D'Juhn Keep on 2/1/2011 at 00:27

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A quick search shows (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107902&p=1625023&highlight=lepht#post1625023) the email was the beginning and end of her TTLG career

Pretty interesting article, if not a terribly good one. I think this would fall under "do whatever you like to yourself as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else - even if it's a bit daft". Could be the future if there's a practical application for any of it, who knows. The comments are quite interesting too, especially the ones having a go at her for doing it herself. As if there's any other way of pushing those boundaries. Good on her, I say.

SubJeff on 2/1/2011 at 09:47

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I can't find a list of modifications she has installed unfortunately. The pads in her fingers that allow her to detect electrical and magnetic fields are pretty interesting though as that's essentially a further sense. I imagine she is better at finding things without looking by using these new senses as localising anchors as we might with temperature. Finding a light switch or mobile phone in the dark must be a little easier.

NB: There are more than 5 senses but we group a bunch of them - pain, vibration sense, proprioception, temperature sensing, tactile stimulation - under touch. Although this would seem to fall under touch I'd think of it as one of the sub-senses.

This North/Southpaw thing she is thinking of installing is pretty cool too. It can't have that much of practical use in this modern era of GPSs but if you were lost in a forest (all alone. The girl was never there, it's always the same ahem) or in a town you didn't know it might be helpful.

Actually, if I could get me some electromagnetic sensors implanted professionally I might just go for it just on the one hand. Stupid thing is I know all the right people to get this done and I could anaesthetise myself better than anyone else but none of it would be kosher!

SubJeff on 2/1/2011 at 21:44

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Meh, I know people through work and of course I'm the best person to anaesthetise my own fingers in that I'd know exactly when it's cooked and where/how to top it up. Duh. Doesn't mean they or I would actually do it or think it a good idea to do it.

Do you not think it would be at least interesting to be able to sense electromagnetic fields Zylon? Lepht said in some interview/blog entry that when one of the implants stopped working (one one finger) it felt like she was blind. I know this is an overstatement but I imagine getting used to that sense is quite easy.

I actually think that having technology implanted/grafted is just the next step. We already enhance our own abilities with glasses, mobile phones, bluetooth earpieces, heck even clothes that allow us to operate in extremes of temperature or which protect us are arguably enhancements. And of course people tattoo and pierce themselves in all sorts of ways.

The only difference here is the implants will become obsolete and so we'd need/want to replace them. With the inherent risks of implantation that poses a problem. Even having a port system would be problematic because the implanted ports will become obsolete. Just look at USB1, 2 and 3.