edit: oops, someone called this one out already.

Except a lot of people (myself included) find EP distasteful/unfun, and I missed where I had to sign a waiver saying that I think human augmentation is from the devil in order to play SR.

SR's real core idea is that most of humanity's problems are caused by human selfishness and greed, coupled with ignorance and fear. Whether or not having metal added to me makes me any more or less human is a side issue, and one I've never been seriously concerned about.

Exactly. I always thought that the scary thing is not that someone could have their arm replaced with a cyberlimb, but rather that someone would think that it's actually necessary due to the rat race that is the Sixth World and the accompanying fear of obsolescence. I thought Deus Ex handled that pretty well since it featured a couple of characters who had what were essentially full body/limb enhancements that harbored some resentment for colleagues who had nano-augmentations. Ultimately, Shadowrun still places a pretty strong emphasis on technology in the service of a dystopia, and that's really still more cyberpunk than it is post-cyberpunk.

But that is as close as you can get and is in every way inferior to actual skillwires.

Yes you can create bioware options to most of the ware, but even then many of those will just be inferior compared to what the cyber option does.

Kraegor: the problem is that bioware just isn't so good for taking new designs, such as a new Activesoft or new Nanite download, and adapting it. And any kind of mind-machine interface with bioware just feels strained; at some point you're going to be using machines anyway. And while I'm not entirely sure about the RAW, I personally think trodes can be jammed, so the serious hacker will need a built-in DNI anyway.

Obsessiong about trying to replace cyber/hard nanite entirely with bioware seems just as close-minded as the original paradigm of trying to replace meat with metal because metal would always be better.

Cyberpunk is inherently about transhumanism and the only difference between cyberpunk and postcyberpunk is that the latter isn't a dystopia.

Both cyberware and bioware are examples of transhumanism or posthumanism, whatever you want to call it. Not like it matters, in the end Bioware is just beginner's nanotech and in the end it'll all be the same thing.

Applying sufficient quantities of high grade explosives will solve any problem.

It will resolve any problem.
It might not necessarily 'solve' it.

Semantics!

Hey, but the last bunch of C4 I used solved that integral equation quite neatly!

Yes, but seriously, once you get to the bioware DNA manipulation sequencing, you can, for the cheap price and a 2 hour doctor visit, get your nerve cluster re-sequenced to be optimal for Gun Shooting instead of Computer use now. Or, maybe they figure out some bio-electric way to download the information straight into your cerebellum.

Maybe they put a gland in your head that unlocks Genetic Memory, and they can reprogram synapses in the gland in your head?

Who knows, you can use your imagination if you really wanted to.

But I want it now! That's the idea of activesofts to me anyway; that other thing is basically buying permanent skills with bioware instead of being customizable at a moment's notice.

And yeah, I'm the kind of person who thinks finding a rating 1-2 activesoft or knowsoft should be doable with a simple Data Search check within a minute.

Want to be Post-Human in SR? No problem! Simply Select the Type O positive quality, slam as much bioware into your character as possible, and as many transgenic mods as you please. Make sure you advertise this fact too.

Hope you like waking up in bathtubs full of ice in seedy motels.