Future Soldiers May Get Brain Boosters and Digital Buddies

[Sporkman]

Future Soldiers May Get Brain Boosters and Digital Buddies

LiveScience.com

The soldiers of the future might controversially boost their brains with drugs and prosthetics, augment their strength with mechanical exoskeletons, and have artificially intelligent "digital buddies" at their beck and call, according to the U.S. Army's Future Soldier Initiative...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100203/sc_livescience/futuresoldiersmaygetbrainboostersanddigitalbuddies

[koshatnik]

What about the tinfoil hats?

[CharlesA]

What about the faraday-cage suits?!?

[Grenage]

according to the U.S. Army's Future Soldier Initiative...

That'll be shortly after the hovercars are released?

[NCLI]

Awesome, can't wait for human modifications to be approved.

Oh, and btw, FISSION MAILED anyone?

[hobo14]

What about the tinfoil hats?

Why the ridicule? These are all just straight, plain technological advancements.

Exoskeletons already exist, mind altering drugs already exist, an electronic prosthesis replacement hippo-campus already exists, and the "digital buddy" is nothing more than a program that feeds the soldier pertinent information from sensors, cameras and other "digital buddies".

There's no major technological barrier to prevent this. I think cost is more likely to be a bigger problem.

[DeadSuperHero]

That's kind of awesome, in a way. There's a large margin for bad here, but still. Brain boosters? Neat.

[Icehuck]

Halo, coming soon to a military near you.

[Sporkman]

I think cost is more likely to be a bigger problem.

And implementation - integrating this all together in a way that's practical, useful, and reliable would be a challenge.

[Kdar]

woa.. I need some of that brain boost :)

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

U.S.A. defense contractors are working on exoskeletons now.

Video from Raytheon: http://www.raytheon.com/broadcast/exoskeleton_hightlights.asx.

[Kdar]

U.S.A. defense contractors are working on exoskeletons now.

Video from Raytheon: http://www.raytheon.com/broadcast/exoskeleton_hightlights.asx.

Thats pretty cool. I didn't know Raytheon works on something like that. I met them on career fair today.

[samh785]

Gotta love the massive amount of money that's spent developing military weaponry. Good tech advancements do come out occasionally, but judging by the position of the doomsday clock I think it would be wise to cut back on the rampant militarism.

[LightB]

I think something like this would be better
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WVQ3yxR_xQ&hd=1

[Icehuck]

Did the Japanese do it better?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW2pBLQLHj0

[LightB]

Did the Japanese do it better?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW2pBLQLHj0

It's not a weapon, though. It's for moving, and probably would be used mostly for paralysis victims.

[nrs]

Good. Can't wait until it's marketed towards civilians.

[Icehuck]

It's not a weapon, though. It's for moving,

None of these exoskeletons are weapons. They are aids for helping you move objects and yourself.

[LightB]

None of these exoskeletons are weapons. They are aids for helping you move objects and yourself.

Well this thread is about using it for soldiers.

[Icehuck]

Well this thread is about using it for soldiers.

You can't figure out how that relates?

[hobo14]

Here's something interesting: the next X-Prize is for a brain-computer interface!

http://hplusmagazine.com/articles/neuro/bci-x-prize-time-it%E2%80%99s-inner-space

[LightB]

You can't figure out how that relates?

The focus of the japanese one isn't for combat. The OP one is.

[handy]

Maybe if they give potential military inductees brain boosters before they sign up, they might choose to focus on an alternative lifestyle?

They must not be using amphetamine based brain boosters, as the long term use of those drugs makes people naturally aggressive. Apart from the brain seizures that also come with long term use...

Amphetamines kill people much quicker than heroin, but there certainly is a stage where they do also make you a good deal smarter, quicker & stronger.

If I had to fight for my life, I would really like to have a good dose of that stuff in me, as it could certainly be what makes the difference between win, loose or draw.

[koshatnik]

Why the ridicule? These are all just straight, plain technological advancements.

Exoskeletons already exist, mind altering drugs already exist, an electronic prosthesis replacement hippo-campus already exists, and the "digital buddy" is nothing more than a program that feeds the soldier pertinent information from sensors, cameras and other "digital buddies".

There's no major technological barrier to prevent this. I think cost is more likely to be a bigger problem.

Why not just make soldiers smarter? God knows the US needs all the military intelligence it can get. Maybe then they can stop bombing their allies in theatre.

[handy]

Why not just make soldiers smarter? God knows the US needs all the military intelligence it can get. Maybe then they can stop bombing their allies in theatre.

I just smelt the smoke from the fuse being lit for this thread...

[Grenage]

It will probably be ok, I don't think there are many over-zealous flag lovers around here. ;)