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I wonder how far prosthetics are towards giving their wearers their sense of touch back? And how much farther still till artificial (or stem cell sourced) skin coverings? So many possibilities. We may even be able to regrow lost limbs in good time.

>>14333863

I saw a TED talk a while back about people who were starting to get sensation in artificial limbs by grafting nerves or something like that. They had working sensation in people, though it was still a thing in it's infancy. I do know that there's efforts to make open-source limbs like the OP mentioned that can be made in a 3D printer so that hospitals and field stations in the third world can simply print them off to give them to patients ready to fit, rather than ordering them and waiting. It'd be cheaper, quicker and fit better.

I don't know anything about skin coverings, but one thing I did think was quite cool watching a different TED talk was some athlete talking about how she had something like 15 different pairs of legs now and could switch between them for different talks - so one would be better for running, another special made for a fashion shoot, one that looks really nice and so on. She had one set that made her taller though, because the legs were made longer than her natural ones had (or would, can't recall if she was naturally born with no leg/s), and that her friends were jealous of that. Which I thought was cool, since she was gaining an advantage natural friends wished to have despite being handicapped. It's kind of the start of a slope towards artificial limbs and people being overall better, small as it is.

>>14333863
>I wonder how far prosthetics are towards giving their wearers their sense of touch back?

Nowhere.
It's only recently that we made a prosthetic with actuated thumb and individual finger movement - fine motor control of individual joints is still arcane.

We also have idea how to replicate the nervous system of the replaced appendage and then interface that shit with remaining human nerve endings, so we take shortcuts, by implanting sensors into unrelated muscles.

>And how much farther still till artificial (or stem cell sourced) skin coverings?

Until the religious far right dies out and allows proper stem cell research without crying "muh babi... zygotes"


Then there's the load bearing factor, necessitating having to be wrapped in tons of straps to distribute the load, even in case of osseintegration - the bone is prone to fractures, since the entire load is focused in a single implant having a fraction of flesh and blood load capacity, where actual muscles provide the most of it

There's also the problem of rejection in case of osseintegration, which appears to have no solution, short of life time of taking meds to cripple your immune system.


Even top of the line, cutting edge prosthetics are awkward and counter-intuitive to use.

Sure they beat having no arm, but if you want actual Deus Ex tier augs - then that's decades away if that...

>>14333810
This reminds me a lot of custom diapers themed after cartoon horses.

>>14333906
>proper stem cell research
The sad thing is, both sides are hapless about arguing their positions.

Proper research doesn't need fetuses etc.

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>>14333810
it's still far away until we have old man that able to rule the world, in the new age.

but i would wait for it, it's not i never ask for it to be happen but it's coming anyway.

>>14333810
Interesting

>>14335458
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