Bionics hasn’t worked the way the sci-fi writers envisioned it. Instead it’s as much bio-engineering our own bodies as much as it is using add-on hardware.

For example one can drill a series of small holes in the humerus and ulna (bones in your arm) near the elbow, slice open the same arm at the wrist in order to remove a tendon from it, and finally weave the extracted tendon in a figure eight loop through the holes. This operation is known as ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction or more commonly as the Tommy John procedure (named for the first MLB pitcher to elect to have the surgery.) It’s usually the only option to keep a pitching career in the majors after experiencing torn ligaments in the elbow. In the 2001-2002 season one in nine major league pitchers were sporting the distinctive scars that result from this surgery. Now, one should note that one in nine pitchers did not suffer from torn ligaments. An interesting side effect of this surgery is that the re-engineered ligament-as-tendon arrangement gives pitchers the ability to throw a harder (that is faster) pitch.

Even body-add-ons aren’t going high tech in the way of the microchip for added speed. They’re going high tech in materials. Oscar Pistorius is a double amputee. He is a world record holder in 100, 200 and 400 meter races. Instead of heavy life-like looking legs he has a pair of j shaped carbon fiber composite “blades.” Because these blades have a spring-like element to them they allow Oscar to run with greater efficiency. The spring-like nature of the blades return more energy than the human leg can. In addition these non-biological legs do not suffer from fatigue, they do not cramp, they do not tax his cardiovascular system due to consumption of fuel or oxygen, they do not add waste products such as lactic acid to the blood stream. In addition the blades are longer than the natural limbs that they are replacing, thus each stride allows Oscar to cover more ground. In a sport where records are broken in intervals measured in thousandths of a second these advantages can be significant.

For the sake of brevity I won’t even get into ocular and auditory implants.

You know, i loved the Lucifer comics alot…but i was going to skip over the novel because it sounded from the bland description in amazon to be another kind of ‘been there, done that’ book…but i think hearing the writer’s own description changed my mind alot.

Oh and i thought you should have asked lynda williams about the okal rel’s popularity world wide…i have seen alot people from different parts other then CA and USA talking about her universe, i always respected that sort of appeal across the world.

yeah that schedule looks like pure hell for micheal a stackpole…visiting some of nicest cities and ending at the nerd-paradise of comic-con…poor, tortured life of a writer!