Elective amputation. New hand. Boom.

"The whole cyberpunk conceit of people just chopping off their limbs to get artificial replacements is ridiculous..."

In fairness, his current hand is 100% (maybe 99%?) non-functional: no feeling, no movement. He's not removing a perfectly good hand.

I can't wait until they get the sensor count from 6 to 30 or more. With 6 the one kid was able to do a lot, but with 30 or more you might get something resembling a biological hand.

well, whether it is ridiculous or not, the link is not a proof for either side, since his hand is, as pointed out by Yerameyahu, non-functional.

On the flipside, having even some sensation in prosthetic is supposed to cut down on phantom pain, not exactly a small thing.

Yeah technically this is elective in the "everything that isn't emergent is elective" sense, but its hardly the same as having a cosmetic procedure or Lasik surgery or whatever. I think the story title is meant to sound a little sensational (which is disappointing for the BBC).

Awesome.

the feedback system still relies on external stimuli it seems. Tho given how the brain can adapt to consistent external stimuli to the point of no longer being consciously aware of its presence (based on people wearing anklet that buzz in the direction of north and similar), i guess it works acceptably for now.

Considering the alternatives... Yeah.

We've come a long way since a wire hook was the best you could hope for.

Where's that quote from?

And the cyberzombie nation will rise...

"The Robots are trying to kill us!" *Lights go out* "But I still have the Big Red Button to shut them all down fast."

You will never stop my army of soulless monstrosities because we are Indestructible! We are Fast! We are all Knowing! so Nuts and bolts to your little red button one of us will get you...some day... Ok ok we still have a lot of work before the Transhuman and Robot army will bring forth The Rapture to humanity but one day, one day you'll see

Using cybernetics to replaced damage/non-functional/missing limbs isn't elective the same way as chopping off your arm for a stronger metal arm is. At some point even that will become socially acceptable. We're allready seeing trends for increased body modification, and if time has told us anything, it's that humans don't know when to stop.

Plus la change.

FTFY

Hell, better-than-meat implants are at least functional. Extreme body modification is just showing off.
So I hope it'd be much more socially acceptable, actually.

Well, as someone who personally knows two cyborgs, their lives are better for it.

Of course, one wasn't supposed to get out of the hospital alive decades ago and the other was hit by a speeding dump truck full of sand...

Do they fight crime?

No. That would involve picking fights with a massive, organized force in the city they live in that would have them disappear "into the night and fog".