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_Algernon_ parent
We got the boring version of the cyberpunk future. No cool body mods, neon city scapes and space travel. Just megacorps manipulating the masses to their benefit.

filoeleven
The cool body mods are coming!

The work at the Levin Lab ( https://drmichaellevin.org/ ) is making great progress in the basic science that supports this. They can make two-headed planaria, regenerate frog limbs, cure cancer in tadpoles; all via bioelectric communication with cellular networks. No gene editing.

Levin believes this stuff will be very available to humans within the next 10 years, and has talked about how widespread body-modding is something we're going to have to wrestle with societally. He is of course very close to the work, but his cautious nature and the lab's astounding results give that 10-year prediction some weight. From his blog:

> We were all born into physical and mental limitations that were set at arbitrary levels by chance and genetics. Even those who have “perfect” standard human health and capabilities are limited by anatomical decisions that were not made with anyone’s well-being or fulfillment in mind. I consider it to be a core right of sentient beings to (if they wish) move beyond the involuntary vagaries of their birth and alter their form and function in whatever way suits their personal goals and potential.- Copied from https://thoughtforms.life/faqs-from-my-academic-work/

Terr_
> cellular networks

I often like to point out--satisfying a contrarian streak--that our original human equipment is literally the most mind-bogglingly complicated nanotechnology beyond our understanding, packed with dozens of incredible features we cannot imitate with circuits or chrome.

So as much as I like the aesthetics of cyberpunk metal arms, keeping our OEM parts is better. If we need metal bodies at a construction site, let them be remote-controlled bodies that stay there for the next shift to use.

fc417fc802
At this point the biochemists have managed to create amino acid based structures that are stronger than the vast majority of building materials. Surely enhanced organic parts is the way to go?

I see no reason to expect that superwood is incompatible with in place biological synthesis from scratch. That's entirely organic and there's no question that its material properties far exceed those of our OEM specifications.

Terr_
For most of our use-cases, we can probably do even better, since we don't necessarily want or require the product to remain "alive."

For example, dental enamel is a really neat crystalline material, and a biological process makes it before withdrawing to use it as a shield.

tclancy
In retrospect, it should have been obvious. I guess I should have known it would all be more Repo Man than Blade Runner. I just didn’t imagine so many people cheering for the non-Wolverines side in Red Dawn.

(Now I want to change the Blade Runner reference to something with Harry Dean Stanton in it just for consistency)

Lu2025
Oh well, at least the futuristic sunglasses are back in fashion.

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