bionics

a dock in a lake? or a bionic spine or arm?

Would you support the development of a bionic person? I won’t support any development of a bionic person until we show a capacity to address issues of houselessness and hunger. I googled “bionic person” and found that the first bionic person was created in 2013. It could walk, talk, breathe. It cost $6 million. In a report from the Coalition for Homelessness in San Francisco, 225 households would either avoid houselessness or be able to exit houselessness with just over $3 million for the fiscal year 2020-2021. This is half the cost of one bionic “person.” And what makes a person a person, anyway?

This said, I understand the argument for bionic people for their medical use but I don’t think that those pushing for this technology understand the root of disease, or the nature of it, and I don’t think they value: 1) death as the most significant right of passage (IMO) in which a living being can partake; and 2) one of the significators of what makes any living organism living. To be capable of death, to know, no matter how much you push the inevitability to the edges of your consciousness, that you will one day die, is the currency of life.

Would your view change if this were for military purpose? If someone could change my mind, and I leave room for that, I would definitely say “No” to military purposes.