From: | shadowrn@*********.com (Hahns Shin) |
---|---|
Subject: | Wired Reflexes and other things (was Re: Synapses) |
Date: | Thu Feb 21 16:40:02 2002 |
> stitches close) must be shorter for Bioware. When you have wires implanted
I was quoting rules from Shadowtech at the time. Sorry.
> they'd have to cut you open and place superconductive cable down your
> spine...etc the addition of an active feedback subprocesser would be even
A superconductive would NOT have any positive effect on your somatic
reflexes, since the "electrical" impulses are changes in chemical ion
concentration. Think battery, not telephone cable. Wired reflexes are often
described as artificial implants that stimulate endocrine and reflexive
responses, rather than "laying down new cable" so to speak. This is why the
reasoning behind reaction enhancers is specious at best (Superconductive
disks? Right). Still, with the essence cost of high-level wired reflexes, I
wouldn't be surprised if something nearly as drastic is taking place (This
won't hurt a bit...).
> more so, after all it's got to go somewhere. Yes the nanites actually wire
> it into your system but nanites can only change what's there, they can't
> create superconductive wire or preprogrammed optical chips, (or at least
I'm
> pretty sure they can't.)
The nanites do not create the implanted chips... I'm imagining these to be
implanted by surgery and connected during the "nanite bath phase". I'm sorry
if I didn't make that part clear, though I'm also pretty certain that if you
create nanites complex enough (say, drone AI rating 3), they can make a
pre-programmed chip, but surgical implantation would be easier to do.
Anyway, the chips would be implanted through transimplant surgery, and
connected by nanites. This would be a relatively simple process, as seen in
the low essence cost of Math SPUs and Chipjacks. It just connects the brain
to a chip. I think the main problem with Wired Reflexes is that it is a
"package deal" by game design and not separated by component parts. The
Smartlink is a good example of cyberware that has component parts that
traditionally has been a package deal, though recent sourcebooks have
changed this. I propose that Wired Reflexes do have component parts that
happen to stimulate different tissues to produce an overall effect. The +d6
to initiative is the random variable and easily explained by increased
stimulation of endogenous secretion of catecholamines in the adrenal (note:
This is similar to, but different from, the adrenal pump. The adrenal pump
is a "pouch" that holds a large amount of catecholamines for immediate
release, much like the gallbladder holds bile). The increases to reaction
would be co-processors that regulate cortisol, growth hormone, melatonin,
and other hormone levels for "optimum reflexive efficiency", converting into
additions to reaction. The reason this isn't identical to boosted reflexes
is that it isn't a one-shot deal... it consists of processors and artificial
stimulators that can be added, removed, and even upgraded. I'll have to work
out the essence costs and component parts sometime, when I'm not studying
for the boards and have a copy of Man and Machine handy.
> With Neural Bioware (especially synaptic enhancement and brain
> augmentation(?)) they have another option, the way it's written suggests
> that rather than opening your spine from top to bottom they either do it
as
> injections (see my original comment) or they implant a "gland" at the base
> of the skull. Rather than replacing the nervous system therefore it
> encourages the body to do the work itself. So not only do you have less
time
> lying around doing nothing but, as my original comment tried to explain,
> less need for physio as well.
<snip a long and rugged explanation>
Physical therapy, you mean. Physio is something completely different to a
medical student, at least this one (lab workup, electrolytes, etc). But I
digress. Your reasoning for the cyberware version is sound, except for the
fact that, by the very nature of being artificial and computer-controlled,
wired reflexes can be "tweaked" very easily (much like a software control
panel settings), allowing an easier recovery period (theoretically, of
course, in the capable hands of a cyberimplant doc or therapist). This is
done all the time in dialysis, with the filtration calibrated to match the
level of renal failure. Granted, we haven't created an artificial kidney yet
(working on it), but the concept is similar.
The description of bioware, from Shadowtech, is that a whole organ is grown
from a host body, but it is not "developed" inside the prospective patient.
They may use the patient's germ cells to create a clonal organ, but it still
must be grown in vitro rather than in vivo. The organ is created, and then
afterwords it is implanted, rather than the other way around. Specialized
treatments, of course, can vary (skin modifications come to mind), but most
of the descriptions of neuralware point to gray or white matter being
vat-grown then implanted directly into the brain, and then a long, drawn out
integration period occurs. Of course, the original culprit of this
discussion, the synaptic accelerator, is vague (deliberately, it seems)
saying that something is implanted that "encourages nerves to grow and
replicate". Whether this is stem cells that stimulate growth or a gland that
produces a disseminated synthetic version of nerve growth factor remains to
be seen. So for your example, yes, the synaptic accelerator may work like
that. But not all bioware, and certainly not most neural bioware. Also, if I
had a patient into whom I injected or implanted something that makes cells
grow and run amok, I wouldn't let that patient out on the street just yet
(think cancer). What if the nerves didn't stop? Neuroblastomas,
neurofibromas, cerebral edema, and increased intracranial pressure... I can
think of many horrible things that could happen.
Foreign tissue is often rejected by host bodies... heck, even CLONAL tissue
has been rejected in experimental studies. Something happens during mitotic
replication and differentiation that turns on "self" and "non-self"
awareness, and this is integrated in normal animal homeostasis (not the
correct term, but it will suffice for now). I'm sure part of the process of
bioware integration includes chemotherapy and nanite regimens until the body
finally accepts the tissue. To put the debate in another way (a current
example, if you will), a pacemaker implant is relatively simple and
uncomplicated to recover from. Bypass surgery, even laparoscopic procedures,
take longer, even though the comparable surgery procedures and risks are
similar. It seems counterintuitive that the body will more readily accept a
piece of plastic than it will living tissue, but it has to take time to
"integrate" the tissue, whereas artificial parts are merely "ignored"
or
"irritating" to the body. At most, the body will form a fibrous connective
tissue capsule around it and go on its merry way.
Hahns Shin, MS II
Budding cybersurgeon
"Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know
that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed."
-G. K. Chesterton