| From: | Sebastian Wiers m0ng005e@*********.com |
|---|---|
| Subject: | On Cybereyes |
| Date: | Tue, 14 Sep 1999 20:56:38 -0700 |
> your mind and your body would be UNABLE, as adaptable as the human being
> is, to adapt to. You'd get the info, but it'd be mishmash you couldn't
> interpret or corroborate with anything else you're getting. Permenantly.
> CONSTANTLY. 24/7. You'd go nuts. Anybody have any opinions, perhaps, on
> IF that little hurdle got beaten? And if so...how? (FASAtypes and such
> want to comment, maybe? Is this explained or covered in M&M?)
Why is it a mishmash stream of new information? Part of the process of
installing cyber eyes would logically be to map the functional parameters
of the optic nerve and figure out which nerve needs which type of input in
order for the mind to comprehend images. Cyberware is designed to mimic
and mesh with organic function. A cyber eye is not a vid camera, and the
installing surgeon does not just ram a co-ax cable ito the folds of your
brain and hope you see something...
The cyber eye, if it replaces they eye without placing any new demands on
the brain, would have to perform some image procesesing duties (movment and
edge detection take place partly in the retina, as adjacent optic receptors
compute thier "difference" signal). Having it then route that info via the
many connection to the appropriate nerves of the optic trunk would not add
much to the processing load.
In any case, what you are asking for (a cyber eye that works as well
and safely as the natural one) is a a trivial task, given other Shadowrun
technologies. Simsense creates a full sensory experince, including vision,
and requires only a datajack for perfect recreation of that sensory
experience. Datajacks cost a lot less than cyber eyes...
So, all the cyber eye need do is create the same sensory information that
is found in a simsense record, and route that to something that connects to
the visual portion of the brain in the same way as a datajack. That may
not be possible in the real world (although many people are saying is is,
especially given nanotech advances in brain stimulation and nueral mapping)
- but it IS pretty straightforward in SR.
Simsense is a logical basis for a lot of cyberware effects, even if it is
never expalined that way. If nothing else, the breakthrough of being able
to record and simulate sensations and emotions would teach us a LOT about
how the mind / brain works, and would be a useful research and dignostic
tool. Without simsense, you deny decking, and rigging, and smartlinks, and
skillsofts, and basically might as well give up the game.
[Your eye doctor would not need to ASK you what you could and couldn't
see- he could
see what you see, and probably analize your ocular acuity and retinal
health with some sort of nueral-translation widget.]
This are some of the limits on cyberware use of simsense- most
notably, simsense is NOT a format that most electronic display and
recording devices can translate (which explains why your cyber eyes can't
output video, unless you get a camera).
If its more sublte differences (shades of color, resolution, acuity) that
worry you, it's unfounded. The mind CAN adapt to new types of input, as
demosntrated by a huge amount of nuerological research. If full blown
simsense doesn't drive you nuts, why would a cyber-eye? The fact that you
"can't turn it off" actually makes it EASIER to adapt to, since you are not
having to adapt to multiple modes.
[So, can a sell you a set of Transys Opticraft 4's, or would you like the
Shaiwase 7's?]
Mongoose
"These days, you have to be pretty technical before you can even aspire to
crudeness."
