Yes, I'm still thinking a lot about prosthesis, and I don't suspect that my interest will wane anytime soon. Interestingly enough, I'm finding more and more articles that were published in the past year about the idea of neuroprosthesis than ever before. Apparently scientists are working on developing memory and attention aids. Fascinating!
The argument I am trying to make in the essay (said essay is a section of my master's thesis and is now an article-length essay that I will be working on for who knows how long as I work to see if it is publishable) about the usefulness of examining narcotics as a form of prosthesis is occupying my thoughts a lot these days. Part of my sustained interest is undoubtedly nourished by all of the talk of technology these days...and today, another turn in the idea of prosthesis came out with the news around the release of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's case against Lance Armstrong proved that.
I found this New York Time blog entry discussing the problem with doping to be an interesting take on the issue. At the end, the writer makes mention of someone's comments that "bike racing should be compared to Formula 1 or Nascar racing--with riders' bodies treated like machines to be tweaked with science." I am in no way anti-technologist, but this sounds like a scary proposition, especially given the fact that so many drugs have unknown long-term consequences because they have been in use for such a short time. I mean, what about the neurological effects of these drugs? No one is talking about that, but surely there might be some concerns about the effects on the brain from this stuff? This is serious business, and I'm not exactly sure what Science Fiction would have to say about it, but I'm pretty sure the story would be dystopian.
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