>>All of this is only a factor if you bought cheap, crappy ware. The
>>good stuff would be designed to do all the jobs the original equipment
>>did. (And in reflex boosters, remember, adjustable response levels
>>are your friend.)
>>
>>Sure, inadequate replacement levels would be a problem for early
>>adopters, so, say, Zoner would be a hideous man-machine with no
>>capacity for tenderness or love, at least until the good stuff came
>>out and he had to spend twice as much again getting himself refitted.
>>But that's what always happens to early adopters. :)
>
>No technology, no matter how complex or advanced, will ever be able to
>replace things that are essentially human. It doesn't matter if I buy
>a cyberarm when it first comes out or years later, it's never going to
>be my own arm. It doesn't matter if scientists have poured years of
>research into making all the synapses fire just right, in making the
>artificial surface change temperature with the rest of my body, in
>making it as close as possible to being real. It isn't real. It's
>not a human arm, it's a piece of machinery that does a very convincing
>job of being a human arm. It could never have the quirks of my own
>body, could never be a replacement, only a substitute.

And, on top of that, it's completely uneccessary. Read Timothy Zahn's Cobra, David Weber's Fifth Imperium books, or, better yet, S. M. Stirling's Drakon.

Admittedly, the above approach creates problems of its own, but they're soluble.

>Sure, I might have something that's pretty convincingly similar, so
>that for the most part nobody notices the difference. Should I ever
>find myself lacking a real limb, cybernetics would be a welcome
>salvation. But I'd still be missing an arm, and to willingly
>surrender that would be to willingly sacrifice part of me. There's a
>very small list of things that I'll do that for, and becoming a combat
>monstrosity is not one of them.

Maybe ditto, depending on what stage the 'ware was developed to, but reinforced bones, boosted healing and similar goodies are a different matter.

Blessed be.
Nathan Baxter
(jumping in with both feet)