Cybertechnology

Cybertechnology or Cybernetics is the science of electronic, mechanical, and biological enhancement of living organisms. The term "cybernetic" comes from the Greek word κυβερνητικός meaning "skilled in steering or governing". A Cyborg, a contraction of "cybernetic organism", is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts.

Its most primitive antecedents are the peg legs and hooks used to replace missing legs and hands, inferior substitutes for the originals. Engineering advances made prosthetic limbs progressively more effective replacements for missing body parts, until eventually the replacements became superior to the original organic component.

Once elective cybernetic enhancement becomes a reality, each society has to face a number of ethical issues which are not easily resolved, and which invariably turn separate societies in different directions. Some embrace cybernetic enhancement whole-heartedly, others reject it completely, and still others find an uneasy middle ground.

Virtually all societies view cybernetically enhanced humans in different terms than "natural" humans, and a wide variety of slang (some derogatory) inevitably grows up to help define that difference.

Kinds of replacement technologies

Primitive Prosthetics are mechanical body parts, usually only limbs, that are semi-functional or non-functional. These are usually attached by straps but not surgically attached and have little or no mechanical operation. These are available at TL–2.

Prosthetics are mechanical body parts that are mass-produced, functional replacements. They are surgically installed by a medical professional, and are the most economical type of replacement body parts, available at TL–9.

Bionics are mechanical body parts that are individually custom-designed replacements, with greater functionality than the original body part. Bionics are the most expensive type of replacement body part, available at TL–9.

Note that bionics also refers to a science concerned with applying data about the functioning of biological systems to solve engineering problems. The term cyborg is sometimes applied to a person with bionics. The term cyberware, a contraction of cybernetic hardware is frequently applied to the enhanced mechanical parts.

Regrowth is a method of replacing body parts involving stimulating the body to regrow its missing part. At TL–9, missing limbs can be regrown, and at higher tech levels damaged non-vital organs can be regrown in place in Metabolic Chambers. Regrowth is more expensive (and time-consuming) than a prosthetic, but is generally cheaper than cloning and bionics.

Cloning involves taking one or more cells from the donor and growing a replacement body part (not an entire clone) in an artificial womb. By TL–13, new body parts of any kind can be selectively cloned from the DNA of any body cell. Once grown, the new part is surgically attached to the donor. Cloning costs about the same as regrowth during the growing period, but surgical re-attachment of the new part is more expensive than any of the other options.

Types of cybernetics

These are broken into four broad categories: head jobs, body implants, peripherals, and therapy.

Head jobs, as the name suggests, have to do with cybernetic modifications to the head, usually to the principal sensory organs (eyes and ears). For Sophonts with a different body layout, the "Head jobs" cybernetics are still focused around the sensory organs, though the enhancements to the brain are now included in the body implants.

Head jobs all require delicate surgery to the head, and most deal with very sensitive nerve connections. These procedures can be extremely dangerous if not done properly, and so they tend to be the most expensive of the cybernetic enhancements.

Body implants include large systems which cannot easily be fit into the head and which are instead mounted in the abdominal or thoracic cavity, sometimes replacing or displacing internal organs.

Larger systems cannot usually be fit inside the skull and so are placed in the thoracic or abdominal cavity, usually anchored to the skeleton, and sometimes replacing part or all of an organ. Body implants include four general areas: respiratory implants, electronics, dermal alteration, and computer implants.

Peripherals are modifications to the arms, legs, and if present tails and proboscis, either for improved performance or adaptation of limbs to special functions.

Therapy consists of organic modification of the character's body, either through drugs, genetic manipulation, or surgical procedure.

Power

Many of the cybernetic enhancements detailed require the input of electrical power to function. This power is produced in one of two ways.

Items that need only small amounts of power, such as various passive sensor eyes, are powered by tiny thermoelectric generators that produce the needed electrical power from body heat. These generators are subsumed within the volume, weight, and price of the item.

Other items, particularly those which transmit energy (active sensors and radio or video transmitters) and enhance strength, have thermoelectric power supplemented by tiny long-life batteries, also subsumed within the volume, weight, and price of the item. These batteries must be periodically recharged by a specialized adapter which can convert standard current into a form suitable to the batteries.

Cybernetic goods

Cybernetic Accessory

No information yet available.

1. Waferjack

Cybernetic Defense

No information yet available.

1. Implanted Armor

Cybernetic Weapon

No information yet available.

1. Hornet (device)
2. Implanted Blade

Prosthetics

No information yet available.

1. Grav Caps
2. Limb Regeneration
3. Peg Leg

See also

Lifeform Sciences

§ == ( Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information: ) == §

• L: Lifeform Sciences
  • Biotechnology
  • Cybertechnology
  • Genetic Engineering
  • Nanotechnology
  • Neurotechnology
  • Robotics
  • Sophontology

Lifeform Summaries

• Android
• Artificial Intelligence
• Brain
• Cyborg
• Chimera Species
• Clone
• Infomorph
• Personality Recording
• Pseudobiological Robot
• Machine Life
• Robot
• Sophont
• Synthetic

NBIC Technologies

• NBIC & COMPUTERS
  • N - Nano Science / Nanotechnology (Nano-)
  • B - Biology / Biotechnology (Bio-)
  • I - Information Technology (Info-)
  • C - Cognitive Science / Cybertechnology / (Cogno-)

References & Contributors (Sources)

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Mike Jackson. "Cyborgs part 1." Third Imperium 04 (1986): 16-18.
• Mike Jackson. "Cyborgs part 2." Third Imperium 05 (1987): 4-5.
• Mike Jackson. "Cyborgs part 3." Third Imperium 06 (1987): 4-5.
• Gary L. Thomas. "Replacement Body Parts, Part 1." The Travellers' Digest 12 (1989): 35-38.
• Gary L. Thomas. "Replacement Body Parts, Part 2." The Travellers' Digest 13 (1989): 32-39.
• Frank Chadwick, Dave Nilsen. Fire, Fusion, & Steel (Game Designers Workshop, 1994), 79-86.
• Rob Bruce, Kevin Walsh, Randy Hollingsworth. Traveller Hero Book Two (ComStar Games, 2007), .
• Alan Oliver. "Augumetics and Prosthetics (Supplement)." Signs & Portents 82 (July 2010): 24-33
• Pete Nash, Nick Robinson. Cybernetics (Mongoose Publishing, 2011), 33-75.