Question Cybernetics installed at Whateley?

Had a question pop into my head while writing this afternoon; We know there are back ally cybernetics installers as stated in Saks and Violence. How ever I really don't see Jericho going to a place like that, or putting his jack in himself, so does Doyle have someone on staff trained to install such quality of life enhancing implants?

I guess it comes down to what you mean by "life enhancing"...

They quite likely WOULD have someone who could install cybernetics or facilitate grafting or transplantation of organic materials for life-threatening issues.

They WOULDN'T have staff on hand for voluntary and elective surgeries for cosmetic or other reasons that weren't life-threatening.

OTOH... there may be labs in the tunnels where such procedures take place... maybe with off-duty personnel who work elsewhere on campus.

Plus, you'll get the usual favour-trading that takes place in the workshop.

This would also help ameliorate the potential for screw-ups, and treachery, as no-one wants the reputation for going back on their word, or worse, being incompetent.

There would also be some monitoring as the medics in Doyle would want to know what has been going on.

As far as the Security dept. is concerned, it would probably be a tolerated, but officially banned tradition, like the Arms Fair.

One other thought that occured to me, was that the reason that cybernetics aren't more prevalent, is the maintenance issue. If the only person who can repair your implants goes Deidrick, or dies, then you'll be screwed.

Add in the fact that most of the students are teenagers, so their bodies are still growing and changing, which would add another dimension to the limits upon what can be installed.

You are assuming that cybernetics must be installed by a trained surgeon. Sci-fi literature is rife with alternatives. I would guess that some of the implants we have seen are sort of "self-installing" -- devises that burrow on the patient's body and find the appropriate neural connections by themselves, or devises that "grow" in place via nanotech.

OTOH, there's canon evidence that the Diabolik children's implants, at least, were not self-inflicted; Jadis has no idea when and how hers were done, and Mal got an upgrade for Christmas.

Cryptic wrote: Had a question pop into my head while writing this afternoon; We know there are back ally cybernetics installers as stated in Saks and Violence. How ever I really don't see Jericho going to a place like that, or putting his jack in himself, so does Doyle have someone on staff trained to install such quality of life enhancing implants?

If I remember correctly, Jobe installed Jericho's implants, or at least some of them.

Kristin Darken wrote: The biggest deterrence to getting an implant from someone at Whateley is, in my opinion, that you are getting an implant designed by a kid in high school. While you are in high school. If that kid is going to continue down the engineering path, they are probably going to develop more advanced versions of that implant by the time they graduate... and then they're going to learn even more advanced engineering techniques and improve on what they can do (and in the meantime, technology as a whole is advancing).

So why get the implant 'now'? Wait until you need it and then get the best thing available.

Because this is the 'me' generation. We are the elitists, the millennials ones who crave to have anything new now, just like the newest Iphone, or the latest in fashion even if it is a fad (do I look bad?). And besides its so cool to be the first and I can always upgrade later.

It's all about me, me, and you (looking at me).

Besides, when you're a kid, having an implant designed and implanted by another kid makes sense. It's only when you grow up and realize how badly something like that could fuck you up that you start thinking in terms of degrees, and years of practice, and FDA approval and things like that.

Bek D Corbin wrote: Besides, when you're a kid, having an implant designed and implanted by another kid makes sense. It's only when you grow up and realize how badly something like that could fuck you up that you start thinking in terms of degrees, and years of practice, and FDA approval and things like that.

By the time the FDA approved those implants you'd be dead and buried.

I had been considering the Agents of Shield Deathlock Upgrade machine as a way to bring about the installations, as I do not see the character I'm writing trusting another student to do the work. Teacher/Doctor maybe, but not a student.

As for the "still growing argument" that is something I hadn't considered, and need to think about.

Designs and improvements on them: Character is dieing, so she's not looking to far past 'What do I need to stay alive?' at the moment, so she'll upgrade if she can down the road.

Another factor to consider is that while getting an implant as a teen may come with problems, having that implant for the next several years could provide enough advantage during hostile encounters to pay for that risk.

Let's say you expect to face 10 risky situations over the next four years, and you expect a 95% chance of surviving each individual one without the implant. With the implant, you think your odds would improve to 97%. To find out how safe the implant must be over that duration to be worthwhile, you'd need to do the following computation: (0.95/0.97)^10, which gives 0.812. So if you've got better than an 81.2% chance of taking the implant without serious side effects, you end up having better overall odds of survival even though getting the implant may be riskier than any individual encounter you expect to face.

Of course, that assumes you have an idea of the odds you face and are unable to simply avoid those conflicts in the first place.

Kristin Darken wrote:

Bek D Corbin wrote: Besides, when you're a kid, having an implant designed and implanted by another kid makes sense. It's only when you grow up and realize how badly something like that could fuck you up that you start thinking in terms of degrees, and years of practice, and FDA approval and things like that.

Ya, I suppose you're right. F--- getting old sucks...

It's not the getting old that sucks. Its how you get there. I know cause I keep forgetting something, and for the life of me I can't remember if its the part of putting my pants on after I find them or that that I'm outside doing it.

Now where did I put my glasses? And why should I get off my own lawn.