With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[AverusBlack]

Apropos of anything else happening in the story at this moment, I just want to say that I really like what is happening here. People don't like thinking about disabilities. The people who have to live with them, it's like being a footnote to the rest of a world designed around everyone but you. Accommodations are put into place... sometimes. Certainly it's not easy to live with.

Stories that shine a light on the challenges faced by those people inspire others to tackle those issues. Specifically, I'm thinking of a fellow I spoke to a few months back who is in the midst of designing a facial recognition system to allow a webcam to act as a game controller for paralyzed individuals. No fancy hardware set up, just software and a basic camera. It's not that hard to work out where he got the idea - vtubers using the same technology to control virtual models and give them body language.

So even though the eye drive is probably just a stepping stone to the actual point of this story arc, I like that it was brought up and re-included. We're making good progress in terms of medical research for Alzheimers specifically right now, but I can't say I'd have argued one being handed to me when I got knocked over the head a couple decades ago.

Long story.

 

[SilentObserver]

"My son… Tony." She staggers, and I reach out to steady her just a little faster than Derek does.

"Ma'am?" / "Missus Monetti?"

"Oh, I'm alright. I just-." She takes a moment to steady herself. "I think I just saw a lot of my memories of Tony all at once. I needed a moment to sort them all out in my head."

Click to shrink...

If the FDA doesn't approve this for clinical trials, then that whole agency needs to be burnt to ashes.

...

...Dammit, I hate narrative railroads.

 

[NightmareWarden]

Alright Truggs, you just have to time this carefully to keep up your grandma-killing record.

 

[AverusBlack]

Alright Truggs, you just have to time this carefully to keep up your grandma-killing record.

Click to shrink...

 

[boo600]

There's a bit of a parallel there between the way the eye drive works, and the way OL's enlightenment can apparently be yoinked out of him.

What sort of power supply does the eye drive have or need? Guessing it doesn't run on magic from the providence, so it must have a battery somewhere.

Click to shrink...

Well...

Not an actual eye patch like the one in Doctor Who -it needs skin contact over a larger area and M'gann couldn't work out why I wanted to block one of my eyes with it- it's designed to sit on the wearer's forehead like Seven of Nine's cyberbrow. "Human ingenuity and Martian biotechnology. It basically forms a backup of your short term memory. If anything tries to change your short term memory it compares what it's got stored with what you've got stored and uploads what you've been made to forget."

Click to shrink...

The original, martian animal/tech probably drew some power from the host's bioelectricity, or sunlight, or something else a shapeshifter could do.

The mass-production thinking-cap version he has... I dunno. Powered by motion, like a swiss watch? Powered by potent batteries, that need to be recharged occasionally? It depends on how efficient the battery is, I suppose...

 

[inglorius]

Specifically, I'm thinking of a fellow I spoke to a few months back who is in the midst of designing a facial recognition system to allow a webcam to act as a game controller for paralyzed individuals.

Click to shrink...

Kinda already a thing fir a while.
IIRC Vnyan allows to just map specific expressions to trigger arbitrary script, which can include sending keypress event. Although there might be a custom plugin involved.

View: https://www.youtube.com/live/5OAG-ZRIrvU

 

[Mr Zoat]

If the FDA doesn't approve this for clinical trials, then that whole agency needs to be burnt to ashes.

Click to shrink...

To be fair, the F.D.A. -like a lot of agencies- is barely functioning, and their oversight committee is barely functioning too. So many people died that institutional expertise was lost, which naturally creates a problem training replacements. Which the government can't afford and which people don't really want to apply for anyway.

 

[iamnuff]

"No, it's undergoing trials. Your son is helping me get regulatory approval for it."

Click to shrink...

It occurs to me that you can totally bypass the sketchy 'politician getting access to medical technology early because of his influence' thing just by... having her be one of the test subjects?

Its undergoing trials, right?
Human trials?
Human trials of people with altzheimers?

And presumably her son has medical power or attorney over her, because of her disability... so he could volunteer her (after speaking with her in one of her clearer moments) and have her signed up.

 

[Steelplaza]

If this does somehow turn her into a supervillain that will be a lesson of a different source I guess.

 

[Lord Ernest]

I don't have or have had family members with Alzheimer's, but for some reason the condition makes me really emotional, since I don't have the best of memories at the best of times already.

I hope this Eye Drive test works out. And if the Justice League being in charge can't help with something like this, I will be really disappointed.

Let superheroes be effective at making the place better for the common people, rather than just fixing what is broken after the fact.

 

[BartlettMagic]

so could the eye drive store or disseminate an anti-life fragment?

i ask because Mannheim's whole deal with inserting anti-life into the teleportation array was extremely clever, and so now i just see anti-life batteries everywhere.

also, as a healthcare worker, much is being said about memories; but the same disease progression that melts away memories also melts away the parts of your brain that make your body move correctly and in the way you want it to. i don't see the eye drive being a cure, but rather a temporary measure. in the worst case, you would be fully aware of and remember your healthy life as you're fully aware of losing your body.

here's an example: Mrs. Monetti is an artist. let's say that she likes stippling as a technique. she will remember what stippling is, and how to use it as a technique, but her brain will lose the connections that make her hand hold her brush correctly, move her arm correctly, etc. she will remember stippling, want to use stippling, but be physically unable to.

 

[CrazyNoVa]

Hang on, so the devices basically grant you a photographic memory, correct?

Does this mean that anyone who puts it on and keeps studying at school will get 100% learning retention, and might become a genius?

 

[LazySloth13]

The more involved Paul and by extension the League gets in restoring the planet or providing services/cures to certain ailments will just drive the point further that they essentially rule the place with the various governments more of a polite inclusion, or at least those that work will the League or more effective than those that work against them.

 

[Mr Zoat]

so could the eye drive store or disseminate an anti-life fragment?

i ask because Mannheim's whole deal with inserting anti-life into the teleportation array was extremely clever, and so now i just see anti-life batteries everywhere.

Click to shrink...

No, it's way too basic for something like that.

also, as a healthcare worker, much is being said about memories; but the same disease progression that melts away memories also melts away the parts of your brain that make your body move correctly and in the way you want it to. i don't see the eye drive being a cure, but rather a temporary measure. in the worst case, you would be fully aware of and remember your healthy life as you're fully aware of losing your body.

here's an example: Mrs. Monetti is an artist. let's say that she likes stippling as a technique. she will remember what stippling is, and how to use it as a technique, but her brain will lose the connections that make her hand hold her brush correctly, move her arm correctly, etc. she will remember stippling, want to use stippling, but be physically unable to.

Click to shrink...

Completely true. It will improve quality of life, but ultimately it isn't fixing the underlying problem. Eventually you'd either die or go full Carapax.

Hang on, so the devices basically grant you a photographic memory, correct?
Does this mean that anyone who puts it on and keeps studying at school will get 100% learning retention, and might become a genius?

Click to shrink...

Memorisation would no longer be an issue, no. But the drive doesn't help you actually do anything with it.