sounds like this can only end with lobotomies to make their soliders feel nothing and question nothing

  • TraumaDumpling@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    this is just wild conjecture, but i think that wearable technology is going to be more feasible than anything implanted. AFAIK one of the main issues with implants, especially those that have to interface with nerves, tend to be treated by the immune system as invasive bodies, and scar tissue is formed blocking the neural connections, and AFAIK we haven’t made any significant progress to overcome that.

    more feasible than cyborgs, i think enhanced AR equipment and wearable tech like non-invasive brain activity reading equipment will be easier to develop and deploy in a realistic way. helmets with comms, air filtration/oxygen supply, AR visuals with aimpoint tracking and display, gun-cameras linked to helmets and goggles to fire without leaving cover, even indirect vision systems (instead of goggles, the helmet has external cameras linked to an interior feed) to protect from certain weapons and systems like eye-targeting laser weapons and flashbangs. ‘smart bullets’ that work kinda like JDAMs maybe, able to be guided to a specific GPS coordinate after being fired into the air (like with ‘plunging fire’ on traditional MGs but more accurate). infantry-portable drones and drone control systems and drone defenses (thermal camouflage, EW weapons, etc.). drug injectors sure, even implanted, they don’t need to interface with nerves. thats the kind of stuff i would expect, not this robocop shit.

    bonus content edit: oh yeah and i also expect exoskeletons, especially non-powered or passive exoskeletons for bearing weight, to be more of a thing relatively soon. and, as much as i want mechs to be real, we are probably a few generations of tech away from that kind of thing being a mature enough field and economical enough to deploy in place of traditional equipment, and even in the unlikely even they prove to be useful tactically they are probably not going to be as large as a gundam or mechwarrior battlemech or star wars AT-AT or anything, more like a robot ATV or jeep with legs and arms, maybe something approaching the size of an armored car at most. anything bigger will have too much trouble with ground pressure compared to a tank. in fact before legged mecha i bet we will see tanks and other traditional combat vehicles with exterior mounted robotic arms to help with reloading externally mounted weapons and other tasks, like tank or armored car centaurs. we already have indirect vision systems on tanks and cars, its a natural evolution to have indirect manipulators. even given the possibilities of ground combat drones with no human crew, i don’t think it will be difficult to convince militaries to strap a budding young war criminal inside to take all of the legal blame if things go wrong (to protect weapon manufacturers from liability) and to guide or override the machine software in ambiguous situations (snow, dust, tactically or politically sensitive situations, contested electronic warfare environments, etc.), after all we still put teenagers in tanks, and an automated or at least semi-autonomous remote piloted tank seems relatively feasible with todays tech, i’m sure militaries would do it if it was viable tactically/politically/socially.