A Neural Escape
Ganpath Karl, E.I.T
Electrical Engineer | MSEE @ PITT | ECE @ UIUC | Entrepreneur
"A tale of embracing a new identity in the age of AI, genetic engineering & cybernetics."
Prologue
In 2085, a 23 year old Geologist paralyzed by acute multiple sclerosis undergoes cyber genetic therapy aboard the Interstellar Medical Facility. During her hospital discharge, she persuades her nurse to send her to Archaea, the first independent city on the Moon.
Chapter 1: The Awakening
"Akura, are you there?" the nurse said clapping her hands vibrantly.
As the anesthesia wore off, Akura regained her consciousness and slowly rose up. Her head was buzzing as though an alarm went off beside her ears. She viewed the clean blue-spotted apron she was wearing and lifted herself up to let the nurse check her vitals using the EEG and ECG machines.
"Your brain and nerve electrical activity is nominal, your up and ready to go," the nurse said joyfully, ready to take Akura to the ship's launch pad to send her home.
As Akura looked at a bedside mirror to see her face, she murmured to the nurse. "What happened to me?"
"Do you really want to know right now?" said the nurse cautiously.
Akura nodded, solemnly looking into the nurse's eyes. She knew the Interstellar Research Facility held dark secrets about their advancements in medical treatment. This was to ensure the facility's private investors had exclusive data on how their human enhancement technologies worked on real test subjects.
The nurse gave in, realizing her patient's resistance to sign the discharge documents. She already had twenty-five other patients to take care of in one earth day.
"Alright, but this is just between you and me. Don't tell anyone else!" the nurse said firmly.
"Do you know your condition and what it did to you?" asked the nurse.
"I had multiple sclerosis. At the age of eighteen, I went blind. At twenty, I couldn't move my limbs to even stand up. At twenty-three, I had a shocking pain down my spine and passed out." stated Akura bluntly, revealing her boldness to embrace her reality.
"Yes, after you parents volunteered to have you treated at our facility, we ran a genetic test to confirm your condition: Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis. When we read your X-Ray results, the disease was rapidly deteriorating your body, damaging your nerves significantly and ruining your central nervous system. We estimated that your brain would no longer be able to communicate with your body at the time of your appointed surgery," the nurse voiced in the same fashion.
Akura solemnly looked back at the mirror while moving her arms. Everything seemed normal. Her brain started whizzing as numbers came up in her head completing her next sentence.
"My chances of recovery were ......... 0.54%," Akura murmured, surprised she even knew that number.
"You are using your A.I. capabilities well, Akura," said the nurse cunningly.
Akura looked up, but the nurse interjected before she could say anything.
"We identified a mutation on your HLA-DRB1 gene, causing the severe multiple sclerosis. By synthesizing an RNA strand resembling the part of your DNA sequence we want to cut, we were able to provide our CRISPR Cas9 molecule coordinates to precisely scissor your DNA at the right location to reverse the mutation on your HLA-DRB1 gene," the nurse said, taking a breath.
"We could only stop further damage from occurring, but not reverse the existing damage on your nerve covering that disrupted the flow of signals from the brain to the body and vice versa. Hence, using regenerative biology, we synthesized artificial nerves in the lab to replaces the ones ruined in your brain. Each nerve is a genetically engineered control system that independently sensed, actuated and computed data to send to a central computer system. Sky Fire, a social AI, is the main operating system in the central computer." said the nurse excitedly as though a new Frankenstein had come to life.
"I am half machine," said Akura, struggling to accept her new identity.
"Your our first success, Akura. I understand it is shocking, but we didn't see any other way, said the nurse as she handed the discharge paperwork.
As Akura moved to the launch pad with her nurse pushing her on the wheel, she couldn't feel her left arm and right leg. As she tried to move them, the nurse interjected.
"Some of your muscles atrophied during your two month surgery. We fed you well, but not all your muscles received a signal from the spinal cord and brain to move. We performed an Amy amputation and replaced your left arm and right leg with bionics. The robotics will feel as though they are a part of you. Just give them a stretch when you land," said the nurse calmly.
Akura's mind was lost in thought as the nurse helped her into the pod. Would her friends and family accept her to who she has become? Would society treat her fairly knowing her modifications? Would her new abilities negatively affect labor employment in the market?
Bombarded with questions left and right in her mind, she took a final look at the discharge document and scratched off her original destination, "Earth - USA", with the nurse's pen. Her pod located close to the ship's window allowed her to peer through to see the Moon, noticing a distant purplish neon glow forming a circle on the planet's surface.
"What is that place?" asked Akura.
"That is Archaea, the first city on the moon to gain independence from the Earth. The space race by private entrepreneurs lead to this habitable colony, welcoming to all individuals who contribute to its society. Some say its even a paradise for robots yearning for equal rights," the nurse informed.
In a blink of an eye, Akura wrote using her right arm, "Moon - Archaea", in the destination field and signed the papers before handing them back to the nurse.
"You don't want to go back home?" the nurse asked when she reviewed the discharge documents.
"That is my home now," Akura said affirmatively shortly before the nurse sealed the pod and ejected it into space, setting its navigation system towards it new destination from the facility's mission control panel.
| B.E I PMI-PMP ,PMI-ACP I Agile Hybrid Project Management I Power System Engineering I IEEE I Business Acumen
1 年My ideas are on the way.
| B.E I PMI-PMP ,PMI-ACP I Agile Hybrid Project Management I Power System Engineering I IEEE I Business Acumen
1 年Congrats!! ganpath.Appreciate your initiatives.