Poll: What is the difference between cyborg and wearing power armor?

[hermes]

The difference is: you can remove your armor and function properly. A cyborg is someone that has parts of his/her anatomy replaced by machinery, so that he can't function properly without them.

 

[happyninja42]

If she is incapable of living without the suit, and thus is always in the suit I would definitely label her as a cyborg. You might make it be a point of discussion in your story though, to reinforce the point that she can't live without the suit, to explain the definition as cyborg.

This is just random brainstorming, but you might try to expand on the suit a bit more than just "the armor she's wearing so she doesn't die". Perhaps have the suit have an inboard AI that talks to her, sort of like Jarvis for Tony Stark in the Iron Man suit. That way she can have some dialogue options even if she's forced to be alone in some social situations.

Or perhaps have it be that she tinkers with the suit, and has hacked the onboard AI to give it more personality, so she can have a buddy. Or perhaps also she and the AI tinker with the suit to allow her to have more access to various abilities. I mean, if I was stuck in that suit 24/7, I would spend a great deal of my time finding ways to expand my abilities and functionality, if only to stave off boredom. And I don't mean things that are just military/combat in nature. But things like "hey! I've got wifi in here now! I'm totally streaming the Starcraft 2 World Championships!" or "I've found a way to graft wheels onto the suit, so I'm going to go try out some inline roller blading...but on a mecha-scale." Or, "I've learned how to piggy back the sensor package this suit comes with into the civilian bandwidths, and I've been able to coordinate the police search for our target based on the information we have. They've cornered the perp at this address, and are establishing a perimeter. Let's hurry." Things like that. Incorporate the suit into her life, and then ask yourself "how would she deal with this on a day to day basis?" Perhaps do some research on people with prosthetics, and how they learn to incorporate and manage the new equipment into their daily routine, and then adjust that to your story. For humor, provide a downside to some of the tweaks she's done. Like the above mentioned "civilian bandwidth hack" now makes it where she's getting irregular spam chatter about various things like minor traffic violations. "Damnit! 3000 illegal parkings in this city every hour!? Savages! Learn how to park your car properly!!" Etc.


Or, totally ignore everything I've said. It's your story, do whatever you want with it, seriously. I just saw the image, and your short synopsis of her situation, and my brain instantly started brainstorming. I tend to do that a lot, and then posting it.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

In my mind, a cyborg is an organic lifeform that has machinery directly interfaced with some part of their anatomy. Someone with a robotic arm complete with sensor leads tied to nerve endings would be a cyborg; someone with a prosthetic arm that non-invasively sensed muscle movements wouldn't be. Someone with a computerized implant that directly fed into their optic nerve would be a cyborg; someone wearing an Oculus Rift-style headset or a Dragonball Z-style scouter wouldn't be. It's the act of "fusing" that machinery with the underlying biological system that makes the difference to me.

Unless the machinery is somehow integrated into the body, someone who needs power armor to survive a certain environment no more becomes a cyborg than a SCUBA diver becomes a dolphin.

 

[happyninja42]

In my mind, a cyborg is an organic lifeform that has machinery directly interfaced with some part of their anatomy. Someone with a robotic arm complete with sensor leads tied to nerve endings would be a cyborg; someone with a prosthetic arm that non-invasively sensed muscle movements wouldn't be. Someone with a computerized implant that directly fed into their optic nerve would be a cyborg; someone wearing an Oculus Rift-style headset or a Dragonball Z-style scouter wouldn't be. It's the act of "fusing" that machinery with the underlying biological system that makes the difference to me.

Unless the machinery is somehow integrated into the body, someone who needs power armor to survive a certain environment no more becomes a cyborg than a SCUBA diver becomes a dolphin.

I'm pretty sure the OP's described her need for the suit along the lines of Darth Vader, needing the mask to live, not because the environment is hazardous, but because she is incapable of living without the suit, even in a welcoming environment. I could be wrong though, but that was the gist I got of the post.

 

[hermes]

The difference is: you can remove your armor and function properly. A cyborg is someone that has parts of his/her anatomy replaced by machinery, so that he can't function properly without them.

The only area I'm not sure about are medically implanted devices required to sustain life, that don't replace existing organ systems. Does an implanted pacemaker count as cybernetics? I know we'd agree that an artificial heart is. How about an LVAD? External pacemaking and iron lungs seem obviously NOT cybernetic to me, but when the machinery starts to be implanted?

That is a good line in the sand to define a cyborg. An assistance device is not "cybernetic augmentation", because it helps regulate an existing system instead of replacing it: a peacemaker does not make you a cyborg, the same way a pair of glasses doesn't make you a cyborg. Now, replace your heart or your eyes with an artificial equivalent, and we are talking cyborg.
Replaced limbs, or hips or bones are among the closest examples I can think of where the line gets crossed. In that case, there are cyborgs among us! **runs to door**

 

[Vicarious Reality]

Strange how no one has mentioned Ghost in the Shell

Pretty much what you described

Both my grandpa and grandma are cyborgs