 'I'm not a robot' properly. Damn, there's always a downside...

 

[Level 7 Dragon]

Ah, good old transhumanism discussion.

My family has a curse which makes every dude have some sort of problem with their right leg, including me. My great great grandad got shot in the knee in WW1, my great grandad fell down a flight of stairs and ended up limping for the rest of his life, my grandad had some injury while hiking and has problems with his knees, my dad keeps breaking his leg in weird accidents and I have just problems with an ingrown nail. It actually got so bad that it grew into my bone and doctors constantly have to remove it to avoid it causing serious infection.

Basically, now, with even a well functioning leg would prefer a prosthetic if it would cause less trouble than its organic counterpart.

 

[McElroy]

I'm not going to suddenly self identify as a toaster because my hands or something is not flesh.

That problem is more common than you might guess. The closest I've managed to get is sticking bread into my armpits, a power cord up my nostrils and lying in the sun for a few minutes. The illusion always breaks when I jump up and the toast is still not done. Haven't really though about prosthetics yet.

 

[the December King]

If the limb in question is at least non functional, then I'd have it replaced, if possible, out of necessity (and assuming cost is no factor here). But if I just couldn't do 30 'reps' or run as fast as I used to, then no, I don't think I would. At this stage it's likely just age catching up with me (and bad eating habits, and severe apnea, and being sedate, etc.).

Being a fat old man with a muscular cyborg arm would look stupid.

Well, stupid in 'real' life.

It could be 'hollywood' awesome, I suppose.

Depending on who did my fx.

 

[stroopwafel]

As long as my prosthetic limbs aren't owned by corporations I see no problem with it.

That..would be unavoidable. Advanced prosthetics could never be able to be financed by public funds alone.

Anyways I think most people(myself included) would prefer to have a full functioning prosthetic then live with amputation, damage or loss of function. It doesn't alter cultural or religious perceptions of 'humanity' in any way(nutcases excluded). Basically humans are nothing more than nature computing with meat. An adaptive mechanism prone to disease and damage that ages and dies. I think as long as that core concept isn't 'threatened' nothing really changes to the status quo.

However say people could go full synthetic with bodies that were way more resilient, free of organic disease and a slowed down aging process that allowed them to live way beyond their natural life span. Then imagine the neurological activity of the brain being downloaded into a computer model to compensate for vascular degeneration. I think that would shake things up quite a bit.

I think if you consider how people's lives have changed with the advent of computers and smartphones and wireless networks compared to how previous generations lived and extrapolate that to people becoming machines themselves I don't think it's far fetched that social hierarchies will desintegrate. I mean, human history and social changes have always evolved along technological lines and I can't imagine a change that is more absolute.

As long as the notion of 'humanity' stays intact people in general will have no issue with limb or organ replacements. However it would be interesting to see what would happen when science keeps advancing beyond that. Unfortunately we live in this dumb era of Failbook, annoying selfies and people hunched over their smartphones 24/7. Ah well atleast we have games like the new Deus ex next month that allow us the joy of imagination.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Depends on two things-

If I can "recover" from my injury. I mean people who can no longer walked may have a chance of being able to walked again but this depends on the actual pecentage of being able to recover (I know some people have no chance of recovering).

Any "maintanance" of my new prosthesis. Example let say I had to get a new stomach but by doing so, I can't exactly eat whatever I want due to obvious reasons.

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

One of the hosts thought that he would probably keep the body part rather than getting it replaced, because it would make him feel more human, even if it wasn't working.

Huh, so those "purists" folk found in cyberpunk fiction weren't that exxagerated... Anyway, yeah, i'm in the "chrome up" camp. If one of my body parts is useless i see no reason to not replace it with mechanical counterpart, barring eventual dangerous side effects to the rest of my body.

 

[Kirke]

Well, there is one troubling thing that would make me seriously hesitate, and that is phantom pain. I'm generally more for non-permanent procedures though. For example putting an exo-skeleton around my arm to make it function better. But cutting off my arm and replacing it with a robotic one? I'm not sure I would be able to agree to that. It's after all my arm, I've had it all my life and I'm quite fond of it. I understand the argument that I am not my body, but my brain, but I'd argue that I am my entire nervous system including the bits not actually in my brain.

So yeah, maybe I am a human purist. But I don't think it is arrogant to believe that my own body, a model improved upon for hundreds of thousands of years, is more reliable than the product of forty years of development. Hell, imagine having a body that wasn't self-healing. How often do we damage our bodies? I imagine you'd wear out prosthetics soon enough, and any damage to them would require a mechanic to fix.

 

[FPLOON]

Spoiler: Short answer (if referring to my body in particular):

Long answer: I wouldn't care enough to miss it if the replacement fictions the same as my OG body part... Straight up!

Other than that, it could lead to becoming a real-life FullMetal Alchemist! Now, where's the Truth? I got a fist for a present waiting...

 

[Luminous_Umbra]

It depends on three criteria.

1. Just how damaged is the part? That is, could it be repaired without flat-out replacement in a timely manner?

2. Could I upgrade the replaced part later on? If I get, say, the first in a new line of prosthetic legs and it has issues, I want to be able to pick up a better model eventually.

3. How functional is the part in comparison to the flesh version? For instance, if I replace a hand, I would like to have a sense of touch. If I replace my stomach, I want to keep my old diet. And so on. And if it does more, even better! Also, if it can be messed with by the manufacturers.

Because if the answers are very, yes, and extremely close/even better, my answer is a resounding YES.

The only attachment to my flesh is the functionality. If something better comes along and especially if my flesh no longer functions, I'll ditch it in an instant.