[ExI] Subject: Re: Future Bodies

[Ben]

Kelly Anderson <kellycoinguy at gmail.com> wrote:

 >with all our technology, we still can't produce a simple pump that
 >is as good as the heart. Yet anyway.

True, we don't yet have anything that is as good as the biological 
heart.  But the heart is a single point of failure for the entire 
organism.  I think we can do better, and maybe combine biology with good 
design.  How about more than one heart?  How about a distributed heart, 
that uses cardiac cells along sections of major arteries, so that the 
blood vessels themselves are the pump?  Or each organ having its own 
heart, or even two, one at the arterial connection, and one at the 
venous connection, so that organs that need to, can regulate their own 
blood pressure (a bit like the kidney does, but better).

 >The first thing you would have to fix to get that part right is the
 >skin organ. The largest organ of the body, the skin is vitally important.

Going from the outside in, the skin is obviously the first hurdle. Does 
it have to be alive?  Does it have to be a continuous covering?  It 
probably can't be both if we are to avoid damaging it whenever we need a 
service.

If the skin was entirely synthetic, could it be robust enough for 
everyday use, and could it contain enough sensors (without relying on 
advanced nanotech) to be useful and pleasant to live in?  I imagine a 
much smaller number of sensors would be needed than natural skin has, 
with the right data-processing of the signals.

 >When you say "work toward", do you have any specific plan?

Specific, no.  General, yes.  Talking is easy, yes, and it's too easy to 
talk about vague concepts with no real clue of how feasible they are or 
any specific ideas of how to achieve them (some of you might understand 
if I say "Orange Bottom";>), although granted, such things may inspire 
more detailed thinking.

My current plan is to continue learning as much about the relevant 
biology as possible, pull together these concepts and refine them, keep 
up to date with technological developments, and try to avoid being 
discouraged by the very many difficulties in the way.  And see if I 
can't find people who do understand the concept I'm getting at (I 
appreciate that it's easy to misconstrue), are as enthusiastic about it 
as I am, and can contribute ideas and expertise in the relevant areas 
(human biology, especially endocrinology, immunology, neurology, PNS 
anatomy, any specialist knowledge on specific organs, plus computer 
networking, OS design, virtual reality, mechanical engineering, 
electronic engineering, fabrication, biomechanics, signal processing, 
surgical procedures, biopolymers, biocompatible materials, probably a 
bunch of other things I can't think of right now.  Oh, yes, graphics & 
animation skills would probably be handy, too, for creating better 
explanations of the whole idea!).

Ben Zaiboc