http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/h...icle3790683.ece

Only question is when can I get a laser eye gun?

This is no where near shadowrun cybereyes though. She has to plug a large cable into her head and carry around a lot of large bags. It is very cool where it will be in a few years though.

Functional cyberears have been around for years though.

Amusingly this rudimentry implant uses wireless transmission to get the data to the implant in the eye.

Which means some jerk is going to hack that cybereye, doesn't it.

Shweet! When can I upgrade my lasik eyes to bionic eyes?

Awesome stuff, thanks for the link Tabula.

I just want to say I would be very surprised if real-world tech does not match Shadowrun's in under 20 years. There has already been someone who had a chip implanted in his brain, allowing a cybernetic arm to remotely copy his arm movements, cybernetic arms are now nearly capable of duplicating the full range of human arm movements, & can connect to nerve systems to direct their movement, later this year there will be a trode-like headset released as a game controller, and much more.

the only real problem is that the brain reacts badly to have metal poked into it over time...

still, they are considering ways around that iirc...

but yes, tech is going all sorts of ways. but we are still much better at reading stuff from the brain then writing stuff to it...

Real life tech will definitely outreach SR very soon. My favorite bit of technology in RL is the mouse with the remote control receiver hardwired into its brain so the scientist could make him go forward, stop or turn with a remote control just like a toy.

The other one is of course the giant laser cannon that's being mounted on a C130 and will supposedly be blasting holes in shit in Iraq from five miles away in 5 years...

LASER GUNS = FUTURE IS HERE

that "5 years" claim seems to be a scientists best bet for "sometime in the future".

or at least thats how it usually turn out when it comes to consumer tech. within those 5 years, some other scientist finds a way to improve upon existing tech in such a way that the new tech will not be economically viable for mass production as one have to build whole new factories and stuff, rather then retool existing ones...

but then the c130 with laser cannon is military, not civilian, and when it comes to military, especially in a war or similar situation, no expense will be to great to field anything that could help save lives on "our" side and kill more of the "enemy"...

Couple of years ago I read about a group of scientist down in Australia that successfully teleported (yes, teleported) a beam of light 3 meters a part. The beam of light went in at point A and 3 meters to the left the beam came out of point B. The question was asked when could a person be teleported like they do in Star Trek. Basically the reply the scientist basically said some time after they have passed on, but they were confident that they would be able to port objects at a distance of 10 meters in 10 years. How this was done is the device receiving the light would get a digital read out of the light's structure and communicated it to the other end which would then reproduce the data.

Sadly I don't have the story any more, but can you image what will happen if we are able to teleport, especially if you create a DNA blue print of something and send it to the receiving end?

The giant railgun being build to be the main weapon of the new battleships is neat too.