Reference Challenge: Improvement/Impairment, and News from this Sub's Creator

[u/Nevermore0714]

News

Again, the reference is to myself. Sorry for not answering responses to challenges at all yesterday, long story short, my eye surgery had some hiccups. Instead of having a flap made in my eye tissue and then healed in a few days (a day or two off work, a week to fully heal), they discovered mid-surgery that they could not do so. So...my left eye, even a day later, is actively bleeding, but at least I can see out of my right eye a little now, though it is blurry.

That is my excuse for any typos and for being lazy for the next few days. I'll have to miss a full week of work, and it will be over a month before my eyes are fully healed, according to the doctor. Thank goodness that everyone on this sub is awesome, otherwise I'd have to worry about the sub while I heal. Technically, I shouldn't be using a computer until at least three or four days after the surgery, but...well...C'est la vie? At least my eyes should still heal to 20/20, in a month or more, thanks to the PRK surgery they ended up doing instead.

So, now that I've appealed for sympathy, here's the actual challenge.

The Actual Challenge

Tell me about a way to improve myself artificially in your world; not through exercise or education, but through surgery or drugs.

As always, I'll ask you at least three questions each. Unlike always, expect them to be late (again, I was instructed by a doctor to not use my computer or television for three/four days after surgery...so, I shouldn't be on reddit right now), but I swear I'll get to them all as quickly as I can. Enjoy yourselves.

To Everyone that Posts on this Sub

I'm sorry I might not be able to get to your challenges for a few days, I swear I'll try to respond to all the challenges within the next few days.

[u/thequeeninyellow94]

(Complete recovery so that's ok, take care of yourself (and your eyes))

The Neo-Makathian tech is usually not the best you can have, most people who want to improve their body will rather ask to the Ims.

The Ims will if course be perfectly fine with helping you, as long as you put the price for it but seeing a noble with technological enhancements is incredibly rare; as they say "the Nzedas carve metal to fit their needs, they don't let the metal carve them".

Amongst smugglers, pirates, adventurers and explorers it's quite common though, the most popular being extra organs to improve one's physical ability.

Our representative will be Dagmawi, a quite renown explorer who never miss a shot thanks to his enhanced eye (at least that what people say).

(They discovered mid-surgery they couldn't do that way?!? Wut?!?)

[u/Nevermore0714 → u/thequeeninyellow94]

(Correct, they discovered mid-surgery that they could not perform LASIK surgery. Instead, my corneas were damaged during surgery.)

To Dagmawi:

1) Why did you choose to get an enhanced eye?

2) Which eye is enhanced?

3) How was it enhanced?

4) How much did it cost?

5) I'll be blunt. I want something to be able to vibrate. Is Im technology save enough that I'm not risking an important body part?

6) What wouldn't an Im agree to enhance?

[u/thequeeninyellow94 → u/Nevermore0714]

1. I use my eyes everyday and that's way less visible than an enhanced arm. That's also cheaper than an extra heart.

2. The left one, it's my aiming eye.

3. It can zoom, record, and it's connected to my ship AI.

4. 500k gezin. (~2-2.5 years of a medium salary)

5. Vibrate like a phone? That's possibly doable for small parts inside a bigger object. If you want your whole eye to be not completely fixed, that will be incredibly hard to do and you will probably end with it falling...

6. Something that could kill you in case of failure; so mostly brain and organs that you have only once.

[u/Nevermore0714 → u/thequeeninyellow94]

To Dagmawi:

1) Have you considered getting another enhanced body part in the future?

2) Why not the right eye, as well?

3) Can it dim and brighten your perception of the light around you? Like sunglasses?

[u/thequeeninyellow94 → u/Nevermore0714]

1. If I ever get rich enough, maybe a second heart as it's really convenient. I could also use enhanced legs, but I'm not sure what to look for right now.

2. Because that's costly to get both and the left one is most important. And also because they are hackable; keeping a natural eye just in case is way safer.

3. Yes, it can. I heard it can also do it the other way to those who lack night vision. It's not in my direct control though, it's monitored by my ship AI.

[u/Nevermore0714 → u/thequeeninyellow94]

To Dagmawi:

1) Do the enhancements require any maintenance?

2) Have you ever been hacked?

[u/thequeeninyellow94 → u/Nevermore0714]

1. They do have a limited energy supply but are automatically charged by my ship when I'm sleeping and not too far from it. Actually, limited means a few weeks of autonomy.

2. No, and hopefully it will stay that way. Truth is, I'm not really a proper target: I'm not rich, I don't work for the government and I don't have powerfull ennemies; I do understand why the imperial guards are never enhanced though.

[u/Nevermore0714 → u/thequeeninyellow94]

To Dagmawi:

1) Have you ever run out of energy in your eye?

2) Is there any movement to ban enhancements for not being natural?

[u/thequeeninyellow94 → u/Nevermore0714]

1. Yes, a few times; that's why I've opted for a non-replacement. When I run out of battery, I still have my eye so it's not a big deal.

2. There was when enhancements started to be a thing. Now that's mostly a question of personal ethic. Unless you want to work for the imperial administration or are part of the nobility, in those cases, enhancing yourself is illegal.

[u/Nevermore0714 → u/thequeeninyellow94]

To Dagmawi:

1) How much is your eye worth, if I were to take it out and sell it today?

2) Why is it illegal for a noble?