The Periphery of the Mind

So I've been thinking lately about things.

Right now, we have the basics of thought-controlled technology. Robotic arms, computers, and other devices, that operate based on signals from our nerves instead of our hands. You can close your eyes and make things happen merely by thinking the command to a machine. And this technology is allowing the paralyzed to communicate, giving limbs back to amputees, allowing the blind and deaf to regain their senses, and so forth. It's all basic, but it's been going on for some time now and getting better with each passing day. In some cases, people are using the technology to -redefine- the human form. There's a line of prosthetic feet that are designed to be better than the human form; you can even pick and choose them from a catalog based on the improved functionality you want. Now, it may just be sales hype or there may actually be a difference between feet designed for distance runners and those for sprinters. But the point is, someone somewhere has decided "this foot is better than that foot".

Humans are choosing what kind of body parts they want. Even if it's only as a replacement for something already lost.

Now, let's change gears for a second. Elective plastic surgery is no longer becoming common place. It -is- common place. "Tummy tucks", Botox, and the ever popular boob-job are omnipresent on television, and increasingly in public. While still expensive, these surgeries are available to the average person on the street, and no where near as expensive as when they first pioneered. People want the surgery, and so they get it. They have no problem mutilating their body or adding silicone bags to it or injecting poison into it for the sake of looking better. We will hurt ourselves if we believe we can gain from it.

So. We will hurt ourselves for gain, and there is technology out there that can improve upon the human form. But how far will we go? Would we really choose to use technology over the human form? Technology that is often obsolete before we even buy it? The RFID-implant fans prove that the answer can be "yes".