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Old 06-17-2019, 10:44 AM   #108
maximara
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Default Re: Approaching TL9?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Daigoro View Post
Maybe not erroneous in terms of the definitions used in that Wikipedia page on bionics, but definitely so with respect to what GURPS and general sci-fi understands by it. That's akin to suggesting that cybernetics involves studying the economy. It does, but it's mixing up definitions in different fields.
I double checked GURPS Bio-tech and Ultra-Tech and both are silence on just what "bionics" means.

The closest thing is "Neural interfaces (pp. 48-49) and cybernetics (pp. 207- 221), except for bionics intended to replace missing body parts" which doesn't really tell you anything.

This is kind of at odds with what Webster gives you: "a science concerned with the application of data about the functioning of biological systems to the solution of engineering problems"

And Oxford has this: "The study of mechanical systems that function like living organisms or parts of living organisms."

Both of these might as well be where the wikipedia article is getting its definition.

This IMHO is a classic case of mistaking the results for the function. It is akin to when a new technological gizmo come out and everyone saying 'isn't science wonderful'. But technology in of itself isn't science but rather a product of science.
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