
Cyborgs and Space (1960) [pdf] - Hooke
http://web.mit.edu/digitalapollo/Documents/Chapter1/cyborgs.pdf
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krige
Recall reading a 70s novel called Man Plus, which was mainly about making a
cyborg capable of surviving Mars surface as part of a space program, also from
the perspective of said man.

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chairmanwow1
I read this paper in undergrad in a course entitled "Science Fiction and
Galactic Capital", which was honestly probably my favorite course in all of
college. We would read Das Capital and then compare it with sections of Dune,
Red Mars, and Schismatrix to tease apart how capitalism manifests in space.
How are the fundamental rules of economics different in space?

Could (or should) society function differently?

This paper paired really nicely with the commonplace ideologies of Ian Bank's
Culture series, or Peter F Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga. Drugs are readily
available and can be secreted by your own brain. Why not use this power to
secrete chemicals that help you gain more control over yourself?

Thanks for posting this! Haven't seen it in a while~

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Bartweiss
> _Why not use this power to secrete chemicals that help you gain more control
> over yourself?_

If you haven't tried it yet, you might be a fan of Nancy Kress' _Beggars in
Spain_. Instead of adult use of nootropics, it deals with prenatal gene
editing taken to the extreme: the first generation of the "Sleepless",
children who don't need to sleep and can function 24/7 at peak of their
(genetically enhanced) intellect and mood.

And so of course the questions become economic and social: what place will the
world have for 'Sleepers'? What do the Sleepless, who didn't choose their
condition, owe to those without their advantages? And what are the ethics of
choosing to have a child with or _without_ those benefits, since the choice
can't ever be made with their consent?

(David Brin's _Kiln People_ is perhaps less society-focused, but also
fascinating. That one centers on the ability to create and recover memories
from short-lived 'clones' \- how do you build an economy when the world's best
heart surgeon can operate on _every_ patient?)

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rtkwe
> What do the Sleepless, who didn't choose their condition, owe to those
> without their advantages?

I think this is where a lot of discussions about injustices in the world get
wrapped up, people feel like because they have/had no choice on the creation
of the state of things they're blameless and therefore any adjustments to
correct things are unjust. I've come around to the position that it doesn't
particular how someone got there what matters is that things are imbalanced
and not addressing it will just entrench and prolong the issue.

> And what are the ethics of choosing to have a child with or without those
> benefits, since the choice can't ever be made with their consent?

That's the thorny ethical issue at the heart of any kind of generic
manipulation along with the immediate have/have-not split it sets up.

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whatshisface
> _Although some of the pro- posed solutions may appear fanciful, it should be
> noted that there are references in the Soviet technical literature to
> research in many of these same areas._

We can't let the soviets get crazier than we are!

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albybisy
This!

