From: Emlyn O'regan (oregan.emlyn@healthsolve.com.au)
Date: Thu Nov 08 2001 - 15:30:09 MST
I'd be rather surprised if this scenario were to pan out. When considering
the far longer lifespans which begin to make "rare" accidents more
problematic, the context is unlikely to include a biological body which is
similar to that we have today. At some point in the future I imagine that we
will find our biological bodies are just too hard to work with, with far too
many drawbacks, especially considering the alternatives that should arise.
Emlyn
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dickey, Michael F [mailto:michael_f_dickey@groton.pfizer.com]
> Sent: Friday, 9 November 2001 4:33
> To: 'extropians@extropy.org'
> Subject: RE: ROBOT: wearable self-propelled robotic suit
>
>
> "In just four years, and with $50 million, the Pentagon plans
> to create a
> wearable, self-propelled robotic suit that responds to - and
> amplifies -
> your every movement. By simply strapping themselves into this
> "exoskeleton",
> troops will be able to run faster, jump higher, leap further,"
>
> I just wanted to make some comments about this concept. I have been
> investigating something similiar for quite sometime and I
> think the future
> implications of such a 'suit' whether external or internal,
> are important to
> consider. Mainly, since most of us on this list would like
> to see aging and
> disease defeated and be physiological immortal, a whole new
> realm of things
> will then become the enemy of lives, namely accidents.
> Wearing a protective
> suit would thus radically minimize the chance of death caused
> by accidental
> injury. In our meager short lives we dont much consider the
> chance of death
> by falling rocks, car accidents, or even asteroid impacts. A powered
> armored suit that also contains an environmental sealed
> (think SCUBA dry
> suits combined with powered armored exoskeletons) and the
> human biosphere
> just radically increased, from the surface of mars to deep
> sea excursions.
>
> Beings who do not age will have much vaster things to worry
> about that may
> kill them, stellar events, very rare accidents, etc. etc.
> Anything that
> decreases those chances increases the life span of the
> individual. I think
> in the far future, most beings will have these suits of some
> sort and stay
> inside of them most of the time. They need not be
> uncomfortable either, as
> they can easily emulate tactile sensations and the full range of human
> movement. Be interesting to see where this goes once immortality and
> capitalism start to tug at it.
>
> Michael
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: J. R. Molloy [mailto:jr@shasta.com]
> Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2001 9:29 AM
> To: extropians@extropy.org
> Subject: ROBOT: wearable self-propelled robotic suit
>
>
> POWER DRESSING
> http://www.newscientist.com/opinion/opfeedback.jsp?id=ns231699#29
> To be a member of the US Special Forces you need to be a crack soldier
> with superior physical and mental abilities. But that's today.
> Tomorrow's soldier will have to be superhuman - to be able to
> jog along
> effortlessly at 13 kilometres per hour carrying a 70-kilogram load for
> 12 hours at a stretch. For anyone wearing the right clothes, however,
> this shouldn't prove too much of a problem. In just four
> years, and with
> $50 million, the Pentagon plans to create a wearable, self-propelled
> robotic suit that responds to - and amplifies - your every
> movement. By
> simply strapping themselves into this "exoskeleton", troops
> will be able
> to run faster, jump higher, leap further, and carry awesome amounts of
> high-calibre weaponry. We take a look at the "garment" that as well as
> turning your average GI into a heavyweight fighting machine,
> could also
> revolutionise the lives of disabled people and those working as
> firefighters or in construction, mining and heavy industries.
> Read the full feature in New Scientist magazine
> AND FINALLY...
> Some describe how a wave of sympathy washes over them
> whenever they see
> a road sign referring to a "depressed bridge". Others confess
> that they
> feel strangely moved by the mere mention of an "alarmed door" or
> "nervous tissue". These people are suffering from semiopathy. This
> week's Feedback column examines a debilitating condition which compels
> its victims to over-empathise with objects...
>
> ©¿©¬
>
> --- --- --- --- ---
>
> Useless hypotheses, etc.:
> consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free
> will, qualia,
> analog computing, cultural relativism, GAC, Cyc, Eliza,
> cryonics, individual
> uniqueness, ego, human values, scientific relinquishment,
> malevolent AI
>
> We move into a better future in proportion as science displaces
> superstition.
>
>
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