Thread "Discussion on future tech and society - Monday Musing for May 28th, 2018" in forum "Comic Talk and General Discussion *"

Posted at 4:05PM, May. 28, 2018

Here's the topic for today - please share your thoughts in a comment!

Note: A stamina augment for this discussion is defined as something that would greatly improve endurance to the point that normal living wouldn't require (but would still permit) sleep OR would allow greatly increased activity with normal sleep requirements.

I have a strong belief that a person shouldn't undergo surgery for any reason that isn't required to support baseline health and the state of being alive. Surgery has risks, and some of the normal results are undesirable (like the recovery period… especially if you discover that you're hypersensitive to some of the medications involved - true story). It's not that I think a stamina or any other augment is a bad idea in theory, but I believe it has to be a bit more compelling a reason than that to get cut open and deal with that. Furthermore, I'm expecting that any such system would be pretty invasive - it would probably involve some extensive hormonal regulation and compensation systems. If this is true, that would almost certainly have a risk of complications.

Posted at 9:05PM, May. 28, 2018

If it wasn't too invasive, and the side effects and cost weren't too great, I'd strongly consider it. Time is the one resource we always can use more of, that we never get back, and less sleep ultimately means more time!!

I don't have a huge issue with augmentation, as long as we keep our essential humanity. Hearing Aids are augmentation! Nature didn't seem to bless us physically enough to survive with just our bodies. Without augmenting ourselves with weapons, tools and clothing, we would've gone extinct long ago. Internal augmentation is really just an extension of that!!

Of course, one of the unforeseen side-effect of putting tech in our bodies is we'll end up finding out we can be tracked anywhere by hidden geo-beacons they snuck in LOL!

Posted at 3:05AM, May. 29, 2018

Considering that my wife and I are already augmented due to the nature of certain surgical repairs I can foresee surgery being used for stamina. There are certain conditions where some kind of intervention to increase stamina would be necessary. The techniques could even be an outgrowth of research on Alzheimer disease and other neurological disorders.

My repair was all new lenses for my eyes to repair cataracts. My vision went from 20/400 to 20/40. I went from severely myopic and depending completely on my glasses to finally being able to see myself clearly in the mirror without glasses for the first time in my life. I can even drive without glasses being on the edge of legal but it's not recommended. ;)

And then there's cosmetic surgery. You know something like this would become a fad and part of popular culture. There would be advertisements everywhere just like the Lasik eye repair ads we have now. And you know employers would just love it. Tireless human employees? The only limits being the amount of overtime one is willing to pay? We already have 24 shifts in hospitals and first responders. It could also open up people to second full time jobs or tons of free time.

And just what are the limits of human endurance that the brain can put up with? (72 hours. Then you get REM activity while wide awake. Cool stuff if you like waking dreaming and hallucinations and being totally disoriented)

Posted at 6:05PM, May. 30, 2018

Is there an option where I can sleep all day and not bother waking up?

I don't think needing to sleep is necessarily an endurance thing, but to go along with the premise: Of course, it would be nice to have something like that in case you ever needed it, but I don't think I'd use it much. Sleep is very important for physical and neurological health, and even if there were a way to negate that, I don't see the benefit of staying awake around the clock on a regular basis.

It's easy to see where one might think, "Hey! Now I can be twice as productive!" but I'm skeptical about that. I've tried in the past to do marathon art sessions when I've had large chunks of available time, and it rarely works. I eventually find myself just staring at a blank screen and thinking about doing something else. In the end, I don't end up producing more than I normally would, and the overall quality suffers. Your brain just needs a break from time to time. From what I can gather, this seems to be incumbent based on how the brain functions. Your neurons can't store information while they're taking it in, so they need down time in order to "bake in" what they've gathered. Something like that. But nobody really seems to know yet. It seems to me that being constantly awake and active would eventually turn into a hellish gauntlet. So, yeah, the implant might come in handy once in a while, but using it all or most of the time would be insane.

Posted at 7:05PM, May. 30, 2018

I don't have a huge issue with augmentation, as long as we keep our essential humanity.

Hey, you bring up a good question: what IS "essential humanity"?

And just what are the limits of human endurance that the brain can put up with? (72 hours. Then you get REM activity while wide awake. Cool stuff if you like waking dreaming and hallucinations and being totally disoriented)

Separate concept, but there has been talk about what would happen if you turned the brain's "sleep center" off. Most animals don't seem to sleep like we do so it's been brought into question how necessary it is. I don't think anyone is seriously addressing the situation yet but if a stamina augment became a thing I imagine it would be revisited really soon thereafter.

Is there an option where I can sleep all day and not bother waking up?

Separate system? Sci-fi sometimes discusses an effect that causes long-term somnolescence for the purpose of lucid dreaming… which to me is kind of an alternative VR situation. The time dilation thing is interesting, but, if you're locked into your own head I am not totally sure how productive that would be overall. Now, if you weren't… but that's just a whole other topic.

It's easy to see where one might think, “Hey! Now I can be twice as productive!” but I'm skeptical about that. I've tried in the past to do marathon art sessions when I've had large chunks of available time, and it rarely works. I eventually find myself just staring at a blank screen and thinking about doing something else. In the end, I don't end up producing more than I normally would, and the overall quality suffers. …

This might be something that works well for some people and not others. I guess that's normal for most products, though.

Posted at 8:05AM, May. 31, 2018

There is anecdotal evidence of people who lost their sleep center as well as studies of "driven" people who typically only sleep 2-4 hours a night. Then there's the studies showing that humans really only sleep two increments of 4 hours and not the full 6-8 hours. A person could then sleep 2-4 hours at night And then 2-4 hour afternoon nap.

The first step would be to make everyone like Trump or Napoleon and only need 2 hours a night. Find out what makes some capable of functioning like that and mass producing it.

Posted at 2:05PM, May. 31, 2018

I read a novel (can't remember title) where 'enhanced' super-people no longer needed to sleep for physical reasons, but still slept every once in a while so they could dream (the premise being that dreaming was somehow needed to maintain full mental health - which I think is true to some degree…)

But El Cid makes a good point… Just because we can make a biological imperative unneeded doesn't mean it goes away… Most people today have plenty of food, more than they need even! But we're hardwired to consume as much as we can because (as with most animals) you could never be sure when your next meal might come. Combine that urge with excess food - Rampant Obesity! The U.S. is drowning in fat!!

Likewise, our minds and bodies may be so used to an internal clock of waking and sleeping cycles that no matter what we change, we'll need to sleep or go crazy!

Posted at 5:06PM, Jun. 1, 2018

If the implant was specifically for stamina and nothing else, then no. You'd be better off joining a gym and training yourself. Personally, I have no use for super human stamina.