So how far are we along to becoming Tech Adepts of the Machine God?

[Hrw-Amen]

Just wondering with the advances in medical science and technology, how much of a human can now be replaced and they can still be called a human?

I know that right now people can have artificial legs, arms and that you can have a pace maker, contact lenses and all manner of things like that, so how far can we actually go right now? Who is the most upgraded or at least artificial person around in world today, does anyone know? Also obviously a lot of these things are out of medical need rather than choice, so how much can we augment rather than fix?

[Deamon-forge]

sure i watched a programe about this sort of thing other month, was talking about how we have come from robotics as in arms legs, and what they can do now. and whats coming next.

[The Devourer]

Considering the amount of temporary organ machines we have it is probably possible to replace most of the human body (excluding the brain). The problem is retaining practicality. While we have artificial organs they are large and often require a lot of power or regular maintenance. Someone could survive with considerable amounts of their body replaced but they would be unable to leave the hospital and their quality of life would be very low.

[Hrw-Amen]

I was just wondering at what point you stop being you?

I mean having had bits replaced by artificial bits for a few days after my operation (A couple of years back.) I did feel like something was missing even though the artificial bit worked better than the original. However a friend of mine who has a brain injury had a section removed and tells me he has noticed no difference.

I don't know anyone who has actually had organs transplanted so I don't know if you do still feel like you afterwards, but I know a few people with new bits of or completely new limbs and some say it felt no different whilst others have said they felt like something was odd/off, not quite themselves.

I have read/seen on tv things that suggested that as well as the brain, things like muscle can also possibly hold certain memory funtions (I assume ones relating to how leg/arms etc work?) so it would seem logicl I guess if you have something new fitted that you wouldhave to relean certain movements and controls. But not everyone seems to have that experience at least from those I have talked to.

So I wondered how it feels if you have say a heart/liver/eye or whatever transplnt, are you still you, do you feel like you or slightly different? If so can you put your finger on what it is that s different?

I get the impression sometimes froading things like W40k that characters who are ugely augmented are little more than machines and have ost much of their personality I can see that techAdept of the Machine Cult is really little more than an inteligent Servitor, but the man (Or woman.) they were is no longer present A bit like a Borg I guess from Start trek if you prefer that. I wonder if too much augmentation/replacement ould result in that, or do we think that as long as the brain is still there we are still us, regardless of what else is taken away or changed?

[The Devourer]

This would be different from everyone. Changing a non brain part of the body has no direct impact on someones personality since their feeling of self is stored there. Any changes are psycological and will be due to a change in perception of yourself or the world around you. Much of this would depend on what a person percieves as them. If you see yourself as the sum of all your body then loosing any major parts is likely to cause changes however people who see themselves as their mind are unlikely to care about changes as much.

In 40k many techpreists are little more than servitors however this isn't because of the number of "upgrades" but rather a very specific type of alteration where they purposefully shut down the emotion parts of their brain and replace it with a computer. This is going to have a much larger effect than simply making them rational as emotions underly many of our drives or motives.

Personally I view a person as their thoughts rather than physical body so I would still percieve a brain in a machine as them as long as they still thought like they did before.

[Mr Ogre]

As far as I'm aware, we can now replace/replicate mechanically all human organs, barring the old grey matter (mostly because no one is quite sure how it works!).

From here, it's a simple case of miniaturisation, and powering them. Theoretically, we may even be able to make more efficient replacements. Once that's done, and we find a way to halt mental degeneration, we're looking at possible immortality.

Though I subscribe to the belief that's a bad thing, and only encourages total social stagnation, and possibly the rise of an immortal overclass where mere mortals live and die to keep tem in luxury!

[Easy E]

I was just wondering at what point you stop being you?

At what point are you you?

[El_Machinae]

You're 'you' as long as you maintain coherence. I'm not very much the same person I was when I was five. My memories, senses, knowledge, personality, etc. are all wildly different. But I'm still 'me'.

The very cutting edge in neuronal issues isn't all that high, relative to where we'd like it to be. We can put pacemaker-esque electrodes in. We can (in monkeys) link motor centers to muscles. We can transplant in new neural tissue (i.e., Parkinson's and stem cells), but it's not very effective.