If you could become "augmented"...would you?

[Senare]

I would augment myself (or go through a temporary procedure) in such a way as to restart my natural growing up process, essentially reliving my teens to refresh my body.

...

Personally, I'm intrigued by the possibility of somehow augmenting our very minds. Imagine being able to control your thoughts directly. You don't want to feel attracted to someone you really shouldn't be attracted to? You don't have to be. You feel anxious about a routine meeting? Turn the anxiety down. It could be as easy as turning add-ons off and on in firefox. It always greatly frustrated me that I cannot truly be the master of my own mind.

And of course, I'd have to get robot arms. Dur.

Eh... I don't think it is that far fetched to achieve what you describe already through mental tricks and the like. From what I have come to understand hypnosis already claims to be able to give you both hallucinations and relief from pain. I even suspect that I can order my emotions around, although in a very indirect fashion.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I'd love better hearing, and vision. That way I'd not have tinnitus or glasses!

 

[Fdzzaigl]

Not being able to control all our thoughts perfectly is what makes things more interesting in life imo. Also, if you did that, you are basically replacing your own personality with a mechanical one that isn't influenced by others around you and their emotions, that's the road to "stand alone complex" right there.

However, I would not mind some augments to greatly enhance my functions or make it much easier to get through certain aspects of life. Like directly storing all information into long-term memory banks, improving general condition and health etc.

 

[Auron225]

Personally, I'm intrigued by the possibility of somehow augmenting our very minds. Imagine being able to control your thoughts directly. You don't want to feel attracted to someone you really shouldn't be attracted to? You don't have to be. You feel anxious about a routine meeting? Turn the anxiety down. It could be as easy as turning add-ons off and on in firefox. It always greatly frustrated me that I cannot truly be the master of my own mind.

To me, this sounds like wanting to be a robot. I know that isn't what you're insinuating but in my opinion, not having complete control over our minds is part of what makes us human.

OT: Well, I stand by "Don't fix what isn't broken". I wouldn't voluntarily replace an arm if both of mine worked fine. However, if something terrible happened and I lost a limb or something involuntarily, then I'd be up for something like that as a replacement.

EDIT: I just realized, something I would actually quite like done is metal plating (assuming this is possible) over obvious vital points of my body, on the inside obviously. So like, a metal plate between my heart and my skin that isn't very obvious to the naked eye. Something that would stop a knife or a bullet... you never know.

 

[ForumSafari]

Definitely, the idea of life extension or full body modification is very appealing to me, particularly if it takes the form of mechanical upgrades rather than other vulnerable biological parts.

 

[Blaze the Dragon]

I would hold off on most Augments until I needed them. If I got in an accident and lost a leg or two, I'd totally splurge and buy better legs than I had before. And when I start getting old I'd get upgrades to keep myself alive, like replacing my heart to keep it beating longer and whatnot. I'd be wary to doing much to the mind though. If anything I'd maybe get add-ons, but nothing to directly manipulate my brain. For instance I'd totally get what amounts to an iPhone installed in my brain, so that with a thought I could say access a calculator and do complex arithmetic, or have a back-up memory so that if I ever needed to recall things with extra accuracy, like if I witnessed a crime scene or needed to remember something from a book or something like that, I'd have perfect recollection of it. Plus I might need the extra memory for my expanded life-span when I get older.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

No need for neruopazine?

Sign. Me. The. Fuck. UP.

I want upgraded eyes so I don't need glasses, plus have a built in camera, plus have night-vision.

And that's about it. I don't think I'd want the really obvious looking ones like robot arms and stuff, and I would be VEEEERY leery of having anything implanted in my head that could change my thoughts.

Scary enough that someone could maybe shut off my eyes. But allow someone maybe literally into my head? Oh FUCK no.

 

[ClockworkPenguin]

I think a lot of people are doing down the human body. It's somewhat squishy, yeah.

But it self repairs, is waterproof, constantly gives you feedback on your surroundings and how it's affecting it's operation, self regulates heat, has an incredibly efficient energy storage and extraction system, can auto filter chemical contamination up to a point, and most importantly, is entirely supported by the existing software.

Whilst augments might be capable of better performance, I don't think they will give you better performance per joule of energy used to achieve it.

 

[nepheleim]

Yep. A lot of people, not unlike myself, probably have some defect or injury that modern medical science can't fix at this time. Asthmatics would probably enjoy lungs that don't suffer from heavy mucus buildup and bronchial swelling every time they want to, maybe, use those lungs like they were intended. Myopia is fixed today with lenses or minor surgery, but more advanced degenerative conditions may warrant replacing the eyes entirely. If you've undergone knee surgery to replace a meniscus you know that the cartilage in the knee will be worn down faster, leading to worse arthritis or loss of mobility. That could be fixed by not having a cartilage supported knee structure.

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

I would, no doubt. I'd go all the way with a full prosthetic body if I could. Living indefinitely, change your appearance with ease, generally just be better.

 

[Phourc]

I wouldn't want Human Revolution's augmentations - don't forget they require expensive weekly drug intake for the rest of their life.

According to game lore, their bodies will 'reject' the implants without Neuropozyne. I was honestly a little disappointed that turned out to actually be the case, rather than some ridiculously complex conspiracy as is usual in the Deus Ex universe.

 

[Tony Stark]

Huh - see, this pretty much is definitely a question I could say yes to...depending on the augmented abilities, life would probably be a whole lot more conveniently paced and would help out with a great deal of things for all manner of people who might require it, be it cosmetically, ego or health related reasoning.

Obviously the fat cats will find a way to give subpar goods to the people, but that's not totally infallible...
Black markets, last I checked, still exist afterall!

 

[teamcharlie]

Nope. Pretty much any voluntary procedure in which the first step is "Now let's cut off that pesky arm/eye/leg/heart of yours!" goes in my 'definitely not' pile.

 

[Da Orky Man]

Indeed I would.

However, I probably wouldn't make it obvious. No fully replaced limbs or stuff like that. For starters, I'd get my left eye, the crap one, replaced. Assuming we're staying in a vaguely Deus Ex realm stuff here, I'd grab the rebreather, a few brain augments, hearing augments. And I'd also get a USB drive embedded in one of my fingers.

 

[Jenvas1306]

I'd get massively augmented. Military grade stuff. without weapons though but all the defensive things and I'd make sure that I'm still pretty, because gotta stay a lady while I throw a bus across the city with precision, to scare that delivery guy who was too lazy to just ring my bell when I was at home waiting for a package I ordered.

As long as we are talking GitS augmentations rather than Deus Ex stuff that needs you to take expensive drugs.

 

[Drizzitdude]

Critical organs first off, then maybe arms. With how they describe them the hands seem to be capable of feeling/touch just as well as regular fingers in the signals they send to the brain so why not(swords are a necessity). Eyes definitely, I would love having optimized vision with a sort of hud/computer like an eyeball version of google glass.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

I am greatly looking forward to replacing the lower portions of my legs. I have dislocated both of my knees at least 3 times each. They are utter garbage.

I'd rather not implant shit into my brain though. I'm already handing some company a part of my nervous system, I'd rather not just let them into my head.

The only restriction I'd place on augmentations is that they have to operate within normal human ability. Also why I'm against fucking with the brain to make us think faster. I don't want augmentation to give an unfair advantage. I'm not sure it's OK to just chop off a perfectly functioning piece of your body just because we've made something better.

 

[Sir Shockwave]

I would replace every single body part, organ and fluid with wires, synthetic fluids and metal. The Flesh is Weak after all.

 

[Skeleon]

Sure, I'd get augmentation, but nothing much. Give me a cybernetic eye. Other stuff I'd replace as needed as I get older, not just for the heck of it. But imagine all the augmented reality stuff you could do with a cybernetic eye. If I ever got sick, I might augment my organs. But I wouldn't replace healthy body parts for no good reason. Speaking of which, I suppose I'd want a glandular augmentation to help with endocrinal functions. My thyroid is crap. I eat pills every day.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

I'd definitely be down for upgrades if a part of me failed or became irreparably injured in some way. I'm not so sure I'd be comfortable in hacking off a perfectly good arm or leg to replace it with a robot limb. Despite the boosts in strength, vision, speed, or whatever, those pieces of metal still aren't me.