Augmented Solidiers: Cyborgs, MOM, Juicers

[jackofallgeeks]

Be All More Than You Can Be
This is some interesting stuff on DARPA's projects to augment soldiers biologically and mechanically. Very interesting stuff.

The Glove: Vinh Cao, their squat, barrel-chested lab technician, used to do almost 100 pull-ups every time he worked out. Then one day he cooled himself off between sets with an early prototype. The next round of pull-ups — his 11th — was as strong as his first. Within six weeks, Cao was doing 180 pull-ups a session. Six weeks after that, he went from 180 to more than 600. Soon, Stanford’s football trainers asked to borrow a few Gloves...

I’ve started shivering again — all across my legs and chest, muscles pulse to a manic rhythm. And then I start having tremors. My thighs jackknife to my chest, unbidden. I moan, and darkness closes in from the edges of my vision.

Then, just like on the treadmill, Grahn takes my wrist. He slips each of my hands into a modified Glove prototype. This time, the metal hemispheres inside are hot to the touch — 113 degrees. After two minutes, I can think again. The tent comes back into focus. “You can stay this way indefinitely now. You’re at a thermal equilibrium; the heat going into these two hands is equivalent to what’s going out of the rest of you,” Grahn says. “Now you’re uncomfortable again — merely uncomfortable. That’s a huge difference when you’re talking about survival.” The water is still bitter, of course. But now I can take it.

Comments

[uhlrik.livejournal.com]

You might be interested in Capes, which has an interesting take on shared narrative control. It's not exactly GM-less, it's GM-rich. Everybody's the GM more or less simultaneously, and the game's mechanics are really about controlling the narrative rather than fulfilling individual tasks. It's a conflict-resolution rather than task-resolution system unlike most RPGs. Ultimately, the player that's the most invested in a particular course of events tends to be able to take the helm for that part, and likewise when a player wants to sit back a little and let others take the helm it is easy to do so.

As for being the eternal GM that wants character-driven goodness, I know your pain. Perhaps we could play something together somewhere, sometime.

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

I'll have to see about checking it out. I've got a 20% discount waiting for me at the local game shop (yay for Friday Night Magic prizes) so maybe I'll see about rolling that into an order.

As for playing together: if it can happen, I'd be all over it. Especially if you wanted to do Ars Magica. :p I'm still a little upset that my group wants to do BtS and not Ars, but...

You're out here in The West, though, right? I'm not sure I ever established where you're located. I'm probably going to be headed back to MD when I graduate, which is kind of a plus because then I'll be within physical proximity of most gamers I know, but... I still have faith in the possibility of having a successful email- or forum-based game run, and I fear that may be my best option for quite some time. (That's what my little foursome BtS game is going to try and be; I'd invite you along if you were interested.)

[uhlrik.livejournal.com]

Yup, I live in the West. In Babylon (AKA Los Angeles), to be precise.

I'd be down with trying out Ars Magica or, really, quite a few other things at some point. I've got the PDF of I think 5th ed, but I've never actually gotten to play the game.

Email, forum or LJ-based games can certainly work. I've been tinkering with them lately. Another handy venue is the IM-based game, especially if a group uses some of the group chat options that are built into messagers like AIM and Y!M.

BTW, I don't know if you know my AIM handle: it's the same as my LJ. Fell free to toss a "yo!" my way sometime.

[uhlrik.livejournal.com]

Rather, "feel" free. Bah.