Cybernetics in IST

[Last Free Human]

Is there any specific year mentioned when cybernetics first appear in the IST setting?

M
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
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[Bob Schroeck]

Specific year? No, I haven't decided settled on a specific year, mainly because each limb/implant/system is going to be a separate piece of medical equipment that has to undergo testing and approval for use, with different development times and release dates. In broad terms, the first practical work was done between 1975 and 1981, and by 1990 there was stuff on the market for commercial use. (And honestly, that might be too quick to pass the reality test. I might revise it.) You'd probably see things like cyberears first -- really, advanced cochlear implants rather than Jaime Summers' ear. Maybe legs, too -- but arms and hands would take longer.

Of course, as I said, that assumes you mean commercial-grade mass-produced full-tech or low-magic magitech cyber. If you just mean one-off-built-in-a-gadgeteer's-garage stuff, hell, you could probably find examples going back to the 1930s, running on anything from lead-acid batteries to diesel. And magical prostheses... well, when did magic start?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Last Free Human]

Thanks, Bob. Mostly I was wondering becausethe setting includes them but doesn't specifically mention development times. Warrior has his relatively minor forearm/hand prosthesis and then there's Tele-Fist from Super Scum. I have a few characters from my campaign that have a few enhancements and just wanted to know when such things started to reach the public sector.

M
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
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Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

[Last Free Human]

A follow up question:

What about humanoid or other robots (self-aware or semi- self aware)? 
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

[Bob Schroeck]

I'd have to dig through the official stuff to see if there are confirming examples, but again, as one-off gadgeteer creations, all the way back to the 1930s. There's a robot in SuperTemps, I believe, active during at least the 1980s if not earlier. Formalized, "we've studied and engineered and we can reproduce what we're doing", AI pretty much starts with the MV-2400 project in 1988, which itself launched with poorly-understood recreations of alien AI circuitry, but doesn't mature for at least another twenty years. As of 2010, AI robots are a solved engineering problem, but there aren't a lot of them around because few companies want to deal with a) the PR fallout of "building people to be products" and b) that their product line would have a legal right to say "thanks but no thanks" and walk off rather than get quietly shipped to a showroom somewhere. AI robots still tend to be one-offs, created for highly individual reasons.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.