Questions for the cast!

[Cyril_Dran]

Saundra:

Did you ever get back into music? I'm a big singer myself, so I'd like to know if you ever had any, ah, undocumented excursions into the field of singing.

[Allan_ecker]

Dear Calvin and Amanda,

Soooo...whatever happened to Cal's bondage suit? =^.^=

*Giggle!*

*BLUSH!!*

[Allan_ecker]

Saundra:

Did you ever get back into music? I'm a big singer myself, so I'd like to know if you ever had any, ah, undocumented excursions into the field of singing.

The Music storyline was intended to be the setup for this big rock opera thing, which Allan stopped working on because it's hard to come up with punchlines involving a band that aren't isolated to the realm of music in some way or another.

Me and the gang did get a band running for a while; it was called "Half Straight" (the mean kinsey score of the group being nearly precisely three) and we had a website with downloadable songs for a while. We didn't make a lot of money but we did make a few friends. It was fun.

[Allan_ecker]

Implants:

I've got wires running all through my musculature that allow me to perform actions faster by bypassing the slow nural electrics. There's a nodule at the base of my neck that coordinates all the impulses to match up the "faster than nerve" wires with the slow stuff. You know how reflexes only go to the spinal column and back? Well, I can do conscious actions with the same (or greater) speed.

I have what players of the twentieth-century game "Shadowrun" might call a battle coprocessor as well. Essentially I only make top-level tactical decisions like "hide", "run", "fight", and it makes decisions my grey matter isn't fast enough for.

I've also got a few storage banks which act as "dumb" storage, but since my -head- controls what goes in I can use it to:
store the song stuck in my head in 32-bit sound
take photos and video at human optical resolution (GREAT for lecture notes and/or pornography)
and just generally remember stuff better than any organic being ought to. I can get it into a computer using USBW. (Universal Serial Bus Wireless)

All this fits in a package the size of a standard hand-held rubber eraser (thank you Moore), which has been implanted at the base of my skull near the back, just under my visual cortex for better video performance.

I have about forty feet of wire running around connecting my brain to all this, thankfully added with a noninvasive nanosurgery developed especially for this purpose.

O.O

I want. So...about what year can we expect all this to become generally available (and not, say, just for special agents or the super-mega-rich)?

I recon about as soon as the FDA figures out that Motorola's money is the same color as Phiezer's.

GOD I'm jaded.

[The_Fox]

Dear Dr. Pegasus;

You mentioned a senior project for GUE Tech...is that a school? What does GUE stand for? And what exactly was that flying orb designed to do? (Does it have a name?)

Jarylan, Mad Scientist In Training

P.S.: Training to be a scientist, obviously. I mean, you don't need profressional training to be mad... Do you?

[The_Fox]

Dear Dr. Hundecoph,

You mentioned being obscenely wealthy once...may I assume this wealth is because you own the patent on many a fine and useful gizmo? Or was it aquired through...*ahem* Less...legal...means?

Jarylan, the Curious Fox!

[Allan_ecker]

Dear Dr. Pegasus;

You mentioned a senior project for GUE Tech...is that a school? What does GUE stand for? And what exactly was that flying orb designed to do? (Does it have a name?)

The Great Underground Empire Institute of Technology is indeed a school. However, it is purely an online school which teaches the disciplines of AI, computer architecture, and related topics.

My Ph.D. is actually from a more standard university, and it's in Physics. The pundits of the community say I "reinvented physics", but really all I did was write a theory of gravity that didn't stomp on quantum mechanics quite so bad.

I think what really got to them was the hover generator. Nothing stops a show quite like a mare on an inexplicably hovering lawnmower engine.

Jarylan, Mad Scientist In Training

P.S.: Training to be a scientist, obviously. I mean, you don't need profressional training to be mad... Do you?

You don't, but it helps.

[Allan_ecker]

Dear Dr. Hundecoph,

You mentioned being obscenely wealthy once...may I assume this wealth is because you own the patent on many a fine and useful gizmo? Or was it aquired through...*ahem* Less...legal...means?

Jarylan, the Curious Fox!

Uh... a little of both, really.

I'm responsible for a number of neurological interface technologies; replacement limbs account for a significant portion of my company's profits. Some less "good of humanity" things include a few dozen improvements on those barbaric Michican Probes, a few odd lines of toys, and some things I'm not proud to have invented.

Between all that and where my net worth tends to hover you'll find a fairly significant discrepancy, and well, I'm not proud of that, either. Crime really does pay sometimes.

-sigh-

Alright, knock that off, or I'll be forced to do something unmentionable.

... Unmentionable, you say?

Oh, yes.

*Drama Queen Factor 5*
I'm so BAD!

Ohhhhh ARE you now?

Oh yes, I'm a bad, bad, bad--

ker-CENSORED!!!

[Fallwind]

Uh... a little of both, really.

I'm responsible for a number of neurological interface technologies; replacement limbs account for a significant portion of my company's profits.

wait a sec.... Volair, do you have any Hundecoph Inc implants?

[Allan_ecker]

wait a sec.... Volair, do you have any Hundecoph Inc implants?

Yes. This was not, however, the case before the good Dr. H went "white hat". Before then I relied on "conventional" neurocybernetics, a technology you're probably already seeing on your side of the mirror.

Volair's quite right, of course. Modern technology -could- outfit you with a number of the advances he's got, but they wouldn't work very well and be, uh, really expensive.

Not to mention somewhat dangerous.

I strongly suspect that, in twenty years, it will be possible to get some commercially availbable neurocybernetics, first for controlling artificial limbs and replacing eyes, and later for nonmedical purposes.

[The_Fox]

I strongly suspect that, in twenty years, it will be possible to get some commercially availbable neurocybernetics, first for controlling artificial limbs and replacing eyes, and later for nonmedical purposes.

And then professional sports might JUST be interesting enough for me to watch.

Jarylan

[Andrick]

...I strongly suspect that, in twenty years, it will be possible to get some commercially availbable neurocybernetics, first for controlling artificial limbs and replacing eyes, and later for nonmedical purposes.

Sooner than that, Allan. The Pentagon is shooting for a target date of 2008 for artificial limbs hooked directly to the peripheral nervous system (i.e., nerve endings for the afflicted part of the body).

[Allan_ecker]

Yeah, I suspected as much. But when do you think those missing limbs will be feeling their toes again? My bet is on... about twenty years.

Of course, I tend to be very conservative when predicting technological advance, and a more realistic date would probably be around 2015.

[Cassol203]

According to Arthur Clarke, predictions of future technology progress linearly. Technology itself progresses exponentially.

Prediction can thus be dissected into three sections. Optimism is the near term, when faith in the creative value of inventors puts predictions far above the the wildest fantasies of anyone around at the time. Coincidence is when development catches up with the prediction, and the predictor, is, for a time, right. Pessimism is when technology shoots ahead of the hopelessly conservative predictions. These usually follow in sequence, but exceptions must be made for predictions like the one in that one issue of Popular Mechanics. (You know, back when logic gates had moving parts. Actually, that reminds me of something. Arthur Clarke wrote a book that spoke of "no moving parts" as a design aesthetic. One question: How would the cooling elements work? )

Back on topic...

Dear Rhonda,

Okay, what really happened to ASCII that he wasn't at the wedding?

[Allan_ecker]

Back on topic...

Dear Rhonda,

Okay, what really happened to ASCII that he wasn't at the wedding?

Well, the first thing you have to realize is that ASCII moved out quite some time ago. He's seven years older than me, not counting the twenty years of "fake" age he got from being built as an adult robot. He still visits, but it's not a forgone conclusion he'd go on a time-travelling family encounter.

Now, we did invite him, but he isn't always easy to reach these days since he started on his experiments. How do you address postage to a secret underground bunker anyway?

[Alfador]

(You know, back when logic gates had moving parts. Actually, that reminds me of something. Arthur Clarke wrote a book that spoke of "no moving parts" as a design aesthetic. One question: How would the cooling elements work? )

Radiatively. </antenna geek>

[The_Fox]

Is there a policy on how personal the questions can be? Or is it determined by the person you're asking? On the one paw, Volair is very open, and I think would answer the question I have in mind honestly without any real problem. On the other, it might inadvertently reveal things about Saundra she doesn't want known...and given she has a plasma rifle, and no qualms about using it...

- Jarylan, also hoping he doesn't get fried for bringing this thread to the top. But it seemed wasteful to make a new one.

[Allan_ecker]

Is there a policy on how personal the questions can be? Or is it determined by the person you're asking? On the one paw, Volair is very open, and I think would answer the question I have in mind honestly without any real problem. On the other, it might inadvertently reveal things about Saundra she doesn't want known...and given she has a plasma rifle, and no qualms about using it...

You're probably addressing UH2 Volair and Saundra these days, which means things are a little bit more in your favor. If you asked the question, I can't garauntee you'd get an answer, but I will grant you asylum if Saundra feels the need to unleash some ionizing justice.

Oh, he can ask any question he wants, but I won't necessarily let Volair answer.

[The_Fox]

Oh, he can ask any question he wants, but I won't necessarily let Volair answer.

Fair enough. Good to see time has mellowed you my dear. Though one could argue that you refusing to let Volair answer the question gives me certain insight into what the answer might be...and I shouldn't have said that.

Anyway...

Volair, I'd assume it's safe to say that you're still bisexual, and haven't turned straight on us. (Or gay, but Saundra would be very unhappy about that.) This being the case, I have to wonder if you ever indulge in any same-sex fantasies in your old age. Now, I know that you love Saundra deeply, and thus, would never go behind her back about something, but I am curious. Does she give you free reign? Do you talk potential situations like this over? Is your stack of porn, a few toys and yourself all you have in the way of male companionship? I'm not trying to get into your pants mind you, but I am curious as to how it is being a bisexual who is married. (One might argue that it's the most stringent "Look but don't touch" policy. Or in some cases, "Don't even look", if your partner is the jealous type.) Of course, I probably am over thinking this too much. But it's what I do, go figure.

- Jarylan, who doesn't know where that came from, but thought it needed asking.

[Allan_ecker]

Volair, I'd assume it's safe to say that you're still bisexual, and haven't turned straight on us. (Or gay, but Saundra would be very unhappy about that.) This being the case, I have to wonder if you ever indulge in any same-sex fantasies in your old age. Now, I know that you love Saundra deeply, and thus, would never go behind her back about something, but I am curious. Does she give you free reign? Do you talk potential situations like this over? Is your stack of porn, a few toys and yourself all you have in the way of male companionship? I'm not trying to get into your pants mind you, but I am curious as to how it is being a bisexual who is married. (One might argue that it's the most stringent "Look but don't touch" policy. Or in some cases, "Don't even look", if your partner is the jealous type.) Of course, I probably am over thinking this too much. But it's what I do, go figure.

- Jarylan, who doesn't know where that came from, but thought it needed asking.

My wife invented time travel!