Hah, real life stuff.

[Teeks]

Audi MMI Simplifies Onboard Electronics Operation
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Future interaction between man, machine and information technology has just become clearer, easier and safer thanks to an advanced new technology from Audi called Multi Media Interface (MMI).


Does America get to build the Cyborg Factory now?

[BustaMike]

Actually MMI is real. Has anyone seen those remote control rats they recently made. They wired a bunch of crap to the rats brain so they can move it (or at least turn it left or right) with a remote. They've been on the news lately. Kinda freaky if you ask me.

[Mr. President]

They're thinking you can replace damaged nerves with biocompatible fibre-optic cables. Physically they'd be a perfect match, but the problem would be making them fire at the subject's will.

[Phil_de_geezer]

I think a lot of the technologies in SMAC are either around now or are not too far off in the future. For example Superstring Theory has recently been superceded by membrane theory! and things like gene splicing and neural grafting are close to or are already being implemented. I think that's pretty cool (well perhaps not the neural grafting thing - sounds a bit dodgy).

[Blake]

I suspect the superstring theory in the game is actual applications of SST, ie a big gun. Like much of SMAC tech it's the applications they are discovering rather than the principles.

[MariOne]

Originally posted by Teeks
Does America get to build the Cyborg Factory now?

Hmmm... although the base is in Michigan territory, the owning faction (Audi) is a german one...

[Jethro83]

"The Warrior's bland acronym, MMI, obscures the true horror of
this monstrosity. Its inventors promise a new era of genius, but
meanwhile unscrupulous power brokers use its forcible installation
to violate the sanctity of unwilling human minds. They are
creating their own private army of demons."

- Commissioner Pravin Lal
"Report on Human Rights"

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

[Impaler[WrG]]

Humm just a thought here but shouldn't MMI and Nural Grafting be switched around in the tec tree. Nural Grafting consists of implanting tiny computers inside the brain as in the movie Jonny Numonic. Inorder for that to work some kind of interface between the computers and the brain needs to be developed aka MMI.

I am wondering what Nural Grafting would be like, it would be realy weird I bet, thouse little computers in your head would be conected in to different parts of the brain. Hopefully you would have some kind of concious control over them sorta like current tecnology. Like say you have a small calculator chip in your head that performs all the functions of a pocket calculator. You send an input into the chip and it spits out the results for your concious mind to pick up. Now lets say you want to do some word processing, the chip needs to be connected to the language area of your brain and then you just think the words and they are recorded, you might even be able to "see" the document you have writen if theirs a chip in your visual cortex. Your normal field of vison might not nessararily even be infringed upon. The thing I wonder about is how will you control the whole thing, I personaly find my imagination virtualy uncontrolable, bits of half remembered songs, day dreams and other thougths would leak into your work and imbarras the hell out of you. If anything that will be the major hurdal in the successfull marketing of onboard computers.

[Lefty Scaevola]

You guys are behind the times.
*lefty types with cybernetic right hand*

[BustaMike]

::BustaMike guides his remote control seek-and-destroy uber-rat towards Lefty's house to take care of that cybernetic hand of his::

[Kataphraktoi]

actualy,they couldnt really control the rats(yet)

only influence there discisions(sp?)...

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Lefty Scaevola
You guys are behind the times.
*lefty types with cybernetic right hand*

Hmm, doesn't Dr. Strangelove have a right hand with a mind of its own as well? Perhaps we should call him Strangeglove instead.