Tech:Cybernetics

Background

Cybernetics is the science of combining a man with a machine.

Begun as crude attempts to create processors that would be able to interface with a living being’s nervous system, to translate a computer’s commands into nerve impulses that would stimulate the senses and fool the muscles into action, it was the discovery of a technique to grow nerve cells on silicon chip base that allowed cybernetics to transcend from fiction into fact. With the physical bridge between computer and living tissue now established, decoding the language of the neurons was merely a matter of time and processing power. Later, miniaturization through the application of nanotechnology allowed cybernetics to leapfrog from specialist industry into mainstream society.

First used in the creation of artificial limbs and organs, the application of cybernetics were soon expanded to augmenting people’s physical and mental functions, as well as providing useful abilities people had previously needed external appliances for. Boosted muscles and reinforced bones, senses heightened beyond what nature had intended. Accelerated reaction speed, heightened immune system to fight off diseases genetics have not yet found a cure and to quickly recover from injuries. Processor and memory nodes to augment the brain, wireless communications links to replace communicators and allow the augmented to connect to the local Cyberspehere (See link) and to remote-control appliances and vehicles.

The natural next step was for programs to be downloaded and ran in the processor nodes, giving a person the ability to, for example, record a corporate meeting through his own senses into a secure memory node while agent programs datamined the Cybersphere and company databases to provide additional information. All this while the person himself could devote his attention to the matter at hand, digesting the data provided by the agent programs to better understand the topics discussed.

Military applications

Military quickly understood the benefits of cybernetics and indeed armed forces were most often at the cutting edge of the technology, trying out all possible methods of improving the survival rate and effectiveness of its top agents. Cerebral re-engineering, war-drug dispenser implants and axon blocks provided lightning-quick reaction rate and relative immunity to pain, augmented muscles and skeletal structure made lifting massive weights possible. Nano-fibers threaded into skin layers provided adequate protection from harm, and internal force-field webs, despite their massive power consumption rates, turned even apparently unarmed and unarmored troopers into deadly weapons. Thermal shunts and active stealth coating in the form of active chameleon pigmentation of the skin allowed the augmented troopers to evade enemy sensors, while heightened senses and implanted sensors gave them the ability to spot their targets with pinpoint accuracy. Wetwired weapons controlled by thoughts alone, weapons that forwarded targeting information directly into their user’s brain and implanted weapons like miniature particle energy weapons and nerve-jammers, monofilament garrottes and mono-bonded carbon claws were soon to follow, literally turning the heavily augmented troopers into living weapons.

The dark side of cybernetics

Thus it was the military that was first introduced into the dark side of cybernetics; the mental symptoms nearly every individual displayed after certain level of augmentation was reached. The disease was elusive, striking some individuals early, almost after the first augmentations were installed while others showed no noticeable signs even years after a measurable portion of their bodies had been replaced with cybernetic implants. The symptoms themselves were as varied as much as the onset time of the disease, from mood swings to progressive personality changes, from paralysis to paranoia, from hallucinations to bouts of explosive violence. Death was all too often the final stage of the disease, whether through antisocial behaviour that lead to violent death or the slow decline of a progressive, degenerative collapse of the nervous system. The killer with the many faces soon found a name; Cyberpsychosis.

The actual base cause of cyberpsychosis was debated for long. Bacterial infection of subcortical and limbic structures of the nervous system. Metal poisoning interfering with the cerebral cortex. Neurotransmitter imbalance. Over the decades the last option began to gain in support; people who had augmented their brain and their nervous system were the ones who fell to the psychosis faster than those who had only augmented their bodies.

Treatment of cyberpsychosis is possible, but the road to recovery is long and hard. The approved method consist of removal of all cyberware and administration of antipsychotic medication. The removal of the augmentations helps restore the faded body-image of the patient, but the effects have been noted as minor; still, the benefit lies in minimizing the chance of the patient’s condition worsening and ensuring the safety of the medical personnel treating the patient. Psychological therapy is usually attempted after the patient’s condition has begun to show signs of improvement, but the results have been generally poor. All in all, full recovery from the psychosis is impossible and the chance of a patient becoming a productive member of his society even after years of intense therapy and heavy medication is less than 50%.