Ever noticed that a lot of older science fiction stories have come true? So are cyborgs and matrix possible?

Question

For those who take things for granted, space travel was considered science fiction, your iPod and cel phones too. Test tube babies, cloning. As for monsters, the worst monster is man not something with many teeth and sharp claws. I read in the paper that some scientists believe that invisability is possible. Also, there is research into putting human brain tissue into computers. Some computers can repair and recircuit themselves. Also, flying scaucers, now we have aeroplanes that fit that scenerio.

Answer 1

cyborgs are real:

new artificial limbs can sense heat and cold.
http://www.geocities.com/ssenkrahsemaj/SensoryTouch.html
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/MedicalMinute/story?id=895590

cochlear implants in the auditory nerve allow computer to inject sounds
into your nervous system
http://www.cochlear.com

they even have a chip they can implant into your visual cortex...
connected through wires in 2 hole in your skull to a camera mounted on sunglasses
so even if your eyes are physicly GONE you can still see.
the resolution still sux.... but technology is improving
- a newer model will use a camera inside the eye cavity:
http://www.seeingwithsound.com/retinal.htm

people with artificial legs play basketball. and run in marathons..and win!
some of them run faster than they did with flesh legs.
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/08/15/hln.bio.paul.martin/
http://imdb.com/title/tt0467697/ (documentary)

they have arms and legs that move electronicly...
based on signals comming from the brain
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14790160/wid/11915773/?GT1=8506
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2006/09/14/bionicarm_hea.html

look up ostio-integration on the web...
they can now install the limbs directly into the bone
the cups they used to wear put pressure on the skin
and caused nasty blisters or even tisue damage.
by connecting directly to the bone.. no tissue compression.
and... with socets protruding through the skin you can more quickly
bolt on or disconnect specialty limbs for certain jobs
(teeth and finger/toenails poke out of the skin too)
http://www.sparkstribune.net/764.shtml

and as for invisibility?
http://projects.star.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/projects/MEDIA/xv/oc.html

Answer 2

Although this is not a philosophy question, yes they are possible and they will happen, just not as they appear in the movies. There is a man who is planning on having a computer chip implanted in this arm that will allow him to control electronic devices in his home just from proxcimity and will allow a central system to monitor his vitals and call for asstiance if needed.

Studies are being conducted into the way that the brains of animals and humans process information, the aim is to allow a computer to directly comunicate with a brain directly. These studies have already shown that what we precive from the world around us is nothing more than electrical impulses from our nerves.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

No. Our level of robotics is pretty rudimentary. I'd give it another century before we can start really addressing 'cybernetics'--assuming of course that asteroid impact coming in 2039 doesn't kill us off first.

As for the Matrix...?

No. Same answer as before.

What happened with some of our advances in technology was merely a 'coincidence'--in regards to science-fiction.

True, some of what we saw in Star Trek came to light in many other ways, but we are still woefully 'primative' in terms of advanced technologies like we see in The Matrix and other films involving advance cyborgs.

Truthfully, the one thing that will advance faster than technology--other than computers--is medicine.

Look at the last 20 years in that field and you'll see what I mean.

Answer 4

I think so.

I've thought for a long time that it would be possible to keep a brain alive after a body dies, and hook it into a virtual world where it can interact as if it was still controlling a body. People might be able to 'live' for hundreds of years in this manner.

Like it wouldn't be like the matrix where it's done for evil purposes, it would be more of a life extension thing.

Answer 5

matrix? i doubt it. that would have to involve an AI with higher reasoning. the good Word says that humans are apart from the animal kingdom because of our higher reasoning. i don't think that God would take this uniqueness away from us.

i think we are very close to creating cyborgs. artificial hearts are already available. devices are available to zap an electrical signal in to the brain to control some forms of seizures. other various artificial limbs are available at an amazing, but less complex scale. the difficulty will be as data questions in first contact "how do you account for many sensations traveling to my neural net?" to convert from biological to electrical and back again will be extremely difficult.

Answer 6

Yeah. Sometimes scientists use a combination of scientific knowledge, knowledge of scientific development trends, and their own imaginations, to create good fiction. Equally, sometimes other scientists are inspired by science fiction. It may be that the lasers in some Sci Fi films from 40 or so years ago influenced the "Eureka!" moment which brought about lasers.

Answer 7

let me know when Godzilla and other freaky monsters walk the earth to destroy NY. Or the giant spider that eats a small town in the middle of no-where. Do i really need to worry about the movie birds, north by northwest etc. ok in other words what scifi movies do think have happened? the mummy?

Answer 8

The Matrix made alot of sense to me. That could be possible.

Answer 9

Are you kidding, the matrix is happening now.

Answer 10

hahhaha, im sure that we will create cyborgs, but the matrix? i think not