18 replies to this topic

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

Scenario:  You are a secret agent in the vein of James Bond or the Black Widow.  During the course of a mission, you are horribly injured in an experimental plane crash, and are left a twisted, mangled wreck of a human being, barely clinging to life.  Luckily the medics find you and get you back to base, where the government's top bionics expert says he can save you.  For some inexplicable reason, you can choose the manner of your injury/bionics from between two options:

 

Two bionic legs.  Both of your legs would be replaced, giving you the ability to run, jump, and kick at superhuman levels. 

 

One bionic arm.  Your dominant arm would be replaced, giving you superhuman strength in that arm/hand.

 

Some caveats apply.  In both cases, the bionic limbs externally resemble your real limbs; their synthetic nature is only detectable under close scrutiny.  Also in both cases, sensation and fine motor control are lost.  This is less problematic in the legs, where fine motor control is not as important, but the lack of sensation makes it difficult for you to walk on uneven terrain without watching your feet.  You can run up to 60 mph, and can maintain this speed for about an hour before fatigue poisons would build up in the still-human parts of your body, forcing you to rest.  From a standing position you can jump 4.5 meters straight up or 10 meters across.  With a running start you can jump across spans as wide as 15 meters.  Although the bionic limbs are waterproof, the legs make you too heavy to swim (you would be pulled under).

 

With the arm, you would lose the ability to write and perform other manual tasks with precision (and remember, this is your dominant arm).  Although the arm possesses superhuman strength, it is attached to the rest of your musculoskeletal system, which does not.  The amount of weight you can lift from a standing position is limited to what your still-human frame can support, probably around 250 kg for a healthy adult male.  But the amount of weight you can bench press is significantly more, since that position allows the bionic arm itself to bear the weight.  In this manner you can lift up to 2000 kg, enough to to push a car off yourself, were you in the unenviable position of having one on top of you.  The arm can deliver a blow with sufficient force to buckle 1-cm steel plate or splinter a 7.5 cm oaken door, and if properly braced can bend steel bars 3.8 cm in diameter.  The arm does not prevent you from swimming.

 

Answers/clarifications upon request.

[KiWi]

I'm trying to think.. my gut choice was the legs, but what you said about lossing balance, on top of the swimming (which I expected) worries me.

Can I hop from place to place (from one place on a mountain to some feet in front of me) or under water, or from building to building, as a way to get over the balance issue?

When I land will the legs keep me up or will I fall over?

Hard core Parkour.

[Manoka]

Y no 2 arms?!

[Redezra]

Hmmm... I'm not sure the arm would be of any benefit to me, given dyspraxia/dysgraphia causes the problems up in the brain....

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

KiWi:  It's not so much an issue of balance.  The problem is that because sensation is limited in your legs, you would not be able to tell by feel whether your foot had solid purchase on uneven or broken terrain.  So crossing this kind of ground would be slow going because you would have to visualize every foot placement carefully before stepping.  But on most surfaces you could walk/skip/run just as easily as you can now.  You could hop from place to place, but remember you'd have a great deal of weight coming down on each jump, so it would probably not be wise to hop around on shaky ground.  You would land normally (unless the surface beneath you collapsed from the weight of two bionic legs crashing down on it).  I'm not sure what you mean by hopping underwater — I guess you could try, but moving underwater is not easy, and even your bionic legs' extra strength would probably not be much use.  Not to mention that you'd drown.  Bottom line: if you chose the legs, water is your enemy.  

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

Hmmm... I'm not sure the arm would be of any benefit to me, given dyspraxia/dysgraphia causes the problems up in the brain....

 

You don't see the benefit of being able to punch through a wall or crush a man's hand?  You're not using your imagination.  

 

I'd choose the arm because I'd be too afraid of drowning.  I like the water.

[Redezra]

Well, I suppose. Arm would be more useful...

 

Lacking a dominant arm, would I get both? :3

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

No, you lose your dominant arm, meaning you'd have to train the other arm to take its place.

 

The bionic arm would also be good for fighting dogs since it feels no pain.  

[the rebel]

Would be arms as lets be honest here there are times and places where a wank is needed without arms you are fucked... though if you lost your balls in the accident then it would be legs...

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

You'd still have your arms if you chose to take the bionic legs.

[the rebel]

You'd still have your arms if you chose to take the bionic legs.

 

But you stated "left in a twisted, mangled wreck of a human body". So as far as I'm concerned your arms would be completely fucked and next to useless, same with the legs if you choose the arm...be able to go real fast on your wheelchair...

[KiWi]

KiWi:  It's not so much an issue of balance.  The problem is that because sensation is limited in your legs, you would not be able to tell by feel whether your foot had solid purchase on uneven or broken terrain.  So crossing this kind of ground would be slow going because you would have to visualize every foot placement carefully before stepping.  But on most surfaces you could walk/skip/run just as easily as you can now.  You could hop from place to place, but remember you'd have a great deal of weight coming down on each jump, so it would probably not be wise to hop around on shaky ground.  You would land normally (unless the surface beneath you collapsed from the weight of two bionic legs crashing down on it).  I'm not sure what you mean by hopping underwater — I guess you could try, but moving underwater is not easy, and even your bionic legs' extra strength would probably not be much use.  Not to mention that you'd drown.  Bottom line: if you chose the legs, water is your enemy.  

 
eh.

If nothing else, I'm thinking with sufficent training with kicks under your belt (ha?), not to mention training for balance / learn about your 'blind spots' when it comes to tricky moves, or the speed, the legs would be more useful.

Water would prove to be a problem if it's deep enough. But if it's say a pool, even a deep one, your legs should be strong enough to get you out quickly enough. And if it's a bigger body of water, either you have even a small oxygen tank with you, or your Bond girl saves you, or you just die on the mission.
 

Would be arms as lets be honest here there are times and places where a wank is needed without arms you are fucked... though if you lost your balls in the accident then it would be legs...

See what I said about Bond girl. You're a top agent. Not to mention you could still train your other hand. I don't know what the rules are about balls though..

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

I always wondered if Inspector Gadget had a telescoping penis.

[Redezra]

Uhh..... No I think you've missed it. I do not have dominance Would I get both, or be randomly assigned an arm?

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

What hand do you write with?  That's your dominant hand.

[Redezra]

I can write with both.

 

Anything I learn with one hand, I can replicate in mirror on my other. Same with feet. The downside being I'm equally bad in both.

 

Question is, would it be an arbitrary choice by the uh... committee(?) or would they choose the one I wrote the right way round with?

Edited by Redezra, 20 May 2014 - 08:59 PM.

[KiWi]

Right by default.

Such rules intergalactic court.

Bring in the dancing dolphins.

[Redezra]

Aww, then it's really hard to choose D:

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

I guess if someone were truly ambidextrous then it would be whichever arm would be most inconvenient for you.  If it's still both the same then it would be random.