Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/12/11/france-receives-official-go-ahead-to-build-a-legion-of-bionic-super-soldiers.html
…
I almost forgot that we live in a dystopia.
The cyberpunk genre wasn’t meant as a blueprint for the future!
Seriously. A part of me is like “this is kinda cool”… While the rest of me whimpers.
What’s impressive is that they apparently think (at least) two aspects are fundamentally separable:
Other possible interventions considered by the armed forces ethics committee include medical treatments to prevent pain, stress and fatigue, and substances that would improve mental resilience if a soldier were taken prisoner. … As a result, it has forbidden any modification that would affect a soldier’s ability to manage the use of force or affect their sense of “humanity.”
Being able to experience pain, stress, fatigue, … greatly affects one’s ability to have a sense of “humanity”, if only via sympathy.
I once owned this comic. Barry Windsor-Smith art, if I remember right.
Yes! I have the original Marvel Comics Presents run, as well as a hard-backed collection, missing the dust jacket.
I believe the French refer to them as Cybourgeoisie.
I don’t see this working in countries with all-volunteer armies.Who would volunteer to undergo surgery and mental tampering just to increase their ability to tolerate pain and damage, to stagger a few more steps toward the enemy before getting killed? And how would these adjustments affect their return to civilian life, assuming such a return is contemplated?
Have you ever met one of the teenage boys that worship the military? Becoming a superhuman, powerful, killing machine is pretty much the selling point of their enlisting. The U.S. has a volunteer army; they’ve been experimenting with these things for decades; its a boon to recruitment
Why is Logan wearing a VR headset wired directly to his junk?
Playing Cyberpunk 2077? The VIP edition?
French superior warriors?