If you could become "augmented"...would you?

[Doclector]

I've been playing Deus Ex Human Revolution: Director's cut. Long time coming, I know, but I tried it before with the normal version and honestly, couldn't stand the thought of more terrible boss fights, which by the way, are greatly improved, though it still does suck that in a game so obsessed with choice, you have to kill them. Probably also makes a difference that I have actually gotten better at games in general since last time, especially stealth-wise.

Anyways, it's got me thinking about the possibilities of robot parts. Beyond the usual "Holy shit I want robot arms so bad".

Of course, with sarif and LIMB being a massive dick with the pricing, let's just say that augmentation in the future carries no risk of having to be on neuropawhat for the rest of your life. What then? What would you augment?

Personally, I'm intrigued by the possibility of somehow augmenting our very minds. Imagine being able to control your thoughts directly. You don't want to feel attracted to someone you really shouldn't be attracted to? You don't have to be. You feel anxious about a routine meeting? Turn the anxiety down. It could be as easy as turning add-ons off and on in firefox. It always greatly frustrated me that I cannot truly be the master of my own mind.

And of course, I'd have to get robot arms. Dur.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I have augmented vision, ***** I'm already the future!

People look at my augmented visual aids and they be all like 'Wow, wish I could be as attractive and/or top of the range as that guy.'

And I be all like Gendo Glasses Glare all over the place.

 

[Queen Michael]

I'd invest in a pair of bionic eyes. My biological ones aren't all that great.

 

[Bertylicious]

I'd get augmented in a heartbeat. I would have my bottom augmented so it was extra comfortable to sit on and I'd have my guts upgraded so I could eat all the junk food I wanted without feeling like I was rotting from the inside out. All of the benefits of being morbidly obese with none of the side effects!

I can already control my thoughts directly, it's not like there is some curiously attired flunky I have to consult whenever I want to think about boobs. Controling my emotions so life was like being on MDMA with no come-down or massive brain damage would either interfere with my personal identity as a misanthrope or result in me actually murdering someone who turns right into a petrol station.

 

[Anachronism]

I have augmented vision, ***** I'm already the future!

People look at my augmented visual aids and they be all like 'Wow, wish I could be as attractive and/or top of the range as that guy.'

And I be all like Gendo Glasses Glare all over the place.

You think that's impressive? I have a super-advanced chronometer built into my arm, so I can tell exactly what time it is whenever I like!

I'm never caught out by time passing quicker than I realised, and I never miss what I want to watch on TV. BOOM.

 

[Strazdas]

Of course. Always want to improve this bag of meat and bones. I would augment everything i can.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Augmented eye vision.

I couldn't see any more than a few inches in front of me, without my glasses. New eyes would do me a great boon, indeed.

 

[Auberon]

If no other options existed. Even then I'd hope bio instead of chrome, but Wired Reflexes and other minor might be on the table.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

No. The idea is rather unsettling to me. Frightening, even. As if there's a point where you start to lose your humanity and become something else. I understand that's just ignorant idiocy of my time though. If I was born in a society where augmentation was already a thing, and other people indulged in it, then I'd imagine my feelings toward it would be much more positive. But as now? No fucking way in hell.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Personally, I'm intrigued by the possibility of somehow augmenting our very minds. Imagine being able to control your thoughts directly. You don't want to feel attracted to someone you really shouldn't be attracted to? You don't have to be. You feel anxious about a routine meeting? Turn the anxiety down. It could be as easy as turning add-ons off and on in firefox. It always greatly frustrated me that I cannot truly be the master of my own mind.

Yeah, I can see this ending very very badly.

I'm going to say that I'm against augmentation, because it is new and scary, but totally ignore all the medical advances we've already got because they are normal and don't count.

 

[Barbas]

I guess I'd go for heightened senses, specifically vision and hearing - I'd like to see what could be drawn or painted that couldn't be before, as well as what undiscovered delights wait to be realized in music. I'm for augmentations that make people more perceptive and empathetic, but I'd probably give anything else a miss...a man's got to know his limitations.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

I can already control my thoughts directly, it's not like there is some curiously attired flunky I have to consult whenever I want to think about boobs.

You've never met Phil? The bastard told he was in charge of boob-thought distribution for the entire Western hemisphere; I've been paying him an annual fee since I turned 13!

OT: No, I'm fine being unaugmented; my flesh works fine, and getting chromed is always something that is both awesome and terrifying in my cyberpunk games.

Spoiler: the best way to put the downside of augments

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

DE:HR kinda throws away most of its potential themes (for me it's the dumbest Deus Ex by a dystopic country mile), but the series in general is thought provoking.

As for me and aug's? No - but personal opinion is irrelevant, as a post-human era of evolution seems inevitable. We've been augmenting the limitations of our physical forms throughout our time on this rock, and - principally - using nanotech, genetic engineering, or implementing synthetics into our bodies is no different than wearing glasses, taking certain medication, or using crutches to walk when you've done your leg in. The only question remains, is: what do we lose of ourselves when we 'improve' what we are? If we can create a superior human being - then why bother with natural births and natural limitations?

A post-human era will likely bring about yet more socioeconomic schizms; more divides along the have's and have-not's. If healthcare across the globe now looks unequal, it'll get a lot worse.

I'm for augmentations that make people more perceptive and empathetic, but I'd probably give anything else a miss...a man's got to know his limitations.

But that's the thing: an individual may - but our species? Never does, and never can. It's in our nature to push boundaries, up to and beyond every ethical boundary.

...aside from all of that, I'd like fancy metal retractable spikes that stick out of my forearms or elbows: Adam Jensen kinda kicks ass with those things, and I'm going to assume they came with a simple firmware update, enabling instant 'Wolverine lethality mode'.

 

[Random Argument Man]

Augmented Eye vision with HD vision, Night vision and a zoom capacity. (Maybe add a detective mode kind of thing).

 

[sc1arr1]

Totally! I always thought that if in the future we had full body prosthetics like in ghost in the shell.....well I can see myself getting in on that.

 

[BNguyen]

Well, I would like to have an augmented brain - of course I'd like to alleviate the possibility of external control from hackers and such but I want one solely for the purpose of enhancing my memory - the rest of my body is fine as organic, well, save for my poor vision so augmented eyes would be a plus.

 

[Thaluikhain]

...aside from all of that, I'd like fancy metal retractable spikes that stick out of my forearms or elbows: Adam Jensen kinda kicks ass with those things, and I'm going to assume they came with a simple firmware update, enabling instant 'Wolverine lethality mode'.

Eh...why? I mean, wouldn't some kind of device for propelling bits of metal at great speed over distances be much better? And they have those already.

Failing that, a knife. I've always worried about having bionic claws or whatever, and slashing myself in my sleep or something.

 

[TheSYLOH]

I have augmented vision, ***** I'm already the future!

People look at my augmented visual aids and they be all like 'Wow, wish I could be as attractive and/or top of the range as that guy.'

And I be all like Gendo Glasses Glare all over the place.

You think that's impressive? I have a super-advanced chronometer built into my arm, so I can tell exactly what time it is whenever I like!

I'm never caught out by time passing quicker than I realised, and I never miss what I want to watch on TV. BOOM.

Meh you guys are posers!
My vision is actually augmented.
I paid to have someone shoot a femto-second pulse laser into my corneas until I could see better.

Really the question of human augmentation is roughly akin to "Would you like a faster computer?"
Some freak will answer no... but thats besides the point.
Not everyone CAN afford a faster computer, these people are going to be further disadvantaged.
But that can be said about almost every single advance in human history.
The question of from the individual stand point is simple, yes! give it over!
But from a societal stand point its more complicated.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

Eh...why? I mean, wouldn't some kind of device for propelling bits of metal at great speed over distances be much better? And they have those already.

Quite, my choice of fantasy augs was based solely on practicality, and in no way does mentioning Wolverine infer I may have been taking the piss... Besides: aug blades > guns any day, as far as pure awesome goes. (I always tried to play HR the non-lethal way, but Jensen could be seriously hardcore when you hit the 'go nuts' lethal takedown button)

 

[DEAD34345]

I'd definitely go for all the standard augmentations, but I'd be a lot more careful with the mind. Being able to directly control your own emotions like that could be a terrible, terrible thing I think. Humans are evolutionarily "designed" (horrible choice of word I know) to seek happiness, and also "designed" so that things which allow us to survive/reproduce etc give us happiness. That's basically why people do things. If you could just turn your happiness level up, there would be no point in doing anything at all, so I don't know what would happen. It screws up the whole dynamic of human behaviour.

Maybe that could be solved by completely changing the structure of the mind with even more augments, but at that point are you even the same person any more? Would you still be sentient at all? I don't know.