Printable Version of Topic
Click here to view this topic in its original format
Dumpshock Forums _ Shadowrun _ Be all you can be!
Posted by: Slump Mar 14 2007, 02:36 AM
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.03/bemore.html
Looks like we'll be able to thank DARPA for a number of cyber- and bio-ware, like expanded digestion.
They even got one of their chief researchers to the point where he did 1,000 pullups on his 60th birthday. That's freaking awesome.
Posted by: Smiley Mar 14 2007, 02:54 AM
<joygasm>
For THAT, I'd have re-enlisted.
Posted by: hyzmarca Mar 14 2007, 03:30 AM
Transcranial magnetic stimulation to counter fatigue.
Somehow, speed sounds safer.
Posted by: Chance359 Mar 14 2007, 04:43 AM
Caught this earlier, toys for tots. How do we give it stats?
Posted by: fistandantilus3.0 Mar 14 2007, 05:29 AM
The Power Glove II - Not from Nintendo, from DARPA
That's awesome stuff
Posted by: emo samurai Mar 14 2007, 05:51 AM
GIMMEGIMMEGIMME
Dude, if it progresses at the current pace, this shit'll outpace SR4 by 2030.
Posted by: Kagetenshi Mar 14 2007, 06:04 AM
No shit.
If game designers could anticipate disruptive technology, they almost certainly wouldn't be game designers.
(However, before anyone waxes eloquent on "wonders beyond our imagination", please note: still no moon colony, still no flying car. We both exceed and fall vastly short of expectations all the time.)
~J
Posted by: fistandantilus3.0 Mar 14 2007, 06:16 AM
I still believe flying cars will never happen. Even if they can be mass produced, there's no way they'd be available to the public. Imagine how much worst a car accident could be.
Posted by: hyzmarca Mar 14 2007, 07:19 AM
http://www.moller.com/purc.htm
Posted by: Herald of Verjigorm Mar 14 2007, 12:59 PM
| QUOTE (fistandantilus3.0) |
| Imagine how much worst a car accident could be. |
It'll actually be far tamer. First, there'll be a whole lot fewer deer running into the roads. Second, there are two entirely new directions to dodge into (up and down). Third, when two airborne vehicles collide, they typically do not swerve and skid a little creating a hazard for all other vehicles on the same road, they typically perform some grusome combination of bouncing and folding then continue traveling with some air resistance and a lot of gravity.
Also, if you survive the initial crash (or if the onboard systems decide it's time), your ejection seat will fling you and an automatic parachute away from the impact to be recovered later.
The only part where risk increases compared to ground based cars is the amount of collateral damage that can be generated when drunken idiots attempt to do stupid things. But I'm not even sure on that one.
Posted by: nezumi Mar 14 2007, 01:30 PM
I feel far safer with cars driving into my front yard than falling onto my roof, thank you.
Posted by: Thane36425 Mar 14 2007, 02:21 PM
| QUOTE (Kagetenshi) |
| (However, before anyone waxes eloquent on "wonders beyond our imagination", please note: still no moon colony, still no flying car. We both exceed and fall vastly short of expectations all the time.) ~J |
That's because those were high ideals. With these other things, we are talking about killing people better and faster. That's always popular so we'll being seeing this stuff developed.
Posted by: eidolon Mar 14 2007, 02:22 PM
That article is pretty interesting. I read it last night. The glove/muscle heat part was pretty fascinating.
And I don't consider any of that worth reenlisting for. 
Posted by: Fix-it Mar 14 2007, 03:42 PM
it IS interesting, but I think that it's a combination of both heat and availible sugars.
they didn't say anything about long-term physiological effects, so I'm pretty sure going a length of time with one of those things without eating would fuck you up.
Posted by: Kagetenshi Mar 14 2007, 03:49 PM
Well, yeah. They've found a way to increase endurance, not repeal conservation of energy.
~J
Posted by: Moon-Hawk Mar 14 2007, 04:01 PM
Mandatory power bars every 30 minutes of use! 
Posted by: Lindt Mar 14 2007, 07:08 PM
Wow... thats pretty cool stuff. Its that same effect you get by putting your feet in a cold pool in the summer. Plus the feel of cold bloody comming up your veins is something pretty freeky.
But think about the more mundane effects. You could slam a better workout into the same time frame. Hell, I might even be in shape with toys like that.
Posted by: Thane36425 Mar 14 2007, 07:29 PM
| QUOTE (Lindt) |
| Wow... thats pretty cool stuff. Its that same effect you get by putting your feet in a cold pool in the summer. Plus the feel of cold bloody comming up your veins is something pretty freeky. |
I remember doing that. Carrying a bag of ice across the forearms has the same effect. After a bit you can feel that cold blood heading for your heart and its quite a shock when it gets there.
Posted by: eidolon Mar 14 2007, 09:53 PM
A fun way of feeling that is to become dehydrated enough that you have to go to the clinic, and since you're a private at the time, the medic that does your IV thinks it'd be funny to give you the fluids cold.
Posted by: Wounded Ronin Mar 15 2007, 01:11 AM
| QUOTE (eidolon) |
| A fun way of feeling that is to become dehydrated enough that you have to go to the clinic, and since you're a private at the time, the medic that does your IV thinks it'd be funny to give you the fluids cold. |
I know a short dumpy girl whom that was done to. Except that it was at a Phillipino private clinic in the FSM. It warms my heart to know that sadism is truly international.
Posted by: Crakkerjakk Mar 15 2007, 04:16 AM
| QUOTE |
| That's because those were high ideals. With these other things, we are talking about killing people better and faster. That's always popular so we'll being seeing this stuff developed. |
Now now, Thane, thats not entirely true. We could kill LOADS of people with a moon colony, we were just too short sighted to see how supremely dominant the first space based superpower would be.
Posted by: mfb Mar 15 2007, 05:13 AM
| QUOTE (eidolon) |
| A fun way of feeling that is to become dehydrated enough that you have to go to the clinic, and since you're a private at the time, the medic that does your IV thinks it'd be funny to give you the fluids cold. |
shivering, dehydrated soldiers, represent.
Posted by: PBTHHHHT Mar 15 2007, 05:40 AM
| QUOTE (fistandantilus3.0) |
| I still believe flying cars will never happen. Even if they can be mass produced, there's no way they'd be available to the public. Imagine how much worst a car accident could be. |
Think about the lawsuits/liability/insurance aspect. To have every joe schmoe able to get in a flying vehicle. No... oh gawd no.
Posted by: emo samurai Mar 15 2007, 05:48 AM
I think it'll be limited to rich hobbyists and rich people with trained and licensed chauffeurs. There'll probably be a really harsh licensing process, and anything flown within city limits would have to go on autopilot.
Posted by: hyzmarca Mar 15 2007, 06:53 AM
Supposedly, the skycar controls are going to be less Microsoft Flight Simulator and more Pilotwings 64. The highly simplified control scheme will greatly increase safety and reduce training requirements.
However, all things being equal, a personal automobile is far more likely to cause damage than a personal aircraft is, even if such aircraft become popular. It all comes down to the simple fact that the sky is big and wide and open while roads are tiny and narrow and often curved.
Posted by: mfb Mar 15 2007, 06:58 AM
well, it's a case of more often versus worse. wrecks on roads will happen more often, because roads create crowds by their nature, and crowding large, clumsily-controlled moving objects is a great way to create collisions. wrecks in the sky will be less frequent, especially with intelligent licensing and traffic laws (haw haw! i kill me!). however, a wreck in the sky is more likely to be catastrophic, because of the whole falling-thousands-of-feet-to-a-fiery-doom factor.
Posted by: Herald of Verjigorm Mar 15 2007, 01:42 PM
| QUOTE (mfb) |
| however, a wreck in the sky is more likely to be catastrophic, because of the whole falling-thousands-of-feet-to-a-fiery-doom factor. |
Parachutes and ejection seats. You can even pack a few to fire out of major parts of the vehicle to minimize how much of that is falling to a fiery doom.
Posted by: HullBreach Mar 15 2007, 02:01 PM
| QUOTE (Herald of Verjigorm) |
| Parachutes and ejection seats. You can even pack a few to fire out of major parts of the vehicle to minimize how much of that is falling to a fiery doom. |
There is actually already a system like this for small planes. I can't think of the companies name that makes them, but its pretty impressive.
Posted by: Moon-Hawk Mar 15 2007, 02:49 PM
| QUOTE (PBTHHHHT) |
| To have every joe schmoe able to get in a flying vehicle. No... oh gawd no. |
As opposed to now, where every Joe Schmoe can routinely pilot a wheeled steel engine of death weaving at 80 miles an hour within a few feet and sometimes inches of other motorists, none of whom are paying particular attention to what it is they're doing.
Plus ca change.
Every time I drive I am astounded that we are not all dead.
Posted by: Kyoto Kid Mar 15 2007, 03:05 PM
| QUOTE (Moon-Hawk) | ||
As opposed to now, where every Joe Schmoe can routinely pilot a wheeled steel engine of death weaving at 80 miles an hour within a few feet and sometimes inches of other motorists, none of whom are paying particular attention to what it is they're doing. Plus ca change. Every time I drive I am astounded that we are not all dead. |
...hear hear...!
Sometimes I wonder why my hometown even wastes the money putting up controls such as Stop Signs, Traffic Lights, and posting speed limits. Some mornings it's like a bleeding Mosh Pit out there all going 10+ over the limit (and that's on the surface streets).
One of the worst things where I live is that nobody seems to know that little lever on their steering column is for (ohmygod! When I touched it and a light started flashing on the instrument panel, must be something wrong with the motor). I guess they all think we have sustained Mindlink spells running or something.
I bike to work each day (and by the way, follow the traffic laws) so it is even more frightening since they outweigh me more than fifteen to one.
Posted by: PBTHHHHT Mar 15 2007, 03:18 PM
one reason why I don't use any sort of bikes on the roads (motorbike or pedal powered ones), nothing to protect me from the idiots. I like to have a little bit of buffer zone. 
That and seeing the states that don't have helmet laws, I'm thinking, dear lord... ok, your funeral.
Posted by: Kagetenshi Mar 15 2007, 03:26 PM
| QUOTE (Kyoto Kid) |
| Sometimes I wonder why my hometown even wastes the money putting up […] speed limits. |
That one's easy. It's so that they can make money by fining people driving at an appropriate speed for conditions.
~J
Posted by: Lindt Mar 15 2007, 04:39 PM
| QUOTE (PBTHHHHT) |
| one reason why I don't use any sort of bikes on the roads (motorbike or pedal powered ones), nothing to protect me from the idiots. I like to have a little bit of buffer zone. That and seeing the states that don't have helmet laws, I'm thinking, dear lord... ok, your funeral. |
I was glad I had a rather large on late this summer ('01 Crown Vic). I was rear ended by a Ford Explorer full of illegal immegrents. Totaled both cars, and did heavy damage to the guy I got pushed into. I shudder to think what would have happened had I been in a Mazda MX-5 or something small.
I love the idea of a flying car. I dont love the idea of your typical commuter flying a car.
Powered by Invision Power Board (http://www.invisionboard.com)
© Invision Power Services (http://www.invisionpower.com)