Re: Medtch 2180

Los wrote:

> I buy the improved medical services, field stabilization etc. no
question.
> Though it's still pretty dangerous in smaller operations where you
don't have
> the infrastructure or resources  to evac your forces in a timely
manner since
> it still seems to be a time issue.
>

I don't think that there'll be that big of a difference in survival
rates though.

Other techs are going to be increasing at the same rate.  The future
soldier will
probably be in powered armor.  It might not be in the Battletech or
Strship
Troopers league but the trend is to increase the soldiers protection and
loadout.
Unless you can make stuff much lighter (and how much good would very
light armor do
to protect from a kenetic kill weapon) you need to provide some kind of
powered
assist to carry the weight.  I suspect that in the future, by the time
you've
delivered enough energy to penetrate the armor, having enough left of
the person
inside to save would be a fluke.  Maybe a self sealing helmet that would
seal and
eject when it detects a sizable hit on the body...  ...the mental
picture gives one
pause....

>
> > Whole different kettle of fish that. We're only really basically
beginning
> > to understand how memory and the brain and mind relate. Even *if*
you could
> > (maybe via nanite tech) distinctly study each neurone in the brain ,
we're
> > talking about *billions* of neurones each of which has many
connections.
> > And you clone from above will have probably developed different
neurone
> > connections as it developed. You would have to take it's brain apart
cell
> > by cell and re-wire it. Ouch. Again, nanite tech is a possible but
that's a
> > lot of wires. I can't even get my christmas lights to work :). Oh
and you
> > *do* backup your brain regularly, don't you?
> >
>
> I happen to agree with Jonathon here. That's where I fall off the
boat, with
> this whole proposition. Sure the guy gets blowed up. Is it proposed
that a
> replacement body is grown in a few hours or days? This is again
another attempt
> in the endless line of devaluing the "man" (or "woman") inside the
soldier's
> body, and assuming a simple technical work-around, device or whatever
. Even if
> you could grow a body in a few days and you could just remove the
guy's
> memory/mind imprints and throw it in a new body what about his
"spirit?" (Not
> in religious terms) What about the emotional trauma of finding
yourself in a
> whole new body with new sensation. Sure you could possible take DNA
and grow a
> match of what your body would have looked like if you had been
developed
> completely in a lab, but will it take into account that you sat in
front of a
> couch watching TV 11 hours a day, or ate Frankenberries for lunch
every monday,
> or spent eight hours on the range  twice a week for ten years honing
reflexes
> muscles and skills? How will the cloned body be able to  take all of
these
> external influences that went into making you YOU that are only partly
dealt
> with by DNA? An analogy: Sure Tom and I may have the exact same shoe
size but
> his shoes have molded to his feet after years of wear.. If I put them
on they
> won't fit right for some time or even ever and this will cause
performance
> discrepancies. All of these adjustments going into the emotional self
that make
> you effect or not. Not to mention the trauma of the actual death or
wounding
> that got you to where you need a new body. These to me do not seem
like issues
> that can be brushed under the rug when you plop someone's memories
into a new
> body. There's a lot of emotional damage that has to be dealt with. And
please
> don't give me any BS about simply using drugs to deaden/fix these
issues.
>

If we get nanos to operate at a level that would be medically
meaningfull in
battle, they could literally rebuild cells to their original state. 
Though how you
define tht original state is open to question.

--

Jeff Miller
Program Director/Webmaster for Agamemcon IV

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