#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.

[asukaskerian]

Battlefield Terra is one of those works that just...changed my brain chemistry for so many reasons. I still go back and read it and think about it. This isnt an ask to return to it (though wouldn't be upset) but just to like thank you for putting the amount of it that you did out there

.__. *squish squish* thank you.

i cannot REMEMBER for the life of me if i ever posted any of the scene bits i had written in the chapter i never completed. first scene is actually one i love a lot, but then the battle scene was overtly complex and too long and had required so many rewrites and nothing worked. hghghhg.

but. anyway. this is the scene with the fallout from the "oh shit i kissed the alien am I GAY after all?????? oh fucking hell why did i notice JUST AT THE SAME TIME AS I NOTICE HOW MUCH HE'S NEVER GONNA *DECIDE NOT TO GO HOME* vfbndjh gnx;"

--

"And this is why it never pays to be stingy with technology," Jane said philosophically from the bucket seat next to John.

Strapped in like a sausage in its skin, John still managed to turn his helmet and grin at his sister. "Aw, come on, you didn't want the industry to cut into its profit margin, did you."

In the corner of his -- of all the pilots' -- glasses was an explosion of Spanish and Chinese sentences, nonsensical words, and Roxy-worthy typos.

The industry thing was mostly a joke; the think-typing-thoughts interface had first been developed for quadriplegics and amputees, and outside of hardcore nerds and professionals whose job required they be able to code very fast, people still preferred using their actual hands. One good reason for it: at the level of miniaturization necessary to put the brain sensors into glasses, it was new enough to still be expensive.

The new communication hub was a complete mess of hundreds of people trying it on for the first time, and it was hilarious.

"--Wow, hey, I know what that guy is doing! Oh my god, it's excellent, he's trying to think in sign language." Roxy giggled, tried to kick her feet only they were also strapped in. The craft was still accelerating, after all. Bleh. "Only then he has to transcribe into English, and he's doing it super literally! Hehehe."

Jane perked up a little. "Huh! No wonder the grammar was odd."

ID28YB: holy shit were all guna die in space aaaa

ID28YB: on the upside italics!

ID17NC: fuck how do you backspace backspacebacmlnpi

ID13JA: SARGANT MY CAPCLOSK IS FUCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ID01JA: Like shit it is, PrivatE.

ID01JA: DamN.

ID98NZ: fifty Nine bottles of beer ON THE WALL, take one DOWN pass itaround FIftynIneBOTTLES on Thewall!!!!!

"I'll be so glad when they lock it down to emergency communications again," Jade said from John's other side, and sighed.

"At least the bosses forbid them to use colors," John said, trying for consoling. (He kind of failed, mostly because he was snickering.)

Jake chuckled from his seat at the end of the line, on Jade's other side, but didn't add anything. He hadn't really been talking much ever since they took off, and since they couldn't lean out of their seats it was really hard to see what face he was making. John wondered if he was worried about --

Of course he was worried. And if John thought about all the reasons why, he was going to start to fret too. His stomach was already in a knot behind the adrenaline grin, no need to double down on it.

"Hey Jake," he threw out, with no idea what kind of light-conversation topic he was going to pull out. "D'you think--"

"Say, chaps, I think I feel lighter!" Jake interrupted.

"Huh, yeah, maybe?" John tried to bounce his leg and wasn't sure if there was a difference yet. It was hard to feel the lessening weight of his body when it was such a knot of anticipation already, and when he couldn't move. "Wow. Are we reaching cruising speed already? There was no announcement--"

The door opened and Corporal Vantas stepped through.

(Not Karkat. There was a difference.)

"Woohoo, you clean up nice!" Roxy said with a whistle as he stalked closer in his alien boots and his space-black flight suit, head bare but for the jarringly pink headset nestled against his horns. John noticed all over again that his skin was slate gray, that his eyes were violently red and yellow.

That he moved through the heavy gravity of the rocket's push like it wasn't even there, when John himself -- at least at first -- would have wobbled.

"What mean -- no, I don't care."

He sat beside Jake in the free seat at the end that should have gone to Dirk, and disappeared from John's view, what with the helmets and the protruding edges of the bucket seats. John swallowed and put a smile on his face, even though no one was going to see him. For a second he had thought Karkat was coming toward him. Haha, silly.

"No more talk with the Generals, Karkat?" Jane asked, tone forcefully light.

"Mm. No."

"Talk with us now? Do you have anything important to say or just hanging out?"

John's eyes flitted over the logs on his glasses, the higher ranks starting to organize to separate the chatter by platoons. It was still mostly banter and bad jokes.

"...Hanging out? Yes. Hanging out. Here, not... other here. I'm Corporal not General, it's not fucking right I'm with them."

It was the exact same tone the Marines John knew used when they got offended when their chain of command got dumbass ideas. Heh.

Maybe a little hesitation. Maybe just the translation issues.

JH: haha, you guys *wish* you could type in colors!

ID28YB: if by colors u mean rainbow fruity goodness then sure :(

ID28YB: i wanted mauve goddamn!!

JH: maybe better that you can't have it, echidna would have had to cut you. :'(

(Urgh. He missed Rose. He wished she were well enough to fight with them today.)

Jade joined the conversation, asked Karkat about... John wasn't listening. What the politicos had told him, when he was alone with them without a translator. Stuff. Boring stuff.

Karkat's low, gravelly voice kept slipping into his ears no matter how hard he tried not to pay attention to the words. ("You talk I fall on you a lot. Maybe you want --")

Anyway when the loudspeaker in the wall started talking he was pretty glad.

"Attention troops, cruise speed has been reached. Stay seated until your immediate superior allows you to stand..."

Two clicks echoed around him, Jade and Roxy undoing their security harnesses in unison.

"Oh my god, I'm so stiff," Jade groaned. "I'm going to check on Remington, anyone wanna come with?"

"You sit still for longer stretches of time in battle," Jane pointed out as she freed herself in turn, as Jake was still fighting his clasps.

"In battle my seat is perfectly adapted to my butt!"

The girls started to file out, talking about butts, and John almost heard Dave mentioning butt massages, almost mentioned it himself but. No. That would have been wrong even if two thirds of the lot weren't family.

He thought of following them. He would just skip along, snicker and stretch his legs and tease the Marines and...

"See you guys later," he said instead, waving without looking, heart a pulsating knot in his throat. "Karkat and I have to practice the telepathy-typing thing. Well, mostly me."

He closed his eyes for a few seconds, listened to the tread of boots on the hard plastic floor.

He didn't need to look in order to know which one of them was Karkat, getting up and moving one seat down the line.

Leaving one seat empty between them. Huh. John wasn't sure how to take that one.

"Huhn. You want telepathy now?"

John winced to himself. "It's pretty much now or in the middle of battle, isn't it?"

A beat of silence, and then Karkat grunted an acknowledgement. "Mm."

"Mm," John agreed, and kept on not making a move toward his own headset. Karkat's was already in place, possibly already turned on. John just had to tap.

"Maybe we speak and then headsets," Karkat suggested.

"... Yeah, maybe that."

John made a superfluous noise of agreement, and then groaned and pushed his helmet off his head, tucked it between his feet. He took his gloves off next, dropped them inside the helmet, and then buried both hands in his hair to scratch and rub with vigorous frustration. It did not soothe him as much as he had hoped for.

"This is the worst timing," he groaned, muffled, as he curled forward until he could prop his elbows on his thighs and lace his fingers behind his head. His spine cracked.

The worst timing, and the worst thing. He wasn't sure he'd have taken it much better elsewhere, with more time to take care of the fallout. It sucked. His head was a mess just when he absolutely needed to be as perfectly in the zone as he had ever been in his entire life.

"I'm sorry," Karkat said quietly. "We do big things today. I was stupid. Even if you said oh yes good, kissing! it's other things in our head and we can't have other things in our head now. I didn't do the good thing."

John groaned quietly, face prickling with heat, and closed his eyes. "No, it's... Yeah. Yeah, okay, that wasn't -- the right time. But you... You were right. I was looking."

He hadn't managed to stop looking even once since he'd seen Karkat naked, coming out of his slime. Maybe he had even been looking before that, playing it off as fascination with Karkat's alienness. Kind of like 'haha no I just like looking at his horns because they're weird, so random amirite!' only with everything else on top of the horns, like his little bitey teeth on goth-black lips and his bare toes and the fit of his goddamn dress suit at the summit--

"So why--" Karkat fell silent, drew in a breath, and then released it in a long, hissing sigh and muttered under his breath in alienese. John couldn't even offer a guess from the tone this time around.

Why did you kiss back, he could have been asking. Why did you stop kissing. Why did you never make a move. Why did you make a move now. Why are you such an idiotic mess.

Answer was the same for all of them, anyway. "I don't know."

"Why do you not know that?!" Karkat shot back -- more incredulous than angry, but John winced anyway. "How you look at a people and don't know, and other people tell you 'yes, them' and you say 'haha, no' and you're wrong?"

"Oh, shut up!" John snapped as he threw himself back into his chair, his arms coming up to cross tight against his ribs. Even now he couldn't look toward Karkat at all, shoulders curled in and away from the other man. His stomach felt like someone was squeezing it with both hands; his face still prickled with mortification. It was awful, he wanted to get up and run just to get moving, stop having to think on it -- leave the feeling behind -- but he knew better than to think it would work. He knew better and he still wanted to try, flinching and too tense; what a shit condition for battle. Fuck. "I know, okay? I'm the most stupid jerk--"

Karkat's hand was hot even through the glove.

He tugged on John's elbow, lightly, squeezed a little.

"Zhann."

"... Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry," he said, sounding tired, and his hand fell from John's arm. "It's shit words."

John sneaked him a look; Karkat wasn't looking directly at John either, mouth pinched in discomfort, eyes dim somehow.

"Is it I'm alien and it's gross? So you don't in your head because ... haha, gross, can't be true--"

"No!" John spluttered, turning in his seat as much as he could to face him. "No, no, you being an alien is -- it is weird, but it's not bad, it's just not normal. It's... You're a guy?"

Karkat looked up at him, eyebrows furrowed. "Huhn?"

God. It figured. For all the joking about Karkat being gay that John had been doing like an asshole, he'd mentioned an old girlfriend too, and the cat girl who liked him that he didn't want to lead on, and it had never felt like she was disqualified because of boobs.

Also -- ugh, thanks Dirk and his casual beach gossipping -- Karkat thought Jade's butt was nice, and so was Mr. Strider's. So. Bisexual.

The way he looked now, baffled and not liking it, it was a little like he had never heard of someone who wasn't. Oh boy. What a mess. John raked a hand through his hair, tried to get back into explaining mode.

"It's -- we're mammals, remember? We need a boy and a girl to. To make little humans. That means normally we don't want other males, or other females, because -- there can be no babies? So a boy doesn't have a boyfriend, he has a girlfriend, and... The other way around, too. Boy and girl, yes, boy and boy no?"

"... Huhn."

"I mean. Some men like men! Dirk and Mr. Strider like men. But they knew it pretty early on. They knew when they were kids -- when they were small? -- that they were like that. And I've never." He swallowed. "I've never. Thought about a guy. Like that."

"Oh."

"And it's really weird." He gave a twitch of a shrug, looked away. "... And I don't know if it's because of the telepathy."

"Oh," Karkat said again, but this time he sounded stricken, not baffled.

John dropped a hand on Karkat's forearm across the empty seat, patted awkwardly -- wanted to squeeze or hold his wrist (or hold his hand) but that was just -- even such a short touch made his stomach twist with odd queasiness, his face flush back to maximum redness. "It's okay, buddy. I don't -- it's just. ... Don't feel bad, okay, that's stupid, I just -- it is weird, but --"

Karkat's breastbone beeped. Scowling down, he fished his tablet out of his collar, unrolled it, shook it stiff. Oh. Little countdown shown in rows of dots, going one by one from red to dark.

Five seconds to a dot, fifteen dots to a row, and how many rows... Hm. Ten minutes left before... John wasn't sure. They weren't going to be there yet in ten minutes.

"My mech. Gotta wake up, it's slow." Karkat waved a brisk hand, eyebrows furled in worry.

John closed his eyes. "Do you want to practice the mind-typing?"

"It's not want," Karkat grunted, slanting him a look. "... It's going to be bad."

"Mm."

"We need bigger time, not this," he added, tapping the tablet with the outside curve of a claw.

John tried out a dry shrug, and thought to himself that he really didn't enjoy it, that 'if you fuck this up you will have fucked everything up' feeling. Dread was for the battlefield, not for stupid interpersonal relationships. 

"Probably. We can keep working on it once we're in our mechs, too..."

Karkat snorted, replied something in alienese that had to be 'We had better.'

Yeah, okay. John just had to put his helmet back on.

"We don't have time for this crap!" he growled -- whined, if he wanted to be fair, something strangled and pleading, frustrated.

"Mnh."

John curled forward, hands cupping his temples, elbows on his knees. "Damn it. I don't -- I can't -- in ten minutes, that's too--"

There was no way he was going to be able to stop thinking about all the things he didn't want to think about, all the things -- the petty, selfish things -- he didn't want Karkat to know about.

Like the incontrovertible fact that no matter what John figured out he wanted, whatever compromises they found with each other, there was no magic button that would make Karkat stay.

He'd been in Karkat's head too much to imagine for one second he would weigh out John and the dubious safety Earth offered him against his people -- his people abused and thrown out like shark bait to be mowed down by enemies and superiors alike -- and choose John.

John was pretty sure Karkat wouldn't even choose Gamzee.

"Do you want sex." 

John flinched around and back so fast he hit his shoulder blade against one of the edges of the seat.

Karkat was looking back at him -- steady, John thought at first, but his lower eyelids were tight, his cheeks just a little dusky. The heat on John's face cooled down just barely at that.

"I ask so it's not more alien bullshit thing. It's what you want?"

"Oh my god," John protested, looking around wildly in case anyone had managed to open the sealing doors to the small room without the hiss of pneumatics warning them. "I don't know! I'm not -- I swear I'm not lying, I don't -- this is freaking me out."

"I see that, dumbass," Karkat said, but almost nicely. "You're so bad in your head, I don't know you can get that much a clusterfuck."

John groaned, slumped forward again.

"... Mouth thing, was good?"

"... Yeah."

"Touching?"

John gave a little grunt, eyes closed.

"Want where?"

"Why do you need to know?!"

There was a moment of silence like Karkat rolling his eyes, or maybe just watching him, waiting. John didn't check. 

"Zhann."

"... Horns? Maybe your hands. I kind of. Want to see your claws. We could sit close? We could--" He choked. His face prickled so hot it almost hurt. He wanted to touch Karkat's face, follow his nose with a fingertip -- he wanted Karkat to allow that, the trust and closeness it would mean.

"That's where?" Karkat grumbled, gave John a frustrated look. John tore his eyes away, ducked his head. Where had he -- when they had kissed (his mouth tingled like an echo) -- when Karkat was so close, almost on his lap, what had he --

"Your thighs," he whispered, dizzy with nerves and shame. "Inside." He clenched his knees together, hands knotted between them -- oh, Karkat's legs clamped down on his hand, all warm and snug. Muscles bunching, straining. So close to his -- his. Oh shit, John couldn't pop a boner inside his flight suit, not while Karkat was watching, while they were hashing out how much of a total clusterfuck this was going to be.

There was silence for too long -- three seconds, ten, every single one tightening his shoulders, knotting his guts worse, nausea and heat mingling dizzyingly.

"... Put your head thing on, Zhann."

John groaned out loud. "Are you kidding me, I will die. I don't want you to -- there's too much, it's. We can't!"

But when he glanced at the tablet still across Karkat's lap they were down to the last two rows of dots and it was now or never. More accurately, now or on the battlefield when they were supposed to coordinate two forces that had never fought together against ... however many of those aliens who wouldn't have followed some random high-ranked asshole from nowhere into open rebellion.

He shoved the helmet down before he could think about it twice. It felt too tight, like he was going to strangle, to be crushed.

Karkat felt too close; an empty seat between them and John still remembered him in Excalibur's cockpit, how easy it would have been to slip on his lap and kiss and--

(Yeah okay definitely sexual there) flitted through his mind from Karkat, alongside ... surprise, oh wow, so violent, stop feeling, not the end of the world --

John flashed back to his previous thought -- sitting next to each other and his hand trapped between strong thighs and oh shit he was getting hard, no, no --

(hand pushing higher) echoed back briefly, edged with curiosity, a spark of -- Karkat shook his head, slapped his own hands down onto his knees, hard enough to sting. John startled. "Okay!" Karkat said, staring straight ahead.

He was maybe smiling a little.

Okay yes we need to talk later I don't fuck and run (do you?)

John spluttered. "How would I know!" I've never/and run where anyway we're on an island!

Take your mech, zip off? (laughter) (mister space pilot, so locked in.) Wait, never? How old-- oh right no one around only older adults and your tangleclan/friends and you can't with half of them because blah blah mammals (and not boys? Why not boys. Aliens what the fuck.)

John groaned again, hands on his helmet since he couldn't get to his face. Could have Rose or Roxy! Roxy was my first kiss! (haha sloppy-alright-nice but I saw you fingers up your nose too much as a kid sorry John I like you tender-nice but it all fizzed out) and Rose kissed me on a dare and it was like kissing Jane it was horrible.

And that was the entire fucking extent of your romantic and sexual experience oh my dear little dark gods that's pitiful. (sharp/teal/lovely-blade moaning over me (tight-soft-deep) other hurried hands in dark corners--) shit sorry--

Oh. Of course Karkat had had sex before. Of course he would know more, of course John was hopelessly late and useless -- he couldn't even bring himself to think about, about kissing, never mind what happened later, he was a kid--

The tablet beeped.

"Shit," Karkat said in English, and another few words that echoed as bounce me around on a bladed dildo. Which, yeowch. He turned to stare at John, already half out of his seat and leaning forward, a claw-tipped hand clenched on the armrest. "(I gotta get going now. John, do you--)"

He was leaning forward like he was about to kiss John, if John hadn't been wearing a helmet, and John knew full well that wasn't at all what he'd been doing, knew because he was in Karkat's brain, and still couldn't help but fear-hope for it.

(I'll kiss you if we win) flashed between them, too fast to hold back. No wait sorry (god it'd feel nice) we have to talk first and -- not now, cannot be now.

John laughed, mostly from nerves. I'll come with you (sit in cockpit think tappy thoughts oh my god they'll love transcripts of your foul mouth be hilarious what if I accidentally transcribe the sex thoughts too oh no oh no--)

Karkat's hand caught his wrist.

"(Do you trust me,)" he said low and intense, in an alienese that John almost didn't notice as not English from how strong the mind-echo was.

The response came embarrassingly instantaneous. "Of course I --" He swallowed. What do you want me to do?

Okay. (You are ridiculous) (thank you.)

Karkat crinkled his golden-red eyes at John and for the first time John realized he doesn't mind how I feel.

Crushes happen, Karkat replied almost casually, with a little pleased-flattered-glad trill running underneath. Crushes happen to me in particular all the damn time so I have no stones to throw. (I know this one is worse, tangled-odd with headsets but it was kind of predictable too especially because of the headsets.)

A harsh beep.

No more time. Follow me?

Follow you where, John wondered, and then Karkat showed him.

His mind nudged closer. Body alive with battle arousal, heart thumping too fast, just barely shaky in his body and he need-wanted John's cheerful-calm interest, his certainty. They should absolutely not kiss before the battle because he would cling and waste time hoping for time to stop instead and also they really needed to hash that shit out but oh, so smug that he'd been right all along. His face winced briefly at whatever echo John sent back, and then he --

(Terrifying/not right/I will never manage alone.) 

John's gorge rose. (can't let that happen/you're not alone (I'm not alone either can't be please god--)

(Good,) rang like a bell between them, and then Karkat's direct, almost forceful Dive(/echo/merge) with me.

John's hands closed tight enough on the armrests that the hard plastic cracked under his fingertips at the thought, visualized like two discordant graphs slowly entering resonance, like rebounding, endless echoes -- the pattering, muted thunder of armies in lockstep. But -- but too close so many things I can't share, how?! Can't sync if we're like this I'm mortified (want to die/hide/wash it out of my brain) you're -- you're --

I want to fight. (Scared to fight.) I need to fight. Silly flurry of thoughts -- bothersome, I have them too (misjudged when to tell people about psychics, misjudged you, (this is not a romcom where you are the heroine what the fuck Vantas,) could have endangered/maybe did endanger the operation twice) we can sync on that! (would be bad). Or we can sync on --

Mechs. Piloting.

Winning the goddamn battle.

We had better not think of beds, John sent Karkat, smile shaking on his face. Karkat snorted back, crooking him a smile.

They bumped foreheads -- or forehead and helmet -- and straightened up, because it was time to go.

They stood (John stood) and walked to the door, one-two, one-two. (Easier if we walk in sync, they agreed, and wondered if it would also work mirrored. But they would experiment later, John, now where was the hangar?)

It was… odd, not quite seamless, little twitches of individual thoughts -- not like last time, at the conference.

It was easier when a Marine came across them -- Sergeant, look at the shoulder bars -- and said, "I was assigned to escort, uh, you, Corporal Vantas..."

"We're coming," they assured her with two mouths (unnecessary) (but which is it again.) "How long do we have left?"

"Four minutes," she said, carefully expressionless in her bulking power armor, the helmet politely open still as she placed herself opposite from the claws side. 

Can you blame her though? haha.

It's not like I didn't help patch those weaknesses.

How'd you even find -- oh, yeah.

Of course horn sense would perceive the electricity field where crucial wires ran, the way a solid plate trembled under a headbutt at the weaker places, of course Karkat's terror would crank his pitiful amount of sensitivity up higher and the luck of frenetic, half-blind panic do the rest.

The upgraded armor would be a little harder but they had the brute strength to punch through and the claws to tear wiring free. Should be easy -- but the Marines weren't the enemy. Strong-respectful-friendly-safe. Distant-confused too (we're too young for how much weight/responsibility we carry) but nice, mostly.

The bay where they were keeping (dad) the mech was empty, if well-guarded; the Marines had taken the warning that the biomechs sometimes ate people to heart, it seemed. Which was hilarious, because (dad) was way too tired to lunge and chomp, which... wasn't funny at all, actually. (When they won, the first thing they'd do would be to put him to a feeding/repairs station.)

They scaled the black-shelled side of the mech, pushing and pulling each body from handhold to foothold -- chinks in the shell, the edge of a plate. (They avoided the gaping cavity of its ripped-away manipulating-arm, no matter how convenient it would have been for a step-up.) The edge of the cockpit opening was cracked open like a wound, ready to be pushed through -- convenient but loose because dad was tired; worrying but nothing to be done for now -- thank god they'd gotten the flight suit back because those weird cotton clothes were a clinging, heavy pain when soaked through with neural gel...

Oh right. John's flight suit might not react quite well to the neural fluid now that dad-mech knew it. What if it dissolved? Haha, naked in the cockpit. Or more like half-naked with strategically placed, slowly widening holes, talk about a porn flick setting. Didn't help that the dissolving/digesting gels used to clean dirt and dead skin cells might also trigger if Dad felt contrary enough and also eat through yeah okay, that was an unsexy thought. John/Karkat crouched, one body on the solid edge, one across the cracked-open plates, and then sinking, eyes closed.

It was the perfect temperature inside, but that never made that first deep breath of gel any easier. He breathed air deeper with the body still outside, like the unencumbered-lungs feeling could help (it helped, even though oxygen wasn't going to come through telepathically. Bodies were stupidly easy to trick.) and settled inside within the nest of coils, seeking out the one that went -- ow, yeah, there, in the flight suit slot at the base of his neck, between the vertebrae.

Wake up, he thought at it, through the neural gel and through the spinal tap, letting it feel his nerve impulses so they could sync more thoroughly. Wake up, (flight systems, weapon arms, no more standby) there's a battle coming. 

Once the process was started it was a matter of waiting until it was sufficiently awake (and burning through the last of its energy.) The Karkat body wiggled into place, let the other tentacles slot into their ports to read his every muscle twitch, so the mech would be ready to move before he even thought it coherently enough to decide exactly what movement he wanted, and then settled down.

It was easier to keep in sync if they weren't both doing different things. The John body waited until the other one was at rest and then stood up, let himself slide along rib covers until gravity flung him off entirely, still pretty high over the ground; he landed in a perfectly timed crouch, laughing a little in admiration (Gods of the Devouring-dark but this body was convenient) and walked out of the hangar.

The Marines at the door didn't look at him like a stranger-threat or even a superior-officer-threat, more like a low-caste soldier might look at a beloved high-blue who cared-possessive for them (still dangerous in the abstract, never quite controllable, but theirs.) It was so strange, so normal.

"Is Corporal Vantas going to stay inside his mech?" the sergeant asked him, falling into step.

"Yes, Sergeant," he assured her soberly. "Until we go."

They weren't sure why that got them a weird look, but it was probably nothing to fret about. The metal mechs' bay door was just there -- similarly guarded but they let John/Karkat pass without a word; one of them nodded at him, fierce and grim-eyed. He nodded back the same way, and then -- oh -- worried that it might worry them, because John usually joked before a battle and soldiers didn't like things to be different. Bad luck. But by then they were at the lift and it was a bit too late to fret about the mental state of grunts.

They opened the cockpit and walked in, swung around to sit. The butt-hollow still felt wrong. 

So many buttons and toggles and it was a wonder John never got them wrong regarding which did what. (Heh.)

The arm-rest where Karkat had sat ... for a moment John-alone was sent reeling, buzzing, experiencing it from the other side -- the tingle of excitement-certainty, that wordless moment when you finally knew the other person was interested, had been flirting back, the pleasure-relief of feeling wanted and known. So touching-surprising-soft to find John so far from cocky carelessness, from being sure of Karkat.

It was sweet, Karkat felt. John stared at the screens he was bringing to life and read the words he knew by heart like they might have changed somehow, tried to think war thoughts.

Weapons check, Karkat thought, tinged with apology-for-the-distraction, tinged with fondness/you-are-sweet.

John went through a weapons check.

They'd left him Excalibur's usual monofilament swords, breakable as they were -- one-hit kills was more Dave's thing than John's -- but he had his hammer too, and the more usual set of bombs and missiles.

Also two EMP bombs. He thought back to Karkat shying away from the microwave and the difference in yield and --

Yeowch vicious yeah that'll work. Not through the home-ship hull (gotta shield from star radiations) but it'll work. How come no one generals-making-plans told me we had that -- wait fuck I'm stupid of course no one would tell me when they were still considering using it on me. It'll work on the biomechs and probably the troop transports but I don't know about the range.

Excal's got good radiation shields, so we can get pretty close and make sure of the kill, John reminded him, and then Karkat reminded him they weren't supposed to wade in, just watch-coordinate from the back.

Like that'll last, they both thought, so closely that maybe neither one had thought it first, that they'd just both had the exact same amused-despairing reaction.

They went through the flight check in comfortable, whispering quiet.

[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]

A heartfelt review from our esteemed client, Mr. Ravi Kapoor, who serves in the government sector with a confident personality and influential speaking skills. Mr. Ravi, an amputee with a right leg below the knee, approached us to modify his Grand Vitara Manual transmission car with our Hand Control system for brake and acceleration. His goal was to make driving easier, safer, and more comfortable. Meeting Mr. Ravi ji at our workstation was a privilege; his inspiring presence can motivate countless individuals with disabilities to live life to the fullest.Book your appointment today by calling +91-9215401100, +91-8398901100, or emailing mobility.solutions5@gmail.com.

[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.”

[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/

[theworkshopmann]

[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.

[themobilitysolution]

Hand Operated Cars | Govt. Approved Hand Controls for Disabled Persons | Handicap Car Modification

A review by one of our most eloquent client Mr. Ravi Kapoor who serves in Government sector with his confident personality and influential speaking skills. We modified his Grand Vitara Manual transmission car with our Hand Control for break and acceleration. He's an amputee, right leg below knee and to make his driving experience easy, safe and comfortable, he decided to modify his car. We were fortunate enough to meet Mr. Ravi ji at our workstation, a personality like his can motivate thousands of persons with disability to pursue life at its fullest. "Driving Beyond Disability" - Mobility Solutions. For more information visit our website https://mobilitysolutions.in/ Or Contact us : 9215401100 or 8398901100 #handicapped #adaptedvehicle #handcontrolforcars #carsforhandicapped #PWD #divyang #adaptedvehicle #spinalcordinjury #delhi #punjab #adaptedvehicle #haryana #utrakhand #handcontrolcarprice #roorkee #himachal #locomotordisability #wheelchairramps #disability #handicapcardriving #rampforhandicap #carhandcontrols #handicapcarmodification

[thepotentialof2007]

Nigel Bailly will team up with Takuma Aoki and François Heriau at the 89th 24 Hours.

He will be guided by Frédéric Sausset, the first quadruple amputee in history to finish the race

Car #84, an Oreca 07 Gibson LMP2 run by Team SRT41, will be 2021′s Garage 56 Innovation entry. Some excerpts from an interview with Belgian racer Bailly about his and the team’s efforts this year:

You have already driven the ORECA 07. What were your first impressions of the car?

"Yes, it was a year ago at the Paul Ricard circuit. I drove a car I didn't know well, but it was so developed that it seemed easy. It really is an awesome car. I didn't expect such braking. I could tell there was so much potential. ORECA did signficant development work on the car so it could be driven by reduced mobility drivers."

What modifications were made to the car for you to be able to drive it?

"There is an accelerator behind the wheel and a lever we press to brake. There is a trigger on the lever that allows us to downshift. It is a similar system to the one used by Alessandro Zanardi at the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona. During braking phases, Takuma and I will have one hand on the wheel. Our forearms will be put to the test, but the system developed by ORECA is nonetheless comfortable."

How will you prepare for the 89th 24 Hours of Le Mans?

"We are going to do two European Le Mans Series races, the FIA WEC Prologue and another test session at the Barcelona circuit with Goodyear, our tire manufacturer. That will help us get to know the car, the team and the technical aspects. The more we hit the track, the better it will be for everyone."

What advice has Frédéric Sausset given you?

"The main advice Frédéric has given us is not to make any mistakes. And to pay attention to the other competitors and to learn because we are just starting out, especially in terms of the car. He suggested we strive for a smart race and focus on teamwork because individualism has no place in endurance racing."

below: Team Manager Sausset in his 2016 Le Mans entry

How will you prepare physically?

"I have a fitness programme that works my reflexes, muscles, peripheral vision and posture. I also do arm biking for cardio. This is what gives us stamina so we don't run out of steam during long stints. Our shoulders are more strained than those of able-bodied drivers because we use one hand on the braking phases. We know we risk being in pain during the race. We're up for it."

What message do you think a reduced mobility driver line-up at the finish of the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans would send?

"Don't let yourself be beaten. You have to dare to take on challenges. Our mental capabilities are unaffected. You just need to try as hard as you can, don't question things too much and try to make great things happen. Our message is as follows: move forward and believe in your dreams." [x]

[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.

[iotagger]

2017 was the year of numbers: AI, YCombinator and investment funds

AI/Vision recognition:

As we start 2018 lets review some stories that covered AI, an industry that has gained recognition as one of the leading subjects in tech.  Last year Intel acquired Mobileye, a vision-based driver-assistance systems that provides warnings for collision prevention and mitigation. Below is a recap on TechCrunch’s story.

 Intel buys Mobileye in $15.3B deal, moves its automotive unit to Israel

Intel has confirmed that it is acquiring Mobileye, a leader in computer vision for autonomous driving technology, for $15.3 billion — the biggest-ever acquisition of an Israeli tech company.

Mobileye today covers a range of technology and services, including sensor fusion, mapping, front- and rear-facing camera tech and, beginning in 2018, crowdsourcing data for high-definition maps, as well as driving policy intelligence underlying driving decisions.

Intel has been working officially with Mobileye since last year. Earlier this year, with BMW, the two started to test 40 self-driving cars equipped with the two companies’ technology. Mobileye was also an early partner of Tesla’s for its autonomous technology, although that relationship is ending amid some controversial undertones about safety measures at the carmaker. Other investments that Intel has made in the space of cars include taking a stake in Here (which will feed into the mapping initiatives at Mobileye); acquiring Itseez and Yogitech for safety and navigation functionalities in autonomous cars; making a commitment of at least $250 million to the space (which sounds so tiny considering today’s price tag).

 Catch the entire article at: https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/13/reports-intel-buying-mobileye-for-up-to-16b-to-expand-in-self-driving-tech/

 Intel Unveils Neural Compute Engine in Movidius Myriad X VPU to Unleash AI at the Edge

Intel introduced its new Movidius Myriad X vision processing unit (VPU), advancing Intel’s end-to-end portfolio of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to deliver more autonomous capabilities across a wide range of product categories including drones, robotics, smart cameras and virtual reality.

Myriad X is world’s first system-on-chip (SOC) shipping with a dedicated Neural Compute Engine for accelerating deep learning inferences at the edge.

 Read Intel’s full disclosure of Movidius at https://newsroom.intel.com/news/intel-unveils-neural-compute-engine-movidius-myriad-x-vpu-unleash-ai-edge/

  Investment funds:

There were a handful of announcements of big companies launching their investment funds to further develop technological gaps they might be experiencing.

 Samsung is launching a $150M fund to invest in emerging tech startups

The Samsung NEXT Fund is a $150 million venture fund targeted at early-stage startups working in emerging tech.

Specifically, they will be looking for companies focused on virtual reality, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and “other new frontier technologies.”

So far the fund has invested in 10 startups: Converge Industries, Dashbot, Entry Point VR, Filament, Intezer, LiquidSky, Otto Radio, 2Sens, SafeDK and Virtru. These companies range from a VR animation studio to water monitoring sensors for your appliances — signaling that NEXT will stay pretty broad with its investments.

Catch the entire story at: https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/04/samsung-is-launching-a-150m-fund-to-invest-in-emerging-tech-startups/

 Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi launches $1 billion corporate venture capital fund

Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi, has launched a $1 billion corporate venture capital fund to focus on investments in “new mobility” including electrification, autonomous systems, network connectivity and artificial intelligence.

Called Alliance Ventures, the fund has already made its first investment, taking an equity stake for an undisclosed amount in Ionic Materials — a Bill Joy-backed battery technology developer.

Catch the entire story at: https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/09/renault-nissan-mitsubishi-launches-1-billion-corporate-venture-capital-fund/

  The Startup world:

I was amazed by all the great ideas behind the selected 52 Y Combinator 2017 startups. Below are a few I found intriguing, the full list available at https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/20/yc-demo-day-winter-2017/

 52 startups that launched at Y Combinator W17 Demo Day 1

Cambridge Bio-Augmentation Systems – Plug-and-play standard for human bionics

CBAS wants to be the USB port for the human body. The startup has developed a low-cost implant that can connect any bionic device, like artificial limbs, to any part of the body, and give patients control of their prostheses. It also created the first live streaming nerve implant to gather data from a pig’s leg. CBAS wants to be the standard on which all bionic implants build. Just for amputees, this could be a $9 billion a year market, and now 10 companies have switched to the CBAS standard.

Cowlar – Fitbit for cows

It’s way smarter than it sounds. Cowlar makes a special collar for cows that tracks their temperature, activity and other data, and makes it available to farmers. It can recognize a cow with an infected hoof from the change in its gait, or identify that a cow is pregnant and will eventually produce milk. Cowlar costs $69 per cow with a $3 per month subscription, and provides a solar-powered “cow router” that collects data from the collars. It already has 600 cows on the platform, with 7,200 on the waitlist, and has alerted farmers about 103 sick cows. It already has the opportunity to build an $11 billion business on milk cows, and could enter the 3X-bigger beef cow market next. While the idea might seem ridiculous, cows are a huge part of the economy, and more data on them leads to more revenue from them.

Volans-i – B2B drone delivery

Amazon promised consumer drone delivery via Amazon PrimeAir but you likely don’t need a toothbrush in your backyard via drone. Businesses, however, do need deliveries fast, and volans-i aims to speedily deliver those shipments door-to-door via drone. For example, a company may need a certain part delivered to keep up with production. Volans-i steers its drones to this company with up to 50 lbs of payload going 1,000 miles — or 15,000 shipments per year per customer, according to the company. Volans-i’s team comes from strong industry backgrounds including Northrup Grumman, and the company believes it can save time and money for a number of business categories, including high-tech, aviation, medical, oil and gas, automotive and manufacturing.

Delee – A blood test for circulating tumor cells

Cancer is one of the biggest killers in the U.S. and Delee aims to take on the “emperor of all maladies” with a blood test device able to isolate tumor cells. The patent-pending device aims to personalize cancer treatments based on a new approach.The founding team comes from Stanford and the Rochester Institute of Technology and works in biomedical engineering; the startup has already run a successful clinical trial using 15 patients, isolating tumor cells for 13 of them. Delee aims to take on bigger companies working in the same space, like Grail, and take on a $2 billion market.

Indee – Hardware for gene delivery

Indee provides a new way to use CRISPR to edit the genome of cells. Current methods of editing genes include using viruses or electroporation, but Indee uses microturbulence to dissolve molecules within a cell. It currently is targeting a $1.5 billion addressable market for immunotherapy, but sees that market growing to $9 billion as the market improves.

[theitalianmafia]

some Cars 3 Human AU stuff

Lightning McQueen is obsessed with cereal. If his wife wasn’t Sally, his wife would be cereal.

His favorite is honey flavored cereals

Jackson Storm wears Heelies

McQueen had to have his legs amputated after he crashed due to them being severely broken + infections and such that arose in the hospital. Every effort was taken to save them but in the end they had to go.

McQueen had to learn to drive again with hand operated brakes and accelerators

Boi was not a quitter he really wanted to race again he hated being stuck

People didn’t really believe he could do it but his friends were supportive anyways

but mcqueen was just “hold my beer” and he did it (with lots of help from Cruz of course)

You can bet Jackson poked fun at McQueen’s legs because Jackson is  a jerk but he’s High Key impressed and fearful of this man

Cruz is an amputee as well from a young age, one leg, below the knee. This is one of the many factors that discourages her from racing.

Working with McQueen boosts her confidence about herself a bit and McQueen gives her the final push to pursue her dreams

There’s probably more I can come up with but I am Tired