Closer to Cyberpunk 2020
Posted on October 23, 2004 @ 14:19 in Tech
The late 20th century futuristic Role Playing Game Cyberpunk 2020 plays out in a dystopic, highly technologized future. Characters can opt to "chip in" and have a wide variety of mechanical/electrical and biological enhancements installed in their bodies. In the 1990s the year 2020 was a long way off and the technology, while plausible, was mostly in the realm of the fantastic. Now 2020 is another 16 years away, but Boing Boing links to two articles describing scientific developments that put the technology described in Cyberpunk 2020 in the grasp of the realm of actual, everyday possibility.
Wired reports that researchers have created a silicon based chip that
mimics the hippocampus, an area of the brain known for creating memories. If successful, the artificial brain prosthesis could replace its biological counterpart, enabling people who suffer from memory disorders to regain the ability to store new memories.
Meanwhile, Wired also reports, other researchers have managed to grow 25.000 rat neurons in a petri dish, hook them up to electrodes, and provide them with a 'virtual body' in the form of a F-22 flight simulator. The 'brain' so far has learned to control its 'body's' pitch and roll and keep it level in varying 'weather' conditions.
Initially these developments will have mostly medical applications, but it makes you wonder when we'll see +3 Initiative roll Speedware neural implants. The next question is whether "cyberpsychosis" really only was a leveling play mechanic in the CP 2020 universe or whether cybering up really does affect one's "humanity." 2020 doesn't seem so far off anymore and you can't start asking questions too early.
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