[X] My Assistant

[hobgoblin]

http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2010/...nd_signals.html

10Mbps along the skin, nice.

[Stahlseele]

I can see it now: Bodies getting skinned before being cremated for cheap wires . .

[Heath Robinson]

I can see it now: Bodies getting skinned before being cremated for cheap wires . .

'Cept that it relies on the electrical properties of a living body, not the properties of dead skin. Our nerves use electricity to transmit information, and that creates a "bioelectric" field that such devices make use of. It's why electrical shocks are so dangerous, and why they make you jump.

Dead skin doesn't do that.

[Stahlseele]

Dead Muscles still do ^^
But yeah, i kinda knew that *grins*
I think some months back i linked to something similar.

[Valashar]

The site http://gajitz.com/ fielded the story as well, and they've got a whole slew of similar articles relating to AR.

[nemafow]

Hmmm, I can imagine huge vats growing skin to be shaped into and sold as cheap Cat5 cables... Just don't forget to feed your cable its daily intake of vitamins!!!

[Sengir]

'Cept that it relies on the electrical properties of a living body, not the properties of dead skin.

And how exactly do the electrical properties of the skin on a living body differ from those of a dead body? A fresh corpse still is a bunch of saltwater and no less conductive than a living person (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Stahlseele]

But the brain is not creating any bio electricity anymore.

[Sengir]

But the brain is not creating any bio electricity anymore.

So? Not like you need that as a carrier wave or something (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Heath Robinson]

Dead skin may have dissolved salts contained within it, but that is not going to last for long under continuous use. I also seem to recall that ionised fluids have far higher resistances than the materials we use in wires. Dead skin cannot replenish depleted ions, because it's dead.

[Sengir]

Dead skin may have dissolved salts contained within it, but that is not going to last for long under continuous use.

Uhm...how many volts do you want to put through the skin? Because under normal circumstances conductors do not expire that easily...
The human body consists of salt water and other conductive materials, that's why electricity can travel though it, and it does not depend on their current health state or "wear out" after X watt hours (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I also seem to recall that ionised fluids have far higher resistances than the materials we use in wires.

That's why we use copper. Still, animal bodies are not the worst choice

[Heath Robinson]

Uhm...how many volts do you want to put through the skin? Because under normal circumstances conductors do not expire that easily...
The human body consists of salt water and other conductive materials, that's why electricity can travel though it, and it does not depend on their current health state or "wear out" after X watt hours (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Huh, do you know how ions suspended in a fluid (which is what salt + water is) transmit a current? It happens by returning the ions to their uncharged states at the electrodes. This depletes the supply of ions in the fluid medium.

Since there is no supply of fresh ions, the salt and water in dead skin will eventually run out as it is all transformed into chlorine, sodium, hydrogen, and oxygen.

[Sengir]

Huh, do you know how ions suspended in a fluid (which is what salt + water is) transmit a current? It happens by returning the ions to their uncharged states at the electrodes. This depletes the supply of ions in the fluid medium.

Ah, that's what you meant. Electrolytes of course do become depleted, but how much energy do you want to put through there to achieve that before the body starts to fall apart?

[Mantis]

Are you really discussing how long you can use a dead body or dead skin as a conductor? This is probably one of the few sites out there where this would happen.
On the other hand, carrying around a roll of CAT5 is far less likely to bring the police running, unlike a dead body.

[hobgoblin]

well, it can be useful to know for a hacker, how long he can use his dead comrades to keep connected to the nexus.

[Stahlseele]

Or the dead Elf to use him as a NAT-Bridge through Wifi-Repelling Paint.

[hobgoblin]

quite the mental image...

[Sengir]

Or the dead Elf to use him as a NAT-Bridge through Wifi-Repelling Paint.

Caaaaaaarlll, what did you do?
Well I uhm...I needed a NAT bridge (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Stahlseele]

Back when we still had wires, we used them to check if the fecne was an electrical one.
Gotta go with the times eh? ^^

[Heath Robinson]

Ah, that's what you meant. Electrolytes of course do become depleted, but how much energy do you want to put through there to achieve that before the body starts to fall apart?

In absence of shielding (it's meant to be cheap), accounting for the high resistance of electrolytes as a current medium, you'd probably need to push a fair amount through it for any reasonable cable distance. I don't have numbers on me, as I have never inquired into the resistance of dead skin or its salt and water content. In fact, I'd be happier never needing to ask such questions.

But I also wonder why you are so certain that dead skin would decompose so rapidly. You already need to seal it in an insulating cover and provide metal contacts on each end. It wouldn't be difficult to heat the skin to slow decomposition as part of the process. You could use it to seal the contact-"cable" interface airtight as well. Of course, the fact that organic chemicals are readily decomposed by organisms does mean that the proposed cables do have a short lifetime either way - laying cable is pretty labour intensive.