It’s a good question. One of the major examples are wheelchairs. They could be much faster then they are but they are deliberately restricted to leg speed. Of course for safety reasons and so on but its kinda obvious that we don’t trust anyone disabled to excel non-disabled people.
Counter-point to that would be blade-style leg prostheses, with which ‘disabled’ people can acheive speeds far greater than non-augmented people.
I don’t think the technology is there yet where artificial would routinely beat physical.
You can get more raw strength out of a machine, but our biological bodies are something incredible, really. And when you need extra strength, there are machines you can operate with your body (e.g. with your fingers!) and leave behind when you don’t need them.
Because when you lift something, you’re not just using your arm, you’re using your whole body. Having an arm that could carry heavy weights would put large amounts of stress on the rest of your body as well, which would not be able to handle it. More importantly, the transition between prosthetic and flesh would be exposed to high stresses and current prosthetics technology is not able to handle those.
You’re touching on where “dad stength” and, uh, R-word strength comes from. Our brains limit us from tearing ourselves to pieces.
Our old guy brains still think we’re 25 and act accordingly, and we fuck ourselves up. People with Down’s don’t have the limiter, so they appear to be super strong.
That’s what I was thinking. You might have an arm that can carry 400lbs but man, that would screw up your shoulder and back.
I guess the only solution is to become a full borg. That way, every titanium bone would be rated to handle superhuman stress and you could cary much more.
While we’re swapping out limbs, wheels would be a lot more efficient at moving loads around too.
As someone who recently started needing wheels, much of the world isn’t really built for that. Lots of uneven flooring in buildings, stairs, thresholds, spaces too narrow to traverse, etc. I get stuck often lol
Anyone who has observed a robot vacuum struggle with minor bumps knows that even homes aren’t ideal for wheels. Some warehouse are ok though, but they were specifically designed with wheels in mind.
Then mecha it is!
Jetpack. Much more practical.
I can totally get behind swappable parts. Depending on what you’re doing, you could use different arms and legs specifically designed for the task at hand.
See also: Adam Smasher
You could have swappable parts that, say your hand attaches to (with, for example, a flexible grip by your hand). That way you could swap an enormous array of parts, using your hand as a universal adaptor.
Some of these parts could even by powered by your body so they don’t need an external power source. Like you could design a machine which, when attached to you by your hand, and powered by the rotation of your arm, could twist screws into the wall!
LOL. You can go places with convincing arguments like that.
But seriously though, versatility is useful, but only up to a certain point. In niche cases, special tools make more sense due to the superior performance they offer. For example, running with a traditional leg prosthetic isn’t as efficient as running with a special running prosthetic. You know, those carbon fiber arcs that looks nothing like a leg (AKA “running blades”).
But neither is as efficient as a bicycle?
You want an exoskeleton. No need to replace your arm, just wear something that augments it, and the rest of your body.
There are some great ones in sci fi, but google ot and see the ones available in real life
The exoskeleton we want:
The exoskeleton we have:
I mean, we have both and more. From japanese folks using small type to a full blown sci-fi robot exoskeleton.
Ah he’s. The usefully exo compared to the "you can stand for 14 hours now instead of 12. Get to work peasants
That Hardiman version is the only kind I understand, where it’s basically a freestanding robot that a human gets inside.
Others if the variety that you strap on worry me. Elderly people have weaker bones and cartilage. Having something apply force to the skeleton itself to do work seems dangerous.
Pretty much what everyone already said The force you want to move affects your whole body, you move objects against the effects of gravity, therefore your whole body needs to be in action. If you lift something over your head you put yourself between the object and the center of gravity, so your whole body needs to withstand the force of both Wich brings us to either an exoskelleton or an replacement, or Augmentation, of almost all your bones and muscles
Technology isn’t there yet. Try again in 20 years.
deus ex intensifies
LMFAO that was exactly what he was playing when he asked me. He had to legs blown off in Afghan.
If he continues to play deus ex human revolution, he will eventually learn why it didn’t work out that easily even in the future Detroit.
Check out Ian Davis’ prosthetic hand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kixS5Sy0F9s
In at least one of his videos, he demonstrates a ‘lock under load’ feature that enables him to lift fairly heavy objects.
I don’t think you’d get any magic superhuman powers, but it’s pretty badass regardless.
Love Ian Davis man, such a cool channel.
Money and lack of scientific reasearch or surgical knowledge are i think your primary limiting factors.
While you wait, I suggest reading the book called Machine Man by Max Barry which is a fictional story about a person doing just that.
This. This is a stupid question.
