[Ultratech] Citizen-grade cyberware?

[Pragmatic]

I was browsing the Ultratech book, and wondering what sort of cyberware a futuristic society would consider "normal" for their citizens.

The two biggies I came up with was an implanted computer (running a basic "life skills" LAI, for stuff like everyday accounting and legal advice) and a cellular-style communicator.

What other stuff would you all justify as being something "normal" for everyday citizens?

[johndallman]

Things that come with the implanted computer include a thoroughly secure login system for other computers, passcodes for security doors that you're meant to be able to get through, and a large stock of encryption keys.

All of these are things I get via a smartcard employee ID card, and it would be really nice not to be able to forget about it, leave it in my computer at work, and lock myself out of the office.

[Flyndaran]

Sadly, the most accurate answer would be that it depends on the society and culture. Like piercings and tattoos, body modification can go from near lynching-worthy to meh.

Common items would most likely be cheap, safe, and advantageous to the majority of citizens, whatever that may cover.

[weby]

It depends a LOT on the general acceptance level of such mods. The thing might range from required through accepted and frowned upon to forbidden.

Some required things in some societies might include some of the following:
Biomonitor Implant - For health monitoring
Communicator - to be able to call for help when needed, work as tranceiver for access control and such
Computer - For secure access to things
Intestinal Recycler - to not strain food/water supplies
Psych Implants - for anyone with anti-social tendencies
Braintap - For truly repressive governments to keep track of peoples actions

Among likely accepted things in many societies might include the above and things like:
Neural Interface Implant - For better connection to computers
Cognitive Enhancement/Chip Slots - To give skills and abilities
Bionic Arm or Hand / Bionic Ears/Bionic Leg / Bionic Organ Transplants / Cybervoder / Neurotherapy Implant - as needed for medical reasons
Sensie Transceivers/Gill Implant - for entertainment/hobby

More questionable ones are things like:
Variskin/Cyberhair/Smart Tattoos - for vanity but might break some visual norms
Sexmorph - might break societal norms and allow for subterfuge
Polyskin - might allow for subterfuge- but if tranceivers and augmented reality are normal your face and body might just be fashion statements
Reinforced Skeleton/Subdermal Armors - Some societies will want to limit the protection of civilians
Hive Implant - Might allow carrying inappropriate things - but on the other hand something like medical or tech hives could instead be common
Augmented/thermal/Hyperspectral vision and augmented -
Gyrobalance - Societies might want to limit access to things that have few normal uses.
Silvertongue Implant - societies might restrict the availability of things that allow/help in manipulating other people.

Things most likely forbidden in most
Weapon Mounts/Stinger /claws/ Ripsnake / Accelerated Reflexes - have really no legal civilian use.
Hidden Compartments - Really mostly useful for smuggling and similar

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Things that come with the implanted computer include .

.....at least a terabyte of data storage. Keep not only all your work data and files with you at all times but all your books, and music and videos as well. Who needs cyberspace? You'll have your own headspace.

After that there's Biological Operating System. Highly desirable for the Deep Sleeper alone. When you start to get that dystopian level of air quality you're seeing in China get Filter Implants instead of wearing surgical masks.

Then there's the nanosymbionts from Bio-tech. It'd be cheaper in the long run to give everyone Carcinophages than to keep treating cancer.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Keep not only all your work data and files with you at all times

No way. Not on work-life balance grounds, and definitely not on security grounds.

[Rysith]

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

I was browsing the Ultratech book, and wondering what sort of cyberware a futuristic society would consider "normal" for their citizens.

The two biggies I came up with was an implanted computer (running a basic "life skills" LAI, for stuff like everyday accounting and legal advice) and a cellular-style communicator.

What other stuff would you all justify as being something "normal" for everyday citizens?

As some other people have alluded to, it really depends on what kind of society you're thinking of, and "a futuristic one" isn't really well-defined enough to pin that down. Two example fictional societies:

- Ghost in the Shell has nearly all 'normal' people with cybernetic brains (encompassing the implanted computer, neural interfaces, communicators, and so on), cybernetic body parts (hands, eyes, etc.) as common, full-body cyborgs common enough that there's a medical establishment to provide and maintain such bodies, and no general societal objection to implants (like multi-fingers) that are 'useful'. The attitude is 'if it helps, use it'

- Star Trek has nearly no implants at all, and a seeming desire to avoid using them except to overcome natural failings even when the cybernetic version is arguably better - see Geordi's visor, which he only has because he's otherwise blind.

Both of these societies are futuristic, but both have very different attitudes about what implants are 'ok'. I suspect you'll want to define how accepting society at large is of implants and only then work out what's common.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by johndallman

No way. Not on work-life balance grounds, and definitely not on security grounds.

<shrug> The IT manager I know once said it would be alright for his workers to take their laptops home if they kept them chained to their wrists. This goes that pone better.

People who will commit assault and brain surgery off company property to steal your data probably aren't deterred by what normal businesses do for on-site security.

[hal]

Just a few comments based on an ongoing campaign I'm currently running:

Computer implants render their owners incapable of having MRI's done for medical reasons.

In addition, thanks to the nature of the implants themselves, they have a tendency to render all such equipped individuals "discernible security risks" where it comes to R&D areas of any facility. Toss in the issues inherent in "self-incrimination" where a subject's recordings may be used in a court of law against them. What happens if you have a visitor record your conversation - does it come under the wire tapping laws of any given legal system?

Then, for those who have never been exposed to BLACK MIRROR on NETFLIX, there is one specific episode that outlines the risks inherent with having a recording system that records visual and audio available on demand for the recorder. It is the third Episode, Season 1 titled "THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF YOU." Briefly stated: If you could record everything you experience, and store that memory for playback at any time, how would it affect you? Relationships between two consenting adults can be recorded and played back at any time. So a relationship with someone you knew at 18, recorded, and played back after you two broke up is considered to be what? What happens when you meet the current new love of your old paramour and he discovers you have recordings of your relationship with his now significant other?

What happens if you can't get over someone who has left you?

That's just the emotional aspects - let alone the legal aspects that are involved.

For those who consider viewing BLACK MIRROR - please accept my warning that the first season first episode is HIGHLY disturbing, and hits upon sensitive topics that may result in people being turned off in a big way. It almost (seriously) made me not bother to watch subsequent episodes.

[hal]

Other things used in my campaign that are being explored right now?

Sensie recordings.

One player is about to discover, that his character (who elected to earn extra cash while a student at MIT in 2035 (game is taking place in 2047), now has a woman who is emotionally certain that the Sensie Porn session he recorded, was intended for her. She's a bit off the deep end, and will eventually start killing any girlfriend or significant other that he has had, or now has. That hasn't started as yet, and because we used the LIFEPATH generator from CP2020 for his back story, he already has ONE Girlfriend who was killed in his past (drive by shooting). When the next set of girlfriends start to arrive DOA, and the police start to investigate this, the player character will start becoming a prime suspect.

DNI: this is fast becoming a thing that the public is investing in. It helps them to get jobs or retain their current job. For the military, it permits soldiers to operate equipment in a way that keeps unenhanced individuals from appropriating. It is also capable of permitting people to explore sensations and record sensations in ways that mankind has not until then, been able to do.

The latest thing the player ran into, and is now just starting to realize the impact on the campaign he requested be BIO/CYBER PUNK, are the puppet implants.

Organized crime is financing the puppet implants along with sensie recorders in order to provide "products" and new services for discriminating customers. One net hacker used a Puppet Implant for a particularly dangerous net run in case his "meat body" was in danger of being nabbed. When a corporate security team wiped out "Public Enemy #7" of the hacker 10 most wanted list, they were unhappy to discover that they had nabbed the puppet.

For those who saw SURROGATES, imagine an industry where a Puppet can rent out their bodies (legally) for various reasons. I have one really BEAUTIFUL woman (NPC) who rents out her Puppet driven body, for any client willing to pay her price. She drives a Japanese Import worth $300,000, wears clothing that are state of the art fusions with electronics, chemical glow technology, and top talents in the fashion industries. She is NOT someone that can be rented for a mere $100 a night. The player character involved watched in dismay as the "puppet" he was dancing with, collapsed in the dance floor at a night club as if her strings had been cut, and then assume a totally different personality than what he was interacting with.

Lots of strange stuff going on in 2047... ;)