this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2023
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[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 38 points 11 months ago (3 children)

This shit is a silly fantasy:

a slide behind her showed off a “soldier of the future” whose body is “flooded with pain-numbing stimulants” and has the “ability to regrow limbs & quickly heal wounds like a lizard.”

Next to this was a quote that referenced Robocop. “Enhanced soldiers would be reduced to bionic men, who run fast, do not need to sleep, eat and drink very little, and can fight all the time. A new species is born: Homo robocopus,”

The whole thing is full of pop culture references:

McKinely, the non-invasive brain stimulation expert, said that The Matrix was starting to become real. Think of the iconic scene where Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, is instantly uploaded with proficiency in kung fu.

It's like a bunch of teenagers writing a sci-fi fanfic. Too many movies and video games, not enough actual science and technology. They literally have a picture of Master Chief.

A good deal of the conversation revolved around the ethical and legal boundaries of creating super soldiers.

Because that's all you can talk about when none of this has any practical application.

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 15 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

This very much reeks of government kickbacks. They know what company they want to give the grant to and are preparing the call.

But having given quite a few presentations to the government: The pop culture references are what you want. You are talking to idiots, many of which were high school dropouts who realized they could get a commission after surviving a few years of enlistment, who are surrounded by yes-men who are required to polish the knob of their superiors because they all just love America so much.

It is very much a balancing act of technical and puff. You want to make sure that the people who make decisions NEVER feel confused. While having diagrams and supplementary information that answer the analysts' questions. Your goal is for the officer in charge to love you and want to take you out for drinks while making sure their analysts don't have any "gotchas" to raise when you leave the room.

Basically: imagine that you are giving a presentation to Michael Scott. And Jim and Dwight were bad conduct discharged years ago and everyone left will actively say he is a genius. You aren't leading with the data on long term usage of pain medication and stimulants.

[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Woah woah woah. Wait a second. Regrow limbs?? We can do that??

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Assuming you replied to the wrong post but:

There have been plenty of studies over the years of initial findings. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-limb-regeneration-ins/ is a recent one. And you can find plenty of others with a bit of a google.

Would I fund any company that claimed they could do it? Hell no. But this is very much the kind of topic where university research groups should be regularly getting grants to advance the state of science. And this is exactly the kind of topic where you can convert some of that massive military overspending into science and research.

[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 3 points 11 months ago

Assuming you replied to the wrong post but:

Goddammit you're right I did.

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Can the federal government pay me to make up boyhood fantasies?

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 12 points 11 months ago

Apparently yes.

[–] gregorum@lemm.ee 6 points 11 months ago

Apparently, that is their primary function with regards to funding defense projects