Transhuman you

[Cognisant]

I suppose the competition for "best design" will become a competition for "best design philosophy", for instance which is more important, modularity or performance?

I'm curious, if you could design your body to be however you like (within set technological limits) what sort of design would it be, what aspects would you prioritize?

Design Aspect: A very rough description of what you're getting.

Spoiler

Durability: How well your body can resist direct kinetic forces, everything from basic wear-&-tear all the way up to high speed impact resistance and reactive armour plating.

Survivability: Environmental resistance, starting with basic stuff like water proofing and going all the way up to being able to survive in outer space or in deep sea trenches (water pressure isn't the same as having a building collapse on you, Durability would better protect you there).

Attractiveness: Old habits die hard.

Modularity: The ability and extent to which you can modify yourself on a daily basis, ranging from aesthetics to having several bodies that you can switch between at will.

Flexibility: The number and extent of articulation points in your limbs, the human spine for instance has many articulation points, while an octopus tentacle is the very embodiment of flexibility.

Stealth: Metal feet make lots of noise, but with the addition of soft rubber pads and quieter actuators basic sneaking becomes possible, of course you could take it much further with things like active optical camouflage and IR neutral plating.

Strength: Duh.

Weight Reduction: Making things smaller and lighter isn't easy, but in robotics there's huge benefits in terms of movement speed and energy efficiency, not to mention the practicality of not weighing a quarter of a ton.

Dexterity: The finesse with which you can physically manipulate the world around you.

Agility: Running, jumping, balance, that sort of stuff.

Cognitive Augmentation: The computer in front of you is augmenting your intelligence, now imagine if you didn't need the computer, if you could connect to the internet, write emails, run/write programs, and so forth without any (visible) electronics, if you were the computer.

Stamina: How long until you need to recharge?

Durability
Survivability
Attractiveness
Modularity
Flexibility
Stealth
Strength
Weight Reduction
Dexterity
Agility
Cognitive Augmentation
Stamina

You have 20 points to distribute between these 12 aspects, no more than 5 per aspect please.

 

[Black Rose]

I think I would keep the humanoid form.

10 times the abilities of Spider man + Ghost in the Shell.

My body will be infused with an internet like network.

Nano tube infused bones with muscles / tendons and nanobot skin / organs. All semi morphable.

Cellular automaton quantum computer for a brain. 10^42 calculations per second. Multiple simulations at once.

 

[Melllvar]

Depends first on whether I wanted to be generally well-equipped or more optimized for a specific task. If optimized for specific tasks, it would depend on what those tasks were. Intelligence? Combat? Social interaction? Could go any way. Also, if I choose a trait as "0", how bad is it really? Does 0 survivability mean I have to be kept in some sort of controlled atmosphere or just that I can't go marching through the desert without any problems? Another thing, what sort of transhumans am I competing against? Do we live in an economy where everyone has to be specialized for a specific task in order to be competitive?

Just for fun though I'll pick something like this:

2 Durability
2 Survivability
0 Attractiveness
1 Modularity
1 Flexibility
0 Stealth
2 Strength
1 Weight Reduction
3 Dexterity
2 Agility
4 Cognitive Augmentation
2 Stamina

 

[Artsu Tharaz]

I'll stay just as I am, thank you very much.

YouTube - ‪I, Robot (Trailer 2004)‬‏

 

[Cogwulf]

I'd take more of an evolutionary approach to transhumanism than a "design" approach.

I'd start with me as I am now, but change aspects as I see need for improvement. I would start out as basically human, I wouldn't bother changing anything unless I ever decided I really needed wheels or tentacles or anything.
If I ever needed to move heavy objects, or do very complex calculations, I would rather control a separate robot remotely, or connect to an auxiliary CPU for extra processing power. Why bother lumbering myself with a load of extras that I rarely use, when I can just plug something in when I need it.


I've just arranged these in order of preference.
Modularity
Cognitive Augmentation
Dexterity
Durability
Survivability
Stamina
Strength
Weight Reduction
Agility
Attractiveness
Flexibility
Stealth

Modularity is a key preference. If you can swap arms or power-packs or anything readily, all of the other preferences are fully available, depending of-course on the availability of different parts.
Cognitive abilities and dexterity come above all other preferences for me, mainly because those are the things that I see as being my best skills as a human. As a transhuman, I would want to continue being good at the things I am already good at. Improving what I am average or poor at comes secondary.
Survivability doesn't seem much other than atmospheric dependence/susceptibility, durability would be more important. However, redundancy would be more useful, i.e. ability to survive damage to multiple components, or even an entire back-up body. But cognitive ability would help to avoid damage in the first place.
Stamina/strength/agility etc. are things that would be useful rather than necessary. Weight reduction would just be one method of improving agility etc.

 

[Artsu Tharaz]

Improving what I am average or poor at comes secondary.

However, if you have any significant weak points, then you need to fix these up. There should be no easy route of attack. Bring all of your non-dominant skills up to the same base level (this is dependent on external circumstances).

Perhaps a way of screwing others' perception of your abilities would help, like Vegeta hiding his power levels from being read by others' scouters. Similarly, you would make it look like your weak points are not really weak. Know they enemy, and make sure they don't know you.

 

[Cogwulf]

However, if you have any significant weak points, then you need to fix these up. There should be no easy route of attack. Bring all of your non-dominant skills up to the same base level (this is dependent on external circumstances).

I would make sure I didn't have anything that could be a weak point, it's more a case of pursuing a strong point. After all, the most important part of a humans motivation is to find at least one thing we excel at, there's no reason that would change as a transhuman.

 

[simichem]

Cognitive Augmentation - above all, everything else will follow, as we develop our minds we will be able to increase our performance at practically anything.

 

[Cognisant]

Lets say 0 = what you are now, for the sake of simplicity.

Cognitive Augmentation - above all, everything else will follow, as we develop our minds we will be able to increase our performance at practically anything.

This is more about the individual, and Cognitive Augmentation isn't the same as intelligence, your computer is a tool through which you can gain leverage upon your existing intelligence, owning a computer doesn’t make you smarter.

So five points in CA will probably give you the ability to act as your own 24/7 server with basic (sub-sentient) artificial intelligence that you can dedicate to various tasks, i.e. instead of driving your car manually you'll just hop in, think of your destination, then spend the rest of the trip thinking about other things as the AI does the driving for you.

 

[Cognisant]

I'll stay just as I am, thank you very much.

You know he had an artificial arm, right?

Saved his life.

 

[NegativeZero]

Genetic modification for tissue regeneration and slow ageing, no implants or sensory modification. I'd like to remain human to be honest but I would take an extension.

 

[Oblivious]

In my opinion, the way to go is not so much augmentation, but digital interfacing.

What I mean is human machine interfacing through neural or nervous uplinks. Certainly, we would expect a certain level of bodily augmentation, but I expect this to plateau out very quickly in favour of individual separate systems that you can interface with directly or wirelessly.

The most elegant solution I can think of is an implanted system fuelled by blood glucose in the brain that allows a two way wireless transfer of information. This interface will allow commands to be relayed from the user as well as data and sensory information to be relayed to the user.

Why make permanent changes to the body when a user can take and cede control of a separate machine system and use it as a bodily extension? This does not extend merely to vehicles or your coffee machine. I also speak of homes, factories, industrial complexes, cities, and even entire planetary networks.

Because of this I expect major bodily augmentation with non-biological implants to be limited mostly to life support systems. This is actually already occurring.

Once we master genetic programming, this too can be rendered obsolete. Once genetics becomes a matter of engineering, we will see some truly amazing things. Even that wireless machine interface I talked about could become an innate feature of your body.

I have not mentioned expansion of consciousness and cognition through augmentation of the brain. To be able to exert control over more complex systems, a certain amount of computational capacity will have to achieved by your brain. This will likely be achieved through augmentation, or indeed yet more interfacing. A veritable hivemind could be integrated from multiple humans or a mix of human and machine processors.

I doubt such an individual, or individuals, could be regarded as human as we know a human to be this day.

 

[SkyWalker]

How about not sleeping while staying sane, healthy and awake.

If you don't sleep you have 1/3 of the day extra, you'll be able to surpass all humans that sleep and lose that time.

That will probably not be possible though, sleep probably plays an important psychological role (next to the obvious physical role)

---

you could alternatively also do some over-clocking of your mind-cpu: go faster during the day, do more in less time.. and have the same effect as not-sleeping (being able to do more in 1 day).
stimulants? ephedrine-ritalin-cocain cocktails?
and then just make sure you sleep well so you dont break your health?

even if you would die sooner, you'll have done more in less time.... and you'll also produce more in a month and thus earn more, while the rent/mortage/etc stays the same

 

[Agent Intellect]

Point delegation:

Durability |||
Survivability |||||
Attractiveness
Modularity |||||
Flexibility
Stealth
Strength
Weight Reduction
Dexterity
Agility
Cognitive Augmentation |||||
Stamina ||


To me transhumanism is about survivability and information, so things like stealth, flexibility, and strength are generally not very useful. Of course, given more points (but the same caps on individual aspects) after maxing out stamina and durability, I would probably go with physical attributes such as agility, weight reduction, and dexterity.

My problem with this exercise, though, is that if zero is keeping something the same as I am now, then twenty points really isn't enough. I can't imagine mechanically augmenting myself without even accidentally increasing such things as strength (in the same way that stealth is an option since being mechanical would accidentally make you louder). In addition, it's not clear how much a single point increases that aspect of oneself, nor if all of these aspects are able to be quantified in a way that could be improved by any measure of magnitude.

As for my body design, I'd want to actually be a network of bodies. I'd be able to control each one independently in the same way that I can control my arm independent of my leg. This way I could both A) take a lot more risks, being that if I lost one body, I could just build a new one and incorporate it into my network and B) I could do multiple things at once (imagine exploring the depths of the Pacific ocean while also trekking across the surface of the moon).

 

[Vecho]

Durability 2
Survivability 4
Attractiveness
Modularity 3
Flexibility 1
Stealth
Strength 1
Weight Reduction 1
Dexterity
Agility 1
Cognitive Augmentation 5
Stamina 2

I am going to be one ugly looking thing.
Well If I am going to be able to do something better know what I am doing and be able to travel there where now I can't reach. Must be able to travel for longer and stand on a platform and not break it.

 

[Agent Intellect]

Afterthought on my last post:

Perhaps the exercise could be about building each part of ones body piecemeal. For instance, one could design what attributes they'd want each arm to have, then each leg, then their head. Just off the top of my head, it could go something like this:


Arms: 20 credits for both arms. Every upgrade you do to one aspect of the arm will also increase kilograms you can lift by 10 and grip pressure by .1 kilograms/cm^2. Each upgrade increases weight by 10 kg.

-Additional arms (>2) are 8 credits each.
-Each new joint per arm costs 3 credits.
-Every 100 kilograms extra the single arm can lift is 2 credits.
-Every extra kilogram/cm of grip pressure is 2 credits.
-Every half a meter the arm could extend is 1 credit.
-Cutting tools (various types) anywhere from 4-8 credits.
-Guns (various strengths) anywhere from 4-12 credits.



Legs: 25 credits for both legs. Every upgrade you do to one aspect will increase speed by 1 km/hour, jump height by .3 meters, and increase support by 15 kg. Each upgrade increases weight by 15 kg.

-Every additional 10 kilometers/hour you can run is 1 credits.
-Every additional 3 meter you can jump is 1 credits.
-Every additional 100 kilograms you can support is 1 credit.
-There are 5 'agility' upgrades, with all 5 making it almost impossible to knock you down (within reason), going from 1 credit to 5 credits (making 15 for all 5).



Head: 40 credits for the head. Every upgrade to each aspect will increase IQ by 3, cognitive speed by .1 petaFLOPS, hearing range by 10 hz, and vision range by 10 hz. Each upgrade increases weight by 5 kg.

-Every additional 30 IQ points (I would classify this as primarily creativity and ingenuity, with the average human being at 100) is 1 credit.
-Every additional "object" you can hold in working memory is 1 credit (~7 is average for humans).
-Up to 5 credits can be spent on memory (qualitative, but 5 would be perfect photographic memory of every event you were conscious for).
-Every additional petaFLOPS of brain speed (assuming humans are at 20) is 5 credits.
-Every additional 500 Hz you can hear is 2 credits.
-Every additional magnitude (in Hz) of light you can see is 5 credits.
-Every order of magnitude you can magnify your vision, up to electron microscope size (nanometer scale) is 4 credits.



Other: 50 credits. Every upgrade made to any aspect increases temperature resistance by 5 degrees, power supply by 20 minutes, g-force resistance by 5 and atmospheres by 10.

-Compatibility: the ability to uplink with other technology (eg other transhumans) is 10 credits. This gives you access to full immersion virtual worlds as well.
-Power supply: every additional 6 hours you can go without "sleep" and be perfectly functional is 1 credit (assume 24 hours is normal max to be perfectly functional).
-Flight: the ability to fly is 10 credits.
-Every additional hour you can go without air is 1 credit. 5 credits makes you air independent.
-Every additional 50 degrees centigrade you can withstand (both hot and cold) is 1 credit.
-Every 50 additional g-forces per minute (assuming 15 is max now) one can withstand, and every additional 100 atmospheres (assuming constant exposure to about 5 atmospheres now is potentially dangerous) one can withstand is 1 credit.
-Every additional body you can incorporate into the network of "you" is 10 credits.
-Every additional form your primary body can transform into is 10 credits.
-Every 50 kilogram you can reduce your weight while maintaining the same functionality is 1 credit.



There could be more, but this was what I could think of right now. (This might over complicate this simple exercise though).

 

[nexion]

Something with infinite capacity for learning. The rest is optional. I would prefer to be a transcendent consciousness entirely devoid of a corporeal entity. I will edit this post with the actual breakdown later.

 

[Dormouse]

You know, once I get my basic living/experience stuff done with, I wouldn't mind becoming something of a thinking statue.

In which case, all I really need is Cognitive Augmentation,Attractiveness, and Durability.

Note that by attractiveness I mean artistic beauty, preferably in the form of some huge, evolving, colourful monument, meandering slowly through cities and decorating public spaces.

 

[GYX_Kid]

i don't know, but i'll take some bullshit wild guess as to what i was at the beginning of the year:

2 Durability
1 Survivability
2 Attractiveness
1 Modularity
1 Flexibility
2 Stealth
2 Strength
2 Weight Reduction
2 Dexterity
2 Agility
3 Cognitive Augmentation
0 Stamina

 

[Jordan~]

Durability 2
Survivability 2
Attractiveness 4
Modularity 0
Flexibility 0
Stealth 0
Strength 0
Weight Reduction 4
Dexterity 0
Agility 0
Cognitive Augmentation 4
Stamina 4

Just 20 points!? What kind of cyberpunk technofascism is this!? Bah. Fine. 'Human augmentation, sure; but post-scarcity? Preposterous...'

I don't really understand the attractiveness scale - I'd be pretty happy looking the way I do just now, is it an improvement on the present or just a general 1-5 scale of attractiveness? Either way I figure that'd result either in physical perfection or the same or a slight improvement. And I am a hopeless aesthete, so having a very beautiful form is quite important to me. There's no point not getting old if you just lose the beauty of your youth anyway. If it's a scale of improvement then the new form would be based on mine but better. Something like what Roy Harper said of Joanna Newsom would be ideal: "I was initially struck by her beauty, and I was inspired by knowing that she was 'in the world.'"

Durability and survivability I give 2 each - again, I'm not really sure what that represents but I'm hoping I could survive a car crash at least and just sleep or recharge or whatever it is I need to do wherever - in the middle of a jungle, at the bottom of a sea, on top of a mountain, etc.

Weight reduction I go for because how else are you going to fly? I'd put 5 in if I had the points to spare. Flying, moving very fast overland and in water are big pluses to designing your own body.

Cognitive augmentation is basically self-explanatory, I suppose. A lot of memory, maybe the entirety of human knowledge uploaded into my mind, and enchanced processing power. I wouldn't change anything fundamental about my mind, just increase the scale.

Stamina gets four points because I hate having to sleep and it'd be nice to be able to go for very long periods of time without having to refuel, recharge, or whatever.

In a real post-scarcity situation all of them would get 5. If that's the upper limit.

Adapting this to a whole D&D-style game would be cool. And the setting could justify limiting the points.

 

[scorpiomover]

Looking at the list, I find that my body has far more than enough of all of those traits. The ONE trait that is missing from the list, that I WOULD like more of, is learning how to better manage my emotions, because it is almost always my misuse of my emotions that block my reasoning, and hold me back from achieving the massive potential that all human bodies and brains have.

 

[warryer]

Durability-2
Survivability-2
Attractiveness-0
Modularity-3
Flexibility-1
Stealth-2
Strength-1
Weight Reduction-0
Dexterity-3
Agility-3
Cognitive Augmentation-1
Stamina-2

I've decided I'm going to be a robot spy.

 

[Geminii]

I don't really see the need for a body. I'd rather run as a massively parallel memeset across human consciousness. Plenty of input, effective immortality and regenerative invulnerability.

 

[Jordan~]

Perhaps the exercise could be about building each part of ones body piecemeal. For instance, one could design what attributes they'd want each arm to have, then each leg, then their head.

Could you develop this further? e.g. something to do with leftover points, general 'whole body' improvements (like skin enhancements), elaboration on some things (does the ability to lift a certain weight imply sufficient grip to hold that weight?), aesthetics, additional functionalities for each part (for example, arms upgraded for precise movements), and I think with the brain there would need to be a consideration of its ability to upgrade itself.

A while D&D-style character creation process would be awesome.

 

[Cognisant]

You know, once I get my basic living/experience stuff done with, I wouldn't mind becoming something of a thinking statue.

In which case, all I really need is Cognitive Augmentation,Attractiveness, and Durability.

Note that by attractiveness I mean artistic beauty, preferably in the form of some huge, evolving, colourful monument, meandering slowly through cities and decorating public spaces.

+5 points for obtaining a goverment funded arts grant.

 

[Jordan~]

That's brilliant, actually. If all this becomes possible, but expensive, and I'm too broke to afford it, I can just apply for an arts grant. "I'll make myself really beautiful and stand motionless in the corner of a park. It's cheaper than getting someone to make a statue, seriously. I'll even tell tourists about whatever it is I'm meant to commemorate."

 

[Agent Intellect]

Could you develop this further? e.g. something to do with leftover points, general 'whole body' improvements (like skin enhancements), elaboration on some things (does the ability to lift a certain weight imply sufficient grip to hold that weight?), aesthetics, additional functionalities for each part (for example, arms upgraded for precise movements), and I think with the brain there would need to be a consideration of its ability to upgrade itself.

A while D&D-style character creation process would be awesome.

The rest of my post wasn't elaboration enough?

Spoiler

Arms: 20 credits for both arms. Every upgrade you do to one aspect of the arm will also increase kilograms you can lift by 10 and grip pressure by .1 kilograms/cm^2. Each upgrade increases weight by 10 kg.

-Additional arms (>2) are 8 credits each.
-Each new joint per arm costs 3 credits.
-Every 100 kilograms extra the single arm can lift is 2 credits.
-Every extra kilogram/cm of grip pressure is 2 credits.
-Every half a meter the arm could extend is 1 credit.
-Cutting tools (various types) anywhere from 4-8 credits.
-Guns (various strengths) anywhere from 4-12 credits.



Legs: 25 credits for both legs. Every upgrade you do to one aspect will increase speed by 1 km/hour, jump height by .3 meters, and increase support by 15 kg. Each upgrade increases weight by 15 kg.

-Every additional 10 kilometers/hour you can run is 1 credits.
-Every additional 3 meter you can jump is 1 credits.
-Every additional 100 kilograms you can support is 1 credit.
-There are 5 'agility' upgrades, with all 5 making it almost impossible to knock you down (within reason), going from 1 credit to 5 credits (making 15 for all 5).



Head: 40 credits for the head. Every upgrade to each aspect will increase IQ by 3, cognitive speed by .1 petaFLOPS, hearing range by 10 hz, and vision range by 10 hz. Each upgrade increases weight by 5 kg.

-Every additional 30 IQ points (I would classify this as primarily creativity and ingenuity, with the average human being at 100) is 1 credit.
-Every additional "object" you can hold in working memory is 1 credit (~7 is average for humans).
-Up to 5 credits can be spent on memory (qualitative, but 5 would be perfect photographic memory of every event you were conscious for).
-Every additional petaFLOPS of brain speed (assuming humans are at 20) is 5 credits.
-Every additional 500 Hz you can hear is 2 credits.
-Every additional magnitude (in Hz) of light you can see is 5 credits.
-Every order of magnitude you can magnify your vision, up to electron microscope size (nanometer scale) is 4 credits.



Other: 50 credits. Every upgrade made to any aspect increases temperature resistance by 5 degrees, power supply by 20 minutes, g-force resistance by 5 and atmospheres by 10.

-Compatibility: the ability to uplink with other technology (eg other transhumans) is 10 credits. This gives you access to full immersion virtual worlds as well.
-Power supply: every additional 6 hours you can go without "sleep" and be perfectly functional is 1 credit (assume 24 hours is normal max to be perfectly functional).
-Flight: the ability to fly is 10 credits.
-Every additional hour you can go without air is 1 credit. 5 credits makes you air independent.
-Every additional 50 degrees centigrade you can withstand (both hot and cold) is 1 credit.
-Every 50 additional g-forces per minute (assuming 15 is max now) one can withstand, and every additional 100 atmospheres (assuming constant exposure to about 5 atmospheres now is potentially dangerous) one can withstand is 1 credit.
-Every additional body you can incorporate into the network of "you" is 10 credits.
-Every additional form your primary body can transform into is 10 credits.
-Every 50 kilogram you can reduce your weight while maintaining the same functionality is 1 credit.



There could be more, but this was what I could think of right now. (This might over complicate this simple exercise though).

Maybe when I have time I'll see if I can make a more well thought out version of this.

 

[Jordan~]

Cool. I'll help if there's any way I can.

Also, most humans can hold seven 'objects' in their working memory? As in, they can remember that they have to do seven different things at once, or they can be doing one thing while remembering to do six other things? I'm pretty sure I can hold about one. But I have ADHD, so I'm very distractable.

 

[Agent Intellect]

Cool. I'll help if there's any way I can.

Also, most humans can hold seven 'objects' in their working memory? As in, they can remember that they have to do seven different things at once, or they can be doing one thing while remembering to do six other things? I'm pretty sure I can hold about one. But I have ADHD, so I'm very distractable.

The usual way to measure this on an IQ test is they will quickly flash up numbers, one at a time, on the screen, and then ask you to type all the numbers you remember. Everyone can remember one, two, or three numbers. At four a few people might start having trouble, at five and six even average people could possibly mess up, but most people are capable of remembering seven digits. After seven, it becomes exponentially more difficult to remember every number in the sequence.

In practical terms, if you are doing a task, you might be able to consciously remember the next seven steps. Or, if you are working out a problem, you might be able to keep seven of the variables involved in your mind at once - if you start thinking about some other variable, you may forget one of the others.

An analogy would be Dunbar's number, except working memory is short term.

 

[Chimera]

Thanks for the mental exercise, Coggy. ^^

Durability ||
Survivability ||
Attractiveness 0
Modularity 0
Flexibility ||
Stealth |||
Strength 0
Weight Reduction |||
Dexterity |
Agility |||
Cognitive Augmentation |
Stamina ||||


Stamina gets 4 points so I don't have to be tied down to one particular place, or civilization in general.

Agility, stealth, and weight reduction get 3 points each for the obvious "undetected" preference.

Durability and survivability get 2 points each for...yeah, survivability. Flexibility gets 2 points because who knows when they'll need to get out of a tight spot?

Dexterity just seems like a good skill to have, so one point.

Cognitive augmentation only gets one point because my only interest would be in improving my memory. Most of the information yielded from the internet and things like global interfaces would be largely wasted in my head.

Strength, attractiveness, and modularity hold little interest to me.
​

 

[Cognisant]

Durability 5
Survivability 3
Attractiveness 0
Modularity 2
Flexibility 0
Stealth 0
Strength 4
Weight Reduction 0
Dexterity 0
Agility 4
Cognitive Augmentation 1
Stamina 1


Hard to kill

 

[Hadoblado]

Durability
Survivability
Attractiveness
Modularity
Flexibility
Stealth
Strength
Weight Reduction
Dexterity
Agility
Cognitive Augmentation - IIIII
Stamina

The rest is all afterthought, though I would like to be immortal if I could work that in there for 15 points. In the newer Dune books they have brains in jars that are into the whole modularity aspect, seems Godlike to me

 

[SkyWalker]

Something with infinite capacity for learning.

I already have that??

 

[Chimera]

Just curious, for those of you who are putting heavy points into cognitive augmentation...what would you do with the super intelligence and/or effortless connection to the internet...?


Also Dormouse, I like your take on it. o:
​

 

[Jordan~]

Just curious, for those of you who are putting heavy points into cognitive augmentation...what would you do with the super intelligence and/or effortless connection to the internet...?
​

Space anthropology! And running simulations to live in during instellar flights.

 

[Reluctantly]

Wouldn't modularity allow you to attain much of the other attributes without putting points into them?

Durability - 3
Survivability - 3
Attractiveness
Modularity
Flexibility
Stealth - 5
Strength
Weight Reduction
Dexterity - 3
Agility - 1
Cognitive Augmentation - 3
Stamina - 2

If modularity can cover Durability, survivability, attractiveness, flexibility, stealth, strength, weight reduction, agility, and stamina, then

Durability
Survivability
Attractiveness - 5
Modularity - 5
Flexibility
Stealth
Strength
Weight Reduction
Dexterity - 5
Agility
Cognitive Augmentation - 5
Stamina

 

[Reluctantly]

To me transhumanism is about survivability and information, so things like stealth, flexibility, and strength are generally not very useful. Of course, given more points (but the same caps on individual aspects) after maxing out stamina and durability, I would probably go with physical attributes such as agility, weight reduction, and dexterity.

I imagine many might think stealth is useless, but what can't be seen, touched, smelled, or sensed in any way can't be directly affected by you either. It's my way of avoiding (and perhaps personally solving) the riddle of recurring human problems (violence, war, hate, etc.). And add in some dexterity to mold the world (I'm assuming this means also being a master of political persuasion since people are a part of the world) as well towards personally desired aims and some might even consider that Godly.

No?

 

[Jordan~]

I imagine many might think stealth is useless, but what can't be seen, touched, smelled, or sensed in any way can't be directly affected by you either. It's my way of avoiding (and perhaps personally solving) the riddle of recurring human problems (violence, war, hate, etc.). And add in some dexterity to mold the world (I'm assuming this means also being a master of political persuasion since people are a part of the world) as well towards personally desired aims and some might even consider that Godly.

No?

Oh really? When I'm playing FPSes, I freak out, close my eyes, and spray bullets in all directions, or lob explosives in all directions. Invisibility isn't going to help anyone in that situation!

I think dexterity is like the RPG stat - agility, basically. But then, agility is there, too. I kinda separated it into manual nimbleness and bodily nimbleness - dextrous people are good at picking locks, agile people are good at doing forward rolls.

 

[aracaris]

How about having multiple bodies you can swap your brain into? Some of them will be better at different things, plus if one gets destroyed, so long as your brain (or equivalent if we are going into transference of consciousness territory) is intact you can just jump right into a new "chassis". Plus then you could have bodies that are completely different, like ones that are really inhuman (hello dragon body, or whatever other craziness I can come up with), but still be able to go back to something that is basically human looks and function wise at the end of the day.

Anyhow I would love to overcome my physical limitations and have superior strength and endurance, and to augment my intellect as well. But given the option I wouldn't be able to help myself, I would have to get wings, I would love to be able to fly, and am enough of a bird freak that I'd probably want them even if they weren't all that functional.

Granted the above is something that if it actually became a reality would probably have all kinds of negative repercussions socially and psychologically (who knows what really really dramatically altering, or even swapping your body for a new one can do to a person psychologically, even if it was actually something they volunteered for because they wanted it, and not out of necessity). That and pretty much any new technology comes with some degree of negative backlash, which wouldn't make me go so far as to say it's reason for that technology not to be used, but still something to be aware of.

I will try to remember to do the point distribution thing at some point.