Everything in cyber-punk science fiction is coming true.
While it would be hard to pinpoint the beginning of cyber-punk sci-fi, most fans would cite William Gibson's fantastic novel "Neuromancer" as the definitive piece of work by which all other cyber-punk is measured. "The Matrix" is a more-recent example of the genre.
It is all coming true.
Modern science is advancing at a frightening rate. The news media generally relegates science news to six-inch briefs buried between L.S. Ayres advertisements. Few of us realize just what exactly is possible these days. Here are a few examples:
*Scientific American reported in January that scientists have used what is termed "genetic programming" to create computer software programs that think on their own. The programs have successfully discovered on their own lines of "thinking" 15 currently patented ideas, including 6 inventions patented after January 2000.
*In December BBC News reported that University of California researchers are confident they will have, within the next three years, a microchip implant that will restore sight to the blind. Robot parts inside of humans.
*One "Star Trek: The Next generation" episode had Worf becoming paralyzed from the waist-down. The crew of the Enterprise used "experimental" medical technology to allow Worf the use of his legs. It involved electronic nodes stimulating the muscles. That medical technology is now available in the real world.
*The Moscow Times reported that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has scientist working on a super-serum to develop "Extended Performance War Fighters." (Captain America, anyone?) These super-soldiers will, according to the report, "resist the mental and physiological effects of sleep deprivation while relying on ergogenic substances to manage the environmental and mentally induced stress of the battlefield."
According to the article, this will be accomplished with pharmaceutical injections, implanted microchips and gene therapy.
The research is being conducted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA are our good friends working diligently to develop a means to track electronic signatures from every electronic device.
*Of course, we can't forget the Raelians. Even if the Looney-Mooney-Platoon didn't clone a baby, several legitimate medical institutions aren't too far away from accomplishing that task.
If you harbor any sort of intelligence inside your cranium, you are probably a little distrusting of all of this technology, especially the bionic sort. It smells a little bit like playing God; it reeks too much of a "Terminator" movie.
But me? I think all this stuff is really, really ultra-neat. Dolphins just can't make inventions like those. It's humanity's doing.
We are living in a world previously considered science-fiction. How cool is that? We're putting computers inside our bodies, engineering artificial beings and growing human ears on the backs of mice. It is quite conceivable that, in the next twenty years, I could be the proud owner of an Indiglo sub-dermal watch. Think of it!
Just wait until we can plug the Internet into our brains. I'll be the first in line.
It is a marvelous, fantastic world we live in. If you could bring, say, George Washington into present-day America, he would likely be driven to suicide by pure disbelief. Our ancestors never dreamed of computers, let alone biogenetic enhancement.
Cyberpunk sci-fi is no longer fiction. So, what fiction will we dream up next?
Write to Mouse at bbmcshane@bsu.edu
Visit: www.classicalgeektheatre.com
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