Augment

From NSwiki, the NationStates encyclopedia.
(Redirected from Augmented)
Jump to: navigation, search

This article deals with Augment as it relates to NationStates. For more general information, see the Wikipedia article on this subject.


Any permanent technological device that improves a user's basic abilities past normal levels. In the case of humans, augments turn baseline humans into posthumans. Augments generally come in two types: cybernetic enhancements and genetic enhancements.

Cybernetic Enhancements

Cybernetic enhancements usually come in the form of artificial, nonorganic implants that enhance a baseline human's capabilities by replacing his or her current organs and limbs with machines that perform their functions better. Common examples are replacing musculature with polymer or memory metal muscles (myomers), lacing bones or replacing them outright with metals and composites, and replacing eyes with advanced optical systems that can see past the visual light range and may have additional functions such as displays or cameras. Baseline humans that utilize these technologies become posthuman cyborgs or "cybernetic organisms."

In literature, the standard disadvantage of cybernetic enhancement are that while the body can be built up into a posthuman construct, the brain it holds is still that of a baseline human which must adapt to massive amounts of new capabilities and additional information. An additional disadvantage is that a cybernetic posthuman cannot generally pass his or her augments to progeny, although depending on the technology level involved there are possible nanotechnological workarounds for this.

Genetic Enhancements

Genetic enhancements directly edit the DNA of the posthuman, either borrowing DNA from other species or having code custom-written to the purpose. Genetically augmented posthumans using nonhuman genetic material are technically hybrids, often inaccurately called chimera. Because these augments directly change the code that determines what the user is biologically, genetic posthuman sare technically different species from both baseline humans and other genetic posthumans with different augments. This may or may not prevent interbreeding, depending on the nature of the coding changes involved. Dogs and wolves, for a mundane example, are technically different species but can interbreed successfully (i.e. produce genetically viable progeny capable of reproduction). Depending on the severity of the changes (i.e., humans and Bowman's wolves) or the intent of the changes (i.e., humans and homo novis) interbreeding between genetic posthumans and baseline humans may be impossible.

In literature, the disadvantages to genetic enhancements are that sometimes the technology used to manipulate the user's genome is imperfect and thus the augments themselves are flawed and that usually genetic enhancements are inferior in their augmentation to similar cybernetic enhancements.