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Message no. 1
From: Dvixen <dvixen@********.COM>
Subject: Question about blindness...
Date: Sat, 19 Apr 1997 23:41:37 -0700
If a character is blind, (And don't have cybereyes to correct this) can
they use a datajack and special goggles/glasses to view the world?

My gut reaction is no, but I can't justify this. Comments? Arguments for
or against?

--

Dvixen Code-word : Weevil-chuck. dvixen@********.com
"And I thought First Ones were rare." - Ivanova - Babylon 5
This tagline brought to you by Windows: Have you crashed yours today?
Message no. 2
From: stephen wolfe <twowolfe@*******.NET>
Subject: Re: Question about blindness...
Date: Sat, 5 Apr 1997 14:50:35 -0800
Dvixen wrote:
>
> If a character is blind, (And don't have cybereyes to correct this) can
> they use a datajack and special goggles/glasses to view the world?
>
> My gut reaction is no, but I can't justify this. Comments? Arguments for
> or against?
>
> --
>
> Dvixen Code-word : Weevil-chuck. dvixen@********.com
> "And I thought First Ones were rare." - Ivanova - Babylon 5
> This tagline brought to you by Windows: Have you crashed yours today?

They should since you dony use your eyes to see the matrix
the matrix is sent striaght to the brain so no goggles are needed

as long as there brain works the should be able to "see" the matrix
Message no. 3
From: Matb <mbreton@**.NETCOM.COM>
Subject: Re: Question about blindness...
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 03:29:26 -0700
Dvixen wrote:
>
> If a character is blind, (And don't have cybereyes to correct this) can
> they use a datajack and special goggles/glasses to view the world?
>
> My gut reaction is no, but I can't justify this. Comments? Arguments for or against?

Well.. I can't speak from the most technical standpoint. But I'll try.

If the vision center of the brain is hampered in a way to make it unable
to process information, *anything* that's pumped toward it is going to
fizzle. This could be due to a tumor, traumatic brain injury, poor
brain development (*mighty* poor development = to the point where the
character isn't likely to have survived this long...) .. perhaps a
corp-inspired lobotomization? This would be the equivalent of the
'blindness' flaw described in the Shadowrun Companion.

If the optic nerve is damaged, input could *possibly* be pumped directly
at the occipital lobe (actually the rear portion of the brain = it's why
you see stars when someone dope-slaps you across the back of the head.)
Depends on how techie you like your world to be.

If the eyes are damaged, obviously, they can be replaced with cyber or
bio replacements, or parts thereof (no need to replace the entire thing
if you're only problem is a floating retina..)

As far as the non-replacement goes, I'd say sure; datajacks are
apparently wired into the o-lobe anyway, as deckers handle visual
information all the time. There's actually some work done now (90s)
that allows congenitally blind people to see, using a similar get-up;
the quality of vision, though, is incredibly poor (pixel count in the
hundreds).

Should I ask the reason for this, though? Cybereyes aren't much more
expensive or rarer than datajacks; I could see this being used as a
stopgap measure when recovering from an accident.. or perhaps, hrmm, as
a slightly-bogus way around flash-blindness? In the case of the latter,
the brain is slightly stunned, and any info it gets is going to be
hashed for a while.

Well, before I start to babble...


-Matt
Message no. 4
From: L Canthros <lobo1@****.COM>
Subject: Re: Question about blindness...
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 11:36:39 EDT
On Sat, 19 Apr 1997 23:41:37 -0700 Dvixen <dvixen@********.COM> writes:
>If a character is blind, (And don't have cybereyes to correct this) can
>they use a datajack and special goggles/glasses to view the world?
>
>My gut reaction is no, but I can't justify this. Comments? Arguments for
>or against?

Well, if they don't have cybereyes, but don't have any other reason for
being blind, I don't suppose there's anything wrong with that. OTOH, if
we're talking about someone with the Blind Flaw, then I would say the
answer is 'no' because the blindness, being uncorrectable by cybereyes,
probably results from sort of mis-wired section of the Occipital lobe of
the brain, where vision resides. IOW, if the blindness results because of
some defect in their eyes (malformed retina, lens, cornea, etc) then
there is no reason this could not work. If the blindness is the result of
a defect or injury to their brain, I would say that it would not be
possible to correct the situation with any form of cyberware.

--
-Canthros
If any man wishes peace, lobo1@****.com
let him prepare for war. canthros1@***.com
--Roman proverb
http://members.aol.com/canthros1/
Message no. 5
From: Jonathan Wright <jwrigh01@********.CA>
Subject: Re: Question about blindness...
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 12:59:18 -0400
On Sat, 19 Apr 1997, Dvixen wrote:

> If a character is blind, (And don't have cybereyes to correct this) can
> they use a datajack and special goggles/glasses to view the world?
>
> My gut reaction is no, but I can't justify this. Comments? Arguments for
> or against?

Not having the SSC with me, how do Ultrasound Goggles work? Do they
interface with a smartlink to provide a visual overlay? If this is so,
said blind character could (with a lot of work and nuyen), rig up a visual
system somewhat similar, with the "smartlink" feeding visual input
straight to the optic nerves.

From a game balance point of view, this procedure should be costly and not
as good as normal vision, so that munchkins (a certain Phys Ad posted to
the list comes to mind :) couldn't take the Blind Flaw for building points
and then negate it using a couple thousand nuyen during character
generation.

Jon Wright
Message no. 6
From: L Canthros <lobo1@****.COM>
Subject: Re: Question about blindness...
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 18:42:25 EDT
On Sun, 20 Apr 1997 12:59:18 -0400 Jonathan Wright <jwrigh01@********.CA>
writes:
>On Sat, 19 Apr 1997, Dvixen wrote:
>
>> If a character is blind, (And don't have cybereyes to correct this)
can
>> they use a datajack and special goggles/glasses to view the world?
>>
>> My gut reaction is no, but I can't justify this. Comments? Arguments
for
>> or against?
[...]
>>From a game balance point of view, this procedure should be costly and
not
>as good as normal vision, so that munchkins (a certain Phys Ad posted to
>the list comes to mind :) couldn't take the Blind Flaw for building
points
>and then negate it using a couple thousand nuyen during character
>generation.

The Blind Flaw, however, involves either a malfunction in the user's
optical nerve or in their occipital lobe. In the former, it'll take a
little more work than just installing cybereyes or goggles because you'll
have to run a new optic nerve for vision. In the latter, there is no way
around it.

--
-Canthors
If any man wishes peace, lobo1@****.com
let him prepare for war. canthros1@***.com
--Roman proverb
http://members.aol.com/canthros1/
Message no. 7
From: GRANITE <granite@**.NET>
Subject: Re: Question about blindness...
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 23:03:51 -0700
> From: Dvixen <dvixen@********.COM>
> If a character is blind, (And don't have cybereyes to correct this) can
> they use a datajack and special goggles/glasses to view the world?

I would say sure why not...But..There is always a but isn't there...I
would say the pic would be fairly low grade..not really even
video..Ultrasonic goggles would probably be the route I would
allow..which would build a sort of line drawing of the surroundings
which would continually update..I wouldn't try to drive with
them..but It should be fairly servicable...this info would be pumped
into the processor and then into the brain..

Unless of course this is supposed to be a work around to negate a
flaw from the companion...In that case..No..the closest work around
for that I can imagine is..oh..perhaps..Braille goggles..These would
not be a jack in sort of thing..rather a goggle that changes textures
on the inside and presses representations of obsticles against the
eyelids..thus telegraphing warnings to the afflicted via the
eyellids..Deffinitely not something I would use to drive with..And I
would probably base it on ultrasonics again...So whatch think??
--------------------------------GRANITE
=================================================================
Lord, Grant Me The Serenity To Accept The Things I Cannot Change,
The Courage To Change The Things I Can,
And The Wisdom To Hide The Bodies Of Those People I Had To Kill
Because They Pissed Me Off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ShadowRunner's Serenity Prayer
Message no. 8
From: David Buehrer <dbuehrer@****.ORG>
Subject: Re: Question about blindness...
Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 08:01:55 -0600
Dvixen wrote:
|
| If a character is blind, (And don't have cybereyes to correct this) can
| they use a datajack and special goggles/glasses to view the world?
|
| My gut reaction is no, but I can't justify this. Comments? Arguments for
| or against?

Depends on why he's blind. If its because his eyes went bad, then
sure. If its because of brain damage or dysfunction, then no,
because the user wouldn't be able to interpret the data (however,
they might be able to have a procesor installed that would take the
place of the ocipital(?) lobe. If they do, make it expensive :).

-David
--
/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\ dbuehrer@****.org /^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\
"His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking
alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free."
~~~http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm~~~~

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