Cyborg Soldier 2050: Human/Machine Fusion and Implications for DoD (2019) [pdf]

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD1083010.pdf

by VagueMag • 4 years ago

33 18 4 years ago

apps.dtic.mil

VagueMag2• 4 years ago

Efforts should be undertaken to reverse the negative cultural narratives of enhancement technologies and leverage media as a means of engaging the public .... If technology is to become a more intimate partner in enhancement of the human species, then DoD personnel must help alter distorted cultural narratives. A realistic, balanced (if not more positive) narrative will ... remove barriers to productive adoption of these new technologies.

jason-phillips• 4 years ago

The folks who work for the federal government really do fret over how their work is perceived by the public. It's definitely on their minds, for good reason. In the absence of information, one tends to assume the worst. If we want to move forward as a society, some baseline level of trust must be established. This is one way to effect that change, through constructive communication.

VagueMag2• 4 years ago

What they're talking about is more like helping pump out lots of Marvel movies so the masses' view of cyborg tech is less Terminator and more Iron Man, so they're more likely to accept having chips put in their brains to make them better soldiers.

matheusmoreira• 4 years ago

Yeah, because cyberpunk science fiction exploring how much of a dystopian hell this planet could become are nothing but "negative" and "distorted" cultural narratives. We're totally not living in a cyberpunk world right now.

ben_w• 4 years ago

We're very cyber, but we're not very punk. We're not the utopia whose depiction was what cyberpunk was a reaction against, but we're also not the dystopia that cyberpunk itself depicts.

Fiction is very good at exploring "what if one thing was different?" scenarios, but worldbuilding all the implications that come from even one difference is almost impossible.

What kind of prosthetics are possible, and what will forever remain magical thinking? Would these likely even be replacing, e.g. organic legs with robot legs, or will we prefer to genetically engineer — either in vivo or as a sequence of [in vitro, culture, 3d bioprint, transplant]? Will this mean an end to wheelchairs? Or cause IRL furries? How does this impact DNA as a source of identity in law? Will military prosthetics count as hidden weapons?

HideousKojima• 4 years ago

So they're worried about discrimination against augmentated people ala Deus Ex? Life really does imitate art.

winReInstall• 4 years ago

There is a german book, "the last of his kind" bei Andreas Eschenbach, that seems strangely relevant, its about a cyborg living out its last days in ireland. Its one of those little masterpieces of scifi in my opinion, that never make a splash. Its very humane, i especially love the part were he starts to compare himself to a old soda dispenser machine, in "need of a good whack to reboot". If you are mechanical, turning it off and on again, gets a totally new meaning.

also loved the stoic philosophy.

thesaintlives• 4 years ago

Good tip. Thanks. I will try and get that book. Looks interesting!

yummypaint• 4 years ago

If anyone find a link please post, I haven't been able to find it even in worldcat. Perhaps there are no english translations?

centered444• 4 years ago

And remember God is just watching

throwaway743• 4 years ago

So are they always watching? If so, what a creep

eric-hu• 4 years ago

Case Study No. 4: Direct Neural Enhancement of the Human Brain

I’m both intrigued and terrified

palmetieri2000• 4 years ago

Uhhh, who knew that the DoD (or at least the authors) believe we will be moving into subterranean megacities?

"Future battlefields in 2050 are projected to be dense, urban environments or subterranean megacities that will challenge identification and tracking of targets." p.g. 16

actionfromafar• 4 years ago

I guess the Fallout is scheduled for no later than 2050. :)

Cyborg Soldier 2050: Human/Machine Fusion and Implications for DoD (2019) [pdf]

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