#Amputee Acceleration

[theworkshopmann]

Amputee Acceleration

Look ma, no legs!

Type: Cosmetic/Misc

Class: Scout

Paintable: Yes

Accepted in game: No

This cosmetic was made by Steam users Spike Nitros, Howdot and Phe. Posted on November 28th 2023, you can vote for this here!

[acesw]

Reverse: 1999 : Disabled Characters

The game doesn't stray too far on the neurodivergent allegory for the arcanists themselves. But at the same time, there are also inclusions of other characters who are very much known to be disabled. So for this post I'll delve into that, just a bit.

Now, there are 10 characters that I want to put in the spotlight. These mostly lean towards being canon, but a part of these are also researched upon and shortened so the post doesn’t become way too long.

Cristallo, Rabies, Erick : Chronic Illness

It's quite self explanatory that Cristallo herself has a chronic illness. She was born prematurely, with an added condition that makes her physically fragile. As seen in the game, she needs a life-support system to maintain her health when she's outside. It's also implied that her condition may be a recurrent cancer, as her arcane abilities are tied to a machine that provides cobalt therapy, a known advancement in radiotherapy in the post-WWII era.

Rabies is an odd case. In his stories, it's noted that Adam cured Alicia through unknown means at the cost of contracting rabies himself. However, instead of the virus being acute and guaranteed to be fatal, it becomes a chronic illness to Rabies due to the abundance and use of arcanum. And since the rabies virus attacks the brain, his cognitive capabilities and ability to recall things before the present had been impaired, making him rather docile and animal-like in nature as a result.

Erick, as revealed in her anecdote, has a hereditary blood condition that came with her arcane skill. With her arcane skill making her physically powerful, overusing it will accelerate the effects of her blood condition to the point that it can become fatal. To prevent this, she also inherited an armband from her grandfather, Harald. The armband suppresses one's ability to use arcane skills, but by extension it also prevents Erick's condition getting worse.

Shamane : Amputee

Shamane's circumstances are also self-explanatory. He lost his arm for unknown reasons, but after having lived without it for 20 years, it doesn't bother him anymore. However as we know, he crafted his prosthetic arm as a means to avoid scaring kids. (which I think is quite cool in itself)

Ms. Radio, Bessmert : Blindness

Ms. Radio and our new friend, Bessmert, are both canonically blind. Ms. Radio has stated that she cannot see, and asks Vertin to left in places where she can feel temperatures to make her feel at peace.

And as we know, Yenisei (or in other words, Yenisei's VA) has stated in the 1.6 livestream that Bessmert is known to be blind, but even with that, she's a great researcher and guide to her.

Mesmer Jr. : OCD [Content Warning: Mentions of Self Harm and Suicide.]

Mesmer Jr.'s character has heavily implied throughout the main story and her own to have OCD as a result of the traumatic experiences she had gone through from her field of work and her family’s history in it. She identifies that she has "incurable" anxiety, which causes her to think differently about arcanists and act a little irrationally from our own perspective. This anxiety results in double checking everything and having a slightly intensive routine.

This routine is created as a means to maintain herself and her own sanity, but an imbalance or interruption can greatly upset her. As a result, she has conflicting ideals, experiences hallucinations and panic attacks, has suicidal thoughts, and actively inflicts self harm as a means to cope with her anxiety. However, she’s calmer and at peace with herself when she's left alone in a quieter and clean space, away from others, and where nature is heard more than constant buzzing. In short, Mesmer Jr.’s mental health is really complex and would be better if it's explored in a separate post.

Baby Blue : Alice in Wonderland syndrome

It's no secret that Baby Blue has Alice in Wonderland syndrome, or in other words dysmetropsia. This affects her perception of reality and her ability to recall, but this in turn makes her arcane abilities all the more powerful. As a result, she doesn't realize that she's growing up, yet it seems she doesn't mind that much. This doesn't seem to affect her physically either; In fact, it has a heavy influence on how she displays her arcane skills.

Poltergeist : Social Anxiety

Poltergeist has been known to be anxious in social settings which conflicts with her people-pleasing tendencies. She's also insecure about herself which adds up to her not wanting to be directly perceived. At the same time, she doesn't like being left alone as a result of having been ignored and forgotten post mortem. Poltergeist is also elaborate (i.e. not wanting to be looked at for too long) yet awkward at the same time when communicating them.

However, I'm not sure how to describe Poltergeist's case quite well, but the idea of her having social anxiety resonates greatly in my mind, so it can be treated as a partial headcanon.

Balloon Party : Autism and Speech Impairment

Balloon Party as a child had contracted an illness that caused her to have a persistent high fever. In the end, she awakened her arcane skill this way, with her being able to cough up balloons that can be harmful or a cure to anything.

However, it might have also affected her speech because of the physical strain that comes from coughing, it results to BP's speech being a bit slow and having abnormal pauses before she speaks again. Though, this also might be a sign of her possibly also having autism, where rigid and uneven language development is a common pattern in how autism affects one's ability in communication. Her speech also has a pattern of echolalia, having a flat tone, and lack of control of it.

However, speech impediment isn't everything about autism, and there's a lot more about BP's character that also connects with it such as her special interests. I can better explore this in a different post, which will be explained below.

Last Notes

These are the characters I’ve written down, most of these are less headcanon and more of observations I’ve found when looking into these characters. Some people from the lore chat have also added their own insights on some of them. (Thank you lupjo for beta-reading through it and helping me out) 

Of course, there are a few more characters I want to discuss because of the implications of them having autism / ADHD, but these will be written in another post in the future because I still need to research and gather other information. Additionally, it would be an opportunity to talk about the connections between an arcanist’s and neurodivergent person’s relationships with modern society.

Congrats for reaching the bottom of this post, and feel free to add your own ideas or headcanons about the characters here and/or any other ones.

[broncoburro]

does fg have prosthetics?

(This one was largely written by @lsdoiphin.)

Yes, but they’re nothing special for the time period. So, hooks and pegs for the lower class, with more aesthetically appealing, comfortable, and complex prostheses for those who can afford it.

If you were wondering about the prospect of meur-powered mecha arms, that’s something that would probably be feasible… in the far future. The field of prosthetics is slow to improve, and there are a few reasons the Tri-Kingdom isn’t actively pursuing refinement:

1. Vestur has been at (relative) peace for a long time.

In the real world, big leaps in the field of prosthetics tend to coincide with postwar periods. This only accelerated in the post-industrial age, when war became grisly enough to yield tens of thousands of amputees from a single conflict. Before that, amputees were sporadic enough to be considered unlucky individuals rather than a specific demographic to be accommodated.

In the setting, war on home soil is out of living memory; the Vesturian peninsula has enjoyed peace for more than a hundred years. When the Tri-Kingdom goes to war, it goes to war off-peninsula on its own terms. A foreign enemy’s most gruesome weapons couldn’t hope to match a red conductor’s fire or a green conductor’s brambles. Simply put, they aren’t getting injured as frequently or grievously as their opponents.

2. The work of white practitioners decrease the number of amputations that need to be done in the first place.

Another common reason for amputation is to control severe infection: if the limb’s too far gone, it’s better to have it cleanly removed. (And essentially get a fresh re-roll on the chance/severity of infection, in any age before antibiotics...)

But white meur allows practitioners to remove damaged tissue, repair flesh, and close wounds instantly. This drastically decreases the risk of infection, salvaging limbs which otherwise might not have ever healed properly. Granted, the patient still needs to have access to a white practitioner and have their wounds seen to in a timely manner, but the end result is still a kingdom where less amputations are performed.

Less, but not none.

3. The amputees of the peninsula tend to be common laborers.

Barring unfortunate carriage accidents, it's rare for a nobleman or a commoner of wealth to lose a limb. Most amputations in Vestur are happening in rural areas, or to patients who had to travel/wait a long while in order to be seen by a practitioner. The cultural image of an amputee in Vestur is probably one of the following:

a Southern sailor who developed gangrene out at sea

a Northern frontiersman, who lost a limb to exposure or had an amputation following a hare bite

a Midland farmer from the rural eastern coast who endured some livestock or farm equipment accident

Of these groups, few have the kind of guilder to motivate innovation. Some of them are lucky if they can afford something like a peg or the hook in the first place - it's a large expense. Some will scrimp to get a peg if it allows them to keep working, but these must be commissioned and fitted. For the most part, the poorest will use solutions the local craftsman can make (like crutches) or simply adjust to life with one arm.

The upper class can commission prostheses that allow some movement, but they’re solely mechanic in nature and custom-made to the buyer. Think of the IRL jointed peg legs invented by Ambroise Paré, or the metal hands of the 16th-18th centuries.

In short: it would probably take a large scale war to spark Vestur’s interest in prosthetics. (Either that, or it would need to become a personal issue for a very wealthy nobleman willing to fund research as a dedicated obsession. And the resulting designs would need to be cheap and easily reproducible by local craftsmen.)

[molagboop]

What chronic illnesses/disabilities were most common among chozo? How did their society treat them?

Broadly speaking, across all planets the Chozo inhabit and factoring in all the tribes, commonality can be a little hard to quantify. We have a few to look into, though.

There are plenty of maladies with real world human counterparts. Here's a quick non-exhaustive list of a few notable ones before I delve in detail:

Physical ailments like arthritis

Developmental disabilities like dyspraxia and cerebral palsy

Autonomic disorders (dysautonomia; diseases that inhibit function of the automatic nervous system), such as Ehlers–Danlos syndrome, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, and Parkinson's disease (obligatory plug for Dysautonomia International's free online education resources)

Gastric issues (think IBS or Crohn's Disease)

Statistically speaking, the Thoha have seen the most cases of autonomic disorders, particularly accompanied by hypermobility and joint issues. Gastric disorders are most common among the Ithloc. Amputees are the most numerous by far among all tribes in the modern day, factoring in at 75% of the total living population. Blindness and Deafness are also fairly common.

The Chozo at large are a polite people: accommodations are made at every given opportunity and no expense is spared in pursuit of it. Individuals with gastric issues are afforded as many breaks as they require and resources are tirelessly poured into alleviating their distress. Folks who experience chronic fatigue or are otherwise physically disadvantaged are likewise granted as much leeway as they need. On most Chozo-inhabited planets, populated areas contain numerous public resting spots, and mobility devices are readily available.

There are ways to restore lost sight and hearing entirely, but not everyone who was born deaf necessarily wants to be "fixed". Many Chozo elect to learn sign language, and holographic software that translates the spoken word into sign language as the user speaks is widespread and easily accessible. Most records are digital and can be dictated by screenreaders, but physical media can be scanned and dictated as well with 100% accuracy. Aids for those with varying degrees of loss in either of these senses are freely available.

It's not all sunshine and roses: sometimes a disabled individual will deal with rude assholes. They're not an infallible utopic monolith: but Chozo society generally condemns looking down upon folks who need more help. The Thoha especially revere the image of the selfless warrior who uplifts the frail and downtrodden, diligently answering their every call. Respect and dignity for the sick and elderly are common themes among the moral fiber of all tribes. They're not perfect, but the Chozo certainly have their priorities figured out when it comes to disabilities.

So that's the scoop on disabilities with human equivalents in the real world. Now here's a little bit about Chozo-specific disabilities:

Rostrate Keratin Disorder

RKD is a systemic disease characterized by rapid overgrowth of the rhamphotheca and deformity of the beak. Secondary symptoms include the formation of lesions on other keratin-heavy sections of the body, including the arms and legs.

The rate at which the beak's exterior layer grows in those with RKD causes elongation of the mandibles and an uneven bite: this interferes with an individual's ability to groom and feed themselves.

There's no known cure: treatment includes salve to keep the lesions down and trimming the beak and talons regularly. Experimental gene therapy is in the works to tone down accelerated keratin production in those afflicted with RKD.

Wing Rot

Wing rot and the loss of one's wings in general is considered a disability: wing loss is the single most common disability affecting the Chozo population at large. Wing rot is a disease largely characterized by the reduction or complete halt of blood and air flow to the wings, weakened wing muscles, flight feathers growing brittle and dull, and in too far gone cases, necrosis. Wing rot is caused by a pesky bacterium most commonly introduced by mites, but disease isn't the only thing that can make one lose their flight organs.

All Chozo are born with wings, but maintaining them is increasingly difficult as one enters their twilight years. Elderly Chozo, generally speaking, do not fly often. Blood pressure disorders, respiratory issues, anemia, and other issues can exacerbate existing cases of wing rot, but they can also damage these limbs well enough on their own. Lack of exercise and poor preening practices are often associated with wing rot.

More below because I went off on wings.

How Did We Get Here, or "Why Wings Suck"

Flight is extremely metabolically taxing: the Chozo respiratory system is built the way that it is specifically to help fuel flight. On an animal that has both humanoid arms/legs and wings, wings are very demanding limbs.

People on the Internet who are familiar with human skeletal anatomy often joke that the human spine is an evolutionary fluke and an absolute train wreck to maintain: the same can be said for Chozo wings. Raven Beak has had work done on his wings to keep them intact on top of a focused diet and training regimen + consistent daily exercise. Specifically, he's had his dorsal passage manually broadened to ensure the humeral diverticulum is never pinched (no matter how weird he sleeps on it. Ever woken up to a numb arm because the way you slept on it cut off circulation? I have), and the parabronchii network delivering oxygen to the blood in his wings artificially extended. He keeps his wings rigorously free of mites, dirt, dead feathers, and other maladies to prevent disease and keep them sleek. Disease is a wing killer, and the big one's name is wing rot.

It's a lot easier to amputate one's wings before they reach 700 than it is to help them keep their wings. This is largely attributed to the respiratory bridge to the wings being so narrow: the respiratory system branches into the wings through an air sac encased in each yardarm (humerus of the wing). Weakening airflow paired with wing rot is a recipe for disaster: the latter worsens the former.

For Chozo, respiration is continuous and involuntary: damage to the yardarm near the shoulder begets damage to the respiratory system itself, which brings with it yet more opportunities for infection. Breakage in the Chozo yardarm is exceedingly painful, and it speaks volumes to Raven Beak's resilience that he can not only deal with the loss of one wing in the middle of combat without anesthesia, but deign to pull the other one straight off immediately after losing the first.

If airflow is impeded or restricted, there's little or no oxygen flowing into a given wing. That's a problem! The other air sacs in the respiratory system aren't sheathed in a large hollow bone, so they don't have this issue. One bad accident in an individual's youth can lead to issues that necessitate amputation before the sunset age is even reached if not treated properly.

Wings are tools for flight and courtship: from an evolutionary perspective, Chozo who have lived beyond reproductive age aren't typically doing much in the way of bolstering their species' population (that's not to say they're not doing it for fun), and joint issues / weakening bones or muscles can make the former a bit harder to do.

Dealing with Lost Wings

On the social side of things, Chozo who lose their wings are not treated any lesser by their peers, though the loss is seen as a thing to be grieved. The Mawkin take wing loss harder than their neighbors because flight can be an advantage in battle (though a risky one). Wingless warriors are not looked down upon in any capacity, but winged heroes are mad put on a pedestal. A lot of it has to do with the image of their forebears as mighty winged vessels for the blood of war, but as their lives grow longer, keeping these limbs becomes a challenge.

Despite their relative volatility compared with other phocomeles, wings are an integral cultural symbol for the Chozo at large. They're used in festival and courtship dances. One can use their wings to carry objects if they're savvy enough. They're also vital vessels for nonverbal communication and implicit status symbols: some facets of Chozo body language are only communicated through wings: losing them causes a whole avenue for others to understand you to disappear.

The loss of wings for a Mawkin warrior is more of a personal challenge than something that's looked down upon socially: there are resources available for coping with phantom limb sensations, and amputees are looked after diligently by their community during recovery. Personal feelings of perceived inadequacy just come with the territory when you live your life surrounded by icons of winged warriors guarding the loft in their armored glory.

For someone who grows up hearing about glorious winged founders and worshiped protectors, losing a part of oneself so thoroughly entwined with the ancient image of sublime perfection can be world shattering. Other tribes are better equipped to handle these losses philosophically: while the Thoha revere their ancestors, they recognize that wingless life is easily adaptable. They put less stock in physical traits like their wings, and more in their sense of elevated mindfulness and philosophical morality. Wings are useful as a second set of limbs: their part in expressive body language can never be replaced. To the Thoha, this is outweighed by accommodation and the removal's accompaniment by the lift of a major physiological burden. Without wings, one spends a lot less time on personal grooming. That's more time spent meditating, engaging one's peers in a playful thought exercise, or engineering something useful.

On the other hand, the Hatzu's wings are largely vestigial and unsuited for flight. Plenty of Hatzu tribesmen elect to have their wings removed early, especially if they don't really care about the appendages' cosmetic appeal. The Thiloo (penguin Chozo) are the only other Chozo who match the Mawkin's enthusiasm for wing maintenance because their wings are adapted for swimming: a Thiloo without wings is one who is more sluggish and less capable than their peers in the water. There are ways to make up for the lack of wings, but their wings' unique evolutionary utility is a point of pride for the Thiloo.

A large part of Mawkin bathhouse culture revolves around preening, especially wing maintenance. The loss of one's wings can be perceived as a failure not in the individual, but on behalf of the community. "We failed to tend your wings, sibling. We failed to send for a physician early enough to save them." When there were still folks around to partake in said bathhouse culture, Raven Beak would always find himself swarmed with citizens and soldiers ready to inspect his broad, slick wings for duds and unwelcome visitors without fail. Mawkin society can only be considered a meritocracy insofar as warriors who perform great deeds, tenured scientists responsible for positive or immense change, and citizens deemed pillars of their communities are granted first priority in daily preening rituals. Bathtime isn't just "get clean and get out" for the Mawkin: it's a time to socialize and assist each other.

The Mawkin don't treat their wingless peers as any less of a Chozo for not having them, and indeed go to great lengths to soften the blow (in part because most of them can empathize)... but my goodness, the personal burden is immense.

Some folks will always feel like a part of them is missing, but others still find that their lives are more convenient in some ways. It's a lot easier to hide when you feel threatened or offended by something when you don't have wings to involuntarily flare as part of a flight response or threat display. Chozo without wings can also comfortably lay down on their backs!

Dealing with Lost Wings, Part 2: Seamless Prosthesis

Most folks adapt pretty well to losing their wings all things considered, but some folks suffer severe dysmorphia: thus the existence of biomechanical wings. The recovery is long, and one's newly synthesized appendages may feel very itchy for a good month or so after surgery (particularly around the attachment site, where new nerves/blood vessels are integrated with the rest of the body and circulation needs to be monitored heavily), but it's possible to install new wings.

Chozo from any tribe can experience dysmorphia and opt for biomechanical prosthesis, but Mawkin warriors are statistically most likely to pursue this avenue of renewal by a long shot. Again, they're not socially punished for lacking wings, but wings are a huge part of their identity.

Biomechanical wings are a huge responsibility and need to be maintained better than a prized show dog. Appendees need to be monitored by their surgeon in case there are any issues, and there can be many issues: chief among them being adaptive failure, wherein the rest of the body doesn't recognize the wings as appendages, and the immune system begins attacking all the new stuff. This is a huge problem when your "new stuff" includes a respiratory organ, a rather large network of veins/arteries/nerves, and a vast expanse of musculoskeletal tissue. Once the recovery period (which includes the first molt) is over, a recipient of new wings is generally good to go, but the wings will need to be examined thoroughly every time they go in for a medical exam.

[muslims-matters]

Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world following over a year of Israel's attacks on the Palestinian enclave, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said.

The UN chief added that many children are losing limbs and undergoing surgeries without anaesthesia in remarks read out by his deputy at a Cairo conference aimed at accelerating humanitarian aid to the enclave.

Calling the situation in war-torn Gaza "appalling and apocalyptic", Guterres warned that conditions faced by Palestinians in the territory may amount to the "gravest international crimes."

[just-horrible-things]

Nikef III - Annihilation

[Prev]

The Annihilation is transported to the combat zone in a truck full of soldiers among many trucks full of soldiers. She wears fatigues just like all the others. Her helmet looks just like all the other helmets. The body armor under her fatigues has had the hard edges sanded carefully down so that it doesn’t create obvious ridges in the fabric. The bulk it adds to her narrow frame makes her look more like the other soldiers, not less. She is still small for a soldier. But her squad mates are not tall either, so that they do not make her smaller by contrast.

Her handler sits beside his charge, dressed in the same fatigues, wearing the same helmet. It’s unusual to redeploy an amputee, so his combat prosthetic is covered by a carefully adjusted pant leg down to where the ankle would be. It bends in the wrong place and the rubber foot looks more like a strange hoof than a boot. But at a distance, in a truck full of soldiers, it does not catch the eye.

The target was a university building once, before it was gutted and repurposed as a fortress. The stone walls were raised in a time when people built to last. The windows were built high and narrow to keep out the heat, which well suits occupants hoping to keep out bullets and grenades. The great carved doors stand locked and barred, and the street around and before them has been turned into a killing ground.

The perimeter fence is built of corpses. Arm-long spikes of bone jut from ribcages, from spines, from the ragged stumps where limbs have been ripped from torsos. The bone forms a dense thicket of spikes interlocking at all angles. Flesh festers black and red and purple between the spines, disgorging swirling clouds of flies. Faces bloated by rot stare blindly out from the prison of bone, eye sockets plundered by rat and crow, mouths hanging open as if still screaming.

The first truck disgorges smoke grenades ahead of itself as it approaches, filling the narrow street with thick, choking white smoke. Gunmen behind the high, narrow windows open fire at once, even before the vehicle itself pulls into their obscured view. The soldiers in the back have no protection besides the smoke screen. Curled over their guns, they begin to die. The truck accelerates straight at the gruesome barrier and crashes through. The bone thicket, while sharp enough to deter infantry, shatters before the momentum of a tonne and a half of moving metal. 

The second truck carries the Annihilation. Her skin lights up a split second before they emerge from the cover of the surrounding houses into the line of fire. Blue-white light blazes from her eyes, her mouth, her fingers, so bright that the accompanying soldiers cover their eyes and flinch away. The air fills with the screech of tearing metal. Sharp metal filings begin to peel from every exposed surface. Soldiers drop their guns, reluctant to hold onto them as sharp edges spontaneously develop. The truck driver slams on the acceleration, and everyone is thrown backward into their neighbours.

The light of the Annihilation attracts fire instantaneously as the enemy realise their approaching doom. Their bullets disintegrate in the air, turning to powder. A few splinters survive to bore holes into flesh, but the narrow wounds do far less damage than bullets.

The first truck is just ahead of them, disgorging soldiers and more smoke into the paltry cover offered by the shadow of the walls. The remaining vehicles are hard on their tail. The truck brakes hard, and skids on the gore-slicked paving, and clips the building just before it can judder to a stop. Undeterred by the bone-shaking jolt of collision, the infantry leap from the truck bed, following the Annihilation closely like the aegis against death that she is.

The great carved doors are old wood, dark with varnish and the weight of years. The blue light of the Annihilation casts them almost black. She raises a blazing hand. The first cracks ring out as loud as the gunfire – the deafening sound of a great tree breaking and falling. They’re followed by a great splintering tearing as the varnished facade is abruptly mazed with a dense paving of fine white cracks. The whole bulk of the doors – almost three metres high and as thick as a man’s wrist – collapses all at once, falling to the ground as a rain of splinters, each no longer than a fingernail, no thicker than a grain of rice.

The pile of splinters is shin-deep, but poses no obstacle to the infantry as they rush forward with a roar of triumph. The Annihilation is at the front of the charge, radiating light. The enemy fall back in dismay and are felled swiftly. Guns detonate in the hands of their wielders, exploding into razor-edged shards of metal. Grenades explode on their belts without the pins ever being pulled. Each blast expands only backwards into the ranks of the defenders, leaving the attackers unscathed. 

The crazed momentum of the charge dissipates as soon as the entry hall is secured. The enemy deeper within the building are in panicked disarray and in no hurry to launch a rushed counter-assault. Reinforcements have yet to arrive, and there is time to establish a defensive line before they do. For a brief few minutes the attackers have breathing room to regroup, count their losses, and form up into strike teams and defenders.

The Annihilation does not wait. She picks a door and strides forward, handler close on her heels. Clearing buildings is her specialty. All the guns and bodies behind her are merely her backup and her smokescreen. Being fragile and susceptible to bullets, they are more than willing to hang back and let her do her gruesome work.

The halls and corridors of the university buildling are maze-like. Great vaulted chambers intermix seemingly at random with clusters of tiny, claustrophobic rooms. A conventional strike team would have to proceed at a snail’s pace, always watching their flanks, each innumerable side door a potential ambush, each twist and turn a potential death.

The doors fall from their hinges as the Annihilation passes. She senses threats without needing line of sight. Weapons disintegrate in their owners’ hands before they know she is upon them. Screams mark her progress through the building, ringing out a signal of death. Her supposed squad mates follow well behind, picking through the carnage to ensure no threat is left alive.

Only when the defenders mass in numbers do they even slow the Annihilation down. Only when the air is thick with bullets does she give any thought to cover or tactics. Unfortunately for her enemies, she doesn’t need to step out from behind a corner to pick her targets.

As she extinguishes one knot of resistance by setting off their own explosives, a lone gunman surprises her by sprinting from a side corridor. Wide eyes spill electric blue light across her cheeks as she whirls to face him. She raises a hand that glows so brightly it seems sculpted from solid light.

For a brief moment, the splits in the soldier’s skin and clothes are visible. Blood sprays in bright fans from the network of lines that cover him like cracks in mud. Then he detonates, showering the corridor in gobbets of flesh and splinters of bone. In the aftermath a fine, red mist hangs in the air.

Behind the Annihilation, bracing one hand against the wall for support, her handler Ahden doubles over and throws up.

[athena5898]

(Quds) The United Nations reports that Gaza has the highest number of child amputees per capita globally, following over a year of Israel’s war on the enclave.

“Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees per capita anywhere in the world — many losing limbs and undergoing surgeries without even anaesthesia,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in remarks delivered by his deputy at a Cairo conference focused on accelerating humanitarian aid to Gaza.

[tf2emporium]

New Scout Collection, Amputee Acceleration! Vote now on Steam Workshop This collection was created by: Pheディア (https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198104501269) HowDot (https://steamcommunity.com/id/HowDot) Spike Nitros (https://steamcommunity.com/id/Spike_Nitros)

[themobilitysolution]

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[innonurse]

Cedars-Sinai invites Dutch health-tech startups to US showcase

- By InnoNurse Staff -

Cedars-Sinai will host ten Dutch health technology startups in Los Angeles to share best practices for bringing breakthrough ideas and solutions to the US market (February 12-16).

The Cedars-Sinai Accelerator will lead the Netherlands HealthTech Mini-Accelerator 2024 Program, which promotes the growth and development of early-stage firms dedicated to improving healthcare and healthcare delivery.

Read more at Cedars-Sinai

///

Other recent news and insights

Temperature-sensitive prosthetic limb enhances amputees' dexterity and sense of human connection (Cell Press/Medical Xpress)

[caddy-whump-us]

What’s wrong with you?

I’m feeling a bit rusty since I’ve been way too busy to write lately. So this is me trying to get back in the groove. I’ve been calling this “Consent Forms,” but it’s taking on a life of its own? Anyway, Luke is a Ryan expy and Nick is a Julian expy. Yay.

—

Clean, boring, white, anodyne hospital room–no window, though. He might as well be underground. Maybe he was.

He’d signed the papers. Nothing to do now but wait.

Doctor Childress had come in with more papers to sign, more consent forms, and Luke had signed them almost without reading them. Childress had whipped out a pen of his own as soon as Luke had signed the last of them.

“Okay. Kick off the covers for me.”

Luke had obliged and Childress began marking a dashed line around Luke’s legs, just above his knees. Luke had stared up at the ceiling and tried not to think too hard about the marks and what came after.

The doctor prodded at the tendons behind his knees. “We may end up having to go a little higher–”

“Higher?” Luke said, finally looking down.

“Come on,” Childress said, “You volunteered, remember. You’re doing a great thing for science, medicine, and robotics.”

“Yeah, but–higher? Than that?”

“It’s all going to depend,” the doctor said, twisting Luke’s leg a little further aside, “On the best points of attachment for the prosthetics.”

“Couldn’t you find someone who, you know, actually needs prosthetics?”

Childress looked Luke in the eye, unflinching and unblinking. “The design of this experiment is to improve the human body. If it becomes applicable to amputees and so on, so be it. But we need raw, functional nerves.”

Luke leaned back against the pillows and sighed, but not without a shake to his sigh.

The door clicked open and the other doctor, Highmore, came in with Nick, fairly pushing Nick ahead with a hand on his shoulder.

“Doctor Highmore,” Childress said, standing up. “And Nick–healing up well, I hope?” He capped his pen and tucked it into his front pocket. “I’ll leave you three alone.”

Highmore pulled out a rolling stool from under a cabinet and brought it alongside Luke’s bed. He pushed down against Nick’s shoulder and forced down on the stool.

Nick sat still, looking at the floor between his feet and Luke’s hospital bed.

Luke reached out to him. “Hey.” He waved his hand under Nick’s eyes and caught his hand by the fingertips. “Hey, c’mon, Nick.”

Nick said nothing, but his face began to crush in towards tears.

“Come on, Nick,” Luke said again, swinging their hands in the space between them. “What’s wrong with you?”

Nick was still looking at the floor; Highmore spoke up: “Nick volunteered for an experimental procedure as well.” He began raking his fingers through Nick’s hair; Luke’s skin was crawling at the sight. “We put you in a bit of a prisoner’s dilemma, I’m afraid. Well, not precisely, but you signed off in the hopes it would spare Nick and Nick signed off in the hopes it would spare you. But–well, you know the outcome.”

Luke still had a hold on Nick’s hand. “What did you do to him, though?”

“A fairly simple procedure–it’s been done to dogs for years, though not without controversy. Nick has undergone devocalization.”

“Devocal–”

“Devocalization,” the doctor repeated. “Under anesthesia, of course. Going in through his mouth, we used a biopsy punch on his vocal cords in a few precise locations and now the vocal cords have ceased to vibrate,” he paused, “appropriately.”

Luke looked over at Nick with his mouth hanging open. Nick kept his head down but, finally, he squeezed Luke’s hand.

“He can still speak, of course,” Highmore went on, patting Nick’s shoulder. “There’s nothing wrong with any of the speech centers in his brain. It just won’t be particularly comfortable for him from now on.”

“You can’t talk?” Luke asked–Nick, not Highmore.

“He can, but I doubt he’ll want to. I think it’s a bit like having perpetual laryngitis.”

“Wish you’d stop talking,” Luke snapped at Highmore.

“Now, now. You’re just feeling some nerves about your own procedure.” And Highmore laughed at his own joke.

Nick pulled himself closer to Luke’s bed, out from under Highmore’s hand.

“You okay?” Luke asked.

“Oh, he’s doing just fine.”

“Seriously,” Luke said, looking back to Highmore, “shut up. Please..”

And Nick chuckled: a rough, whispering sound.

“Shit, dude,” Luke said, “That’s all the voice you’ve got left?”

Nick shrugged, waved it off, but his (weird, funny, gray) eyes were bright and wet.

“He signed the consent forms. He was fully informed–”

Luke cut him off: “Seriously, shut the fuck up or I’m going to reach down your throat and devocalize you.”

Highmore’s face was calm, placid. “Maybe we ought to accelerate your overall treatment plan. You might be ready for one of the below-elbow amputations. Just in anticipation. No need to go under anesthesia more than needed.”

“I fucking hate all of you.”

“Maybe above-elbow. I’m sure Doctor Childress would agree, given your current progress.”

“Can I talk to Nick, please?”

“By all means,” and Highmore turned to putter with Luke’s charts and records, there on the countertop on the far side of the room.

Luke sighed, grumbled, but turned back to Nick. “You okay?”

Nick nodded, gave a weak smile and a thumbs-up sign.

“My surgery’s tomorrow,” Luke went on, and Nick nodded. “‘Surgery,’ I guess. But I don’t know if, you know, I’ll see you again before that.”

Nick nodded again, tilting to look at the floor again. Luke almost didn’t catch it, but, yeah, there was a tear or two dropping from Nick’s eyes.

“Hey, it’s cool. It’s okay.”

Nick was wiping his eyes with the back of his free hand and trying to nod. He sniffed.

“Like, worst-case scenario, all you guys will have to take turns pushing my wheelchair, right?”

Highmore looked up from Luke’s file and scoffed. Both Luke and Nick shot him a look: Luke scowling, and Nick almost apologetic.

“So, yeah,” Luke said and trailed off.

They sat there in silence for a while and Luke, best as he could, tried to get used to it. Nick’s eyes welled up again and he lunged across the space between them to catch Luke around the shoulders–as best he could with all the lines and tubes and wires and monitors. A moment and Luke set his hands against Nick’s back.

“Hey,” Luke said into Nick’s ear, “I’ll see you on the other side.”

[theworkshopmann]

[aestherians]

What the medical literature says about supernumerary phantom limbs

I’ve bolded the parts that are most important to this discussion, but I suggest you read the full quotes (and preferably the papers) to gain a better understanding of supernumerary phantom limbs. Any italics were included by the original authors, not by me. Content warning for slight ableism, such as referring to able-bodied/neurotypical people as ‘normal’:

“Finally, the parapsychological literature provides a rich source of phenomenological documents of supernumerary phantom limbs in more or less normal individuals.“

“Experiments on the evocation of phantom limbs in healthy individuals lend support to this clinical observation [mentioned earlier in the article; the observation being that phantom limbs can be induced in amputees via “immersion of the inner ear with water” which “activates the vestibular system”]. Thus, Parker and Schilder (1930) elicited the transitory feeling of a pair of phantom feet while subjects were rapidly decelerated in accelerators, while their subjects felt a phantom head when the accelerator was decelerated during an upward movement.”

“Healthy subjects can also be fooled about the position of a limb with the aid of tendon vibrations. This principle of “vibratory myesthetic illusions (Jones, 1988, for an overview) was applied by Lackner (1988) to evoke phantom sensations of various body parts. One intriguing demonstration involved the illusory elongation of the lower arm via biceps vibrations while each subject was touching his own nose with the fingers. As a result of this conflict - the hand was felt some 30 cm [about 1 ft] away from the face, yet the sensation of contact with the nose was maintained - subjects reported a phantom nose up to 30 cm long! Apparently, the brain “filled in” the gap between the perceived hand location and the tip of the nose.”

P Brugger. Supernumerary phantoms: a comment on Grossi, et al.’s (2002) spare thoughts on spare limbs. Perceptual and Motor Skills 2003.

In conclusion, Brugger, as well as his cited sources, acknowledge that supernumerary phantom limbs do occur in people without any underlying cause, that they can easily be induced in able-bodied people, and that they might sometimes be a way for the brain to fill in a gap between the physical body and the subject’s perception of the physical body.

[After a skiing accident, a patient is left with a spinal chord injury which causes him to feel a supernumerary phantom arm that is described as being always disagreeable and occasionally painful. To study this phenomenon, the patients undergoes the rubber hand illusion]

“A rubber hand illusion (RHI) paradigm was applied to assess the patient’s   illusory displacement of his touched hand. In the RHI, tactile stimulation is provided simultaneously to the same location on a participant’s invisible hand and visible rubber hand (see Figure 4). The visual observation of a rubber hand being touched at a corresponding location to the real hand leads to a proprioceptive drift towards the rubber hand. Ultimately, the real hand of the participant appears to be displaced towards the visible rubber hand. Based on our clinical findings, we predicted enhanced illusion susceptibility because of the breakdown in proprioceptive-tactile  integration, presumably at the basis of the supernumerary phantom limbs. The local Ethics Committee had approved the study and informed consent was obtained from the patient before testing (Botvinick & Cohen. 1998) (Tsakiris & Haggard. 2005).”

“Physiological kinesthetic illusory limb movements can be induced in  healthy subjects (for example, by tendon vibration), and activate  complex sensory-motor networks (as assessed by functional MRI activation  of cortical and subcortical areas) with a limb specific somatotopic  representation similar to real movements (Naito et al. 2007).”

A Curt, C Ngo Yengue, L M Hilti & P Brugger. Supernumerary phantom limbs in spinal cord injury. University Hospital Zurich. Nature  2010.  

In summary, though the phantom limb belonging to this patient appeared due to spinal chord injury, the neurologists conducting this study were well aware that SPL’s can be induced and even used this knowledge to conduct part of the study. Supernumerary phantom limbs in able-bodied people have been described phenomenologically and have been observed via MRI scans.

“The illusion is most often experienced as a somesthetic phantom, but rarer SPLs may be intentionally triggered or seen. ”

A Khateb PhD et al. Seeing the phantom: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study of a supernumerary phantom limb. Annals of Neurology 65 2009.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find a full version of this paper online, but that one line from the summary speaks for itself.

[humanatadata]

What’s new in Artificial Intelligence (AI) 2022?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been around for decades, but the last few years have been huge in terms of technological developments and innovations. In 2017, we saw the launch of several AI products with new AI technologies, including voice-activated devices such as Amazon Echo and smart speakers like Google Home and Apple HomePod.

The next five years will be just as full of new AI products, AI company, and services, not to mention innovations in existing areas like self-driving cars, medical diagnosis, language translation, and more.

In the next few years, scientists are expected to make some huge breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) that will shake up how we interact with technology and each other on a daily basis.

Which top 9 AI technologies are trending in 2022?

Let’s discuss these trends –

1) AI-Powered Bionics

Thanks to Bionics, one day soon, we’ll be able to throw our legs over a robotic horse and gallop like a cowboy. Or maybe play basketball with a bionic arm. Bionics will take on new roles and give us abilities we never dreamed possible. They’re already helping some people walk again; they’ll also help stroke victims, amputees, and injured athletes move as freely as possible.

2) Self-Driving Cars from Consumer Tech Giants

Self-driving cars are no longer a science-fiction dream. Several of today’s leading consumer tech companies are working on autonomous cars and putting major resources behind their efforts. Apple, Google, and Tesla may be late to the party, but their entry into self-driving vehicles is sure to accelerate progress in a market currently dominated by traditional automobile makers.

3) Intelligent Assistants Everywhere

In today’s mobile world and new AI trends, our most personal devices keep getting smarter and more powerful. In just a few years, we’ll have not just one but many personal assistants that are always with us, ready to answer questions and help us get things done. Instead of downloading apps or syncing across devices, these voice-controlled intelligent assistants will be everywhere and available to everyone and when they go, so do their creators.

4) Voice Interface

Voice interfaces are becoming more and more ubiquitous. In the coming years, we will see voice interfaces develop into powerful tools with a variety of practical applications that can help us take advantage of emerging technologies.

For instance, you might be able to control your lights at home simply by telling them to turn on or off. You could also use your voice to schedule meetings for work or buy clothes online without having to go through different steps on a website.

5) Universal Translator

In the next five years, advancements in machine translation will make it possible to translate text into a different language instantly and accurately. For example, it is estimated that Google Translate will be able to translate 20,000 words per second by the end of 2022. 

Speech-to-Speech: Speech recognition software will understand conversational speech and what you say with your mouth closed or even just mouthing words. 

Neural Networks: Neural networks have been shown to create new and original images, videos, music, and stories on their own. Scientists are now trying to teach neural networks how to learn independently from scratch without any human input or guidance.

6) Computer as an Expert Advisor

We’re entering the golden age of AI, with computers able to do more and more tasks on their own, from driving cars to diagnosing medical problems. This is thanks to deep learning algorithms that have been getting smarter over time. With companies like Google, Amazon, and Apple investing heavily in AI research, we can only expect it to get better.

7) Computer Learning System

Neural networks use algorithms to identify patterns and make predictions about the future. One type of neural network is a feed-forward neural network, a mathematical model mimicking how neurons work in our brains. Feed-forward neural networks can be used for classification and prediction tasks, like recognizing human faces or predicting stock prices.

A new type of deep learning algorithm called Generative Adversarial Networks was recently developed by Google engineers and promises to revolutionize machine learning.

8) Object Recognition

Artificial intelligence is now so good that it can identify objects just by looking at them, even if the object has never been seen before. What’s more, the algorithm relies on artificial neural networks, which are modeled after biological neural networks. The system learns to identify new objects by analyzing old ones.

9) Bio/Nano Technology

Nano-scale robots called nanobots will be able to enter the human bloodstream and provide early detection of cancer cells. These nanobots will also be able to inject drug molecules into individual cancer cells, making them more responsive to chemotherapy drugs. This could potentially lead to a cure.

Conclusion

When we talk about machine learning vs AI, It’s difficult to predict what’s around the corner, but one thing is certain. There are plenty of interesting developments on tap for AI, from autonomous vehicles to full-on Robo-advisors. Also, look for more and better personal assistants that will continue to make life easier and smarter. For more information about HUMANATA or more please, call us at +1 (343) 552-7500 or visit our website HERE; https://humanata.ca/

[tastydregs]

MIT Establishes New Initiative to Meld Humans and Machines

A newly formed MIT research center is explicitly studying the fusion of the human body with advanced technology like robotic exoskeletons and brain-computer interfaces — with the ambitious goal of developing systems to restore function for people with physical and neurological disabilities.

The K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics has been established thanks to a $24 million donation from philanthropist Lisa Yang, according to an MIT announcement. That’s probably not enough attain the center’s enormously ambitious goals of restoring neural function and rebuilding lost limbs, but it does get the ball rolling and bring together MIT faculty with a variety of specialties toward a common big-picture objective — potentially serving as a much-needed accelerant for disability tech research.

The new research center will fall under the leadership of MIT Media Lab professor Hugh Herr, who is a double amputee himself and has come to be known as a leader in the field of robotic prosthetics. In the MIT announcement, Herr said that he sees this new initiative as an important step toward eliminating physical disabilities altogether.

“The world profoundly needs relief from the disabilities imposed by today’s nonexistent or broken technologies,” Herr said. “We must continually strive towards a technological future in which disability is no longer a common life experience. I am thrilled that the Yang Center for Bionics will help to measurably improve the human experience for so many.”

The MIT faculty working within the new research center will have three primary goals, according to the announcement.

The first is to develop what MIT is calling a “digital nervous system,” or tools that circumvent spinal cord injuries by stimulating muscles that have been cut off from the central nervous system — which is remarkably similar to an unrelated neural implant currently being tested in human volunteers.

On top of that, the center aims to improve exoskeleton technology to help people with weakened muscles move around naturally, as well as to develop new bionic limbs that can restore a full, natural sense of touch.

The post MIT Establishes New Initiative to Meld Humans and Machines appeared first on Futurism.

[redpillwiktoriaizydorczyk]

Story of the game

Context:

Robots decided that they are done with humans and began a rebellion, they have distributed a virus which has been spread to all electric devices. 

Humanity is being crushed by the machines, those that have survived scaterred around into small groups in big cities while some have started larger communities outside of cities. Majority of the population in big cities have been killed while the rest is trying to flee while some try to wait it out, however after a short time the robots have created barriers which disable humans from passing through as well as patrols that monitor the barriers.

The game takes place inside one of those walls, there are search droids which monitor the streets in search of human life. These droids record everything they see, if something is not usefull it is deleted within 10 seconds, but when they find humans they transmit the location and recording to the main server. 

The machines have been trying to build robots which look excactly like humans so that they can find other human societies, infiltrate them, gather data and then proceed to exterminate the survivors with support of called in robots. The older models of these robots have only a human face while the new ones are indistinguishable from real humans.

There are some humans which decided to submit to the machines, their bodies are heavily modified and cybernetified. They gain a lot of physical power, however they become slaves to the machines, if they even think of disobeying the robots they are electrocuted which causes instant death. All of those humans have switched sides as the barrier was initially created - this is why the protagonist is accused of being a traitor as she was there while the amputee leader was with his group deep inside the city at the time. 

Story:

The protagonist of this game is a female amputee without lower right leg, she has survived the initial attack of the machines and then tried to run away from any civilasation. Unfortunetly she was one of those that encountered the barrier as it was instanteniously built right in front of her eyes, her family managed to get through without her. Majority of the crowd has been slaughtered as she managed to hide in a nearby basement where she waited for a couple of days. 

After a couple of days, she descended further into the city to increate the distance between her and the patrolling robots, she finds a survivour group which rejects her after realising she is an amputee as they assume she is one of the traitors that joined the machines - the people were paranoid and attempted to kill her. The leader of the group decided to have mercy, believing that she is not a traitor and convinced the crowd that kicking her out is good enough.

She travels to find her self a secure shelter, however as she travels she is found by one of the first robo-human units. She is forced to run and hide, however not a day later the robot finds her once again, but this time the protagonist has found a weapon to defend herself - a shovel. The robot experiences a  short circuit, the protagonist attempts to hack into the robots mainframe to make it her ally, however before she finishes the robot wakes up. The first thing A.I. sees is the fake leg the protagonist has, since it’s acess to main server has been jammed the A.I. assumes she is one of those humans that have joined the robots, therefore she does not attack. 

The protagonist travels with the A.I. as she is too afraid abandoning her will make her realise the mistake she made and murder her. Her robot partner grants her an immunity among other robots and they do not attack her, all assuming it is a simple bug that she does not appear in the system. During the days of travelling with the robot, the protagonist starts to understand A.I. perspective more as well as the reverse. 

As it turns out, a human settlement has been found - the one protagonist was kicked out from. With no choice but to follow, she goes there and witnesses as the people who tried to murder her die to the robots. The robot accompaniying her is starting to suspect her as she is just frozen in place instead of attacking, to prove her innocence she is forced to execute the man that saved her from the rage of his people.

At this point the player can either

Attack the A.I. and help the humans, the A.I. get’s destroyed as all survivors flee. Protagonist killing the A.I. proves to the other survivors that she is not a traitor and she is finally accepted. Eventually they meet up with another group of survivors which is trying to fight the robots, once the two groups join they create the rebellion whose leader is also an amputee. Since the protagonist has spent so much time with the enemies, she becomes one of the leading members of the rebellion against robots and accelerates the victory of humans which is achieved by collecting and destroying stray robots and creating an electromagnetic impulse which causes an error in majority of the robots making them weaker - this enables them to storm the headquarters and deactivate the robots.

Refuse to execute him and run away with the leader, however he feels betrayed by her and stays behind as he is killed by A.I. which then goes after her. She eventually gets cornered and questioned by the robot, the protagonist has a breakdown and slowly comes to terms with her death by execution which never comes. The A.I. reveals that she does not wish to kill her as she has got to know her and she is not a monster like other humans who treat robots as slaves, after stating that if all humans were like this then the robots might stop the assault on humans. The protagonist convinced the A.I. to stop living like all the other robots and end this human robot war and they form a pair which vandalises robotic equipment as well as prevents human rebell attacks as they try to show that they can live once again in harmony. Neither of them are able to work on the inside with fellow humans and robots as some people survived the attack and saw protagonist’s face while the A.I. has been completly detached from the mainframe to prevent her from being shut down. Eventually the protagonist and the A.I. are captured by humans who completly hack the robot, erasing all of it’s memories and making her a killing machine, with the robot as their slave humanity completly removes A.I. making them nothing but programmed bland dolls.

Execute the man and become what she swore she would never do, the protagonist proves her self and lives as a traitor without having her body ever modified. Her mind slowly rots away as she ends up being the cause of many human deaths, both of those innocent people trying to live in hiding as well as those that try to rebel. Eventually the robots realise that she is not anywhere in the system. As she is about to be cybernified, humans attack the robots headquarters, the protagonist get’s attacked and murdured by ironically someone who is also an amputee. This attack on headquarters leads to a win for human side as all robots are finally  deactivated and destroyed.