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No really @mods don't wasteland this yet.
Fighters get titanium or whatnot implants all the time with broken bones. Plates in their skulls, rods in their limbs etc. As this technology becomes more prevalent we will see increasing cyborged fighters competing.
In the near future we may see technological advances that will fundamentally change the nature of athletics.
My question is twofold:
1) At what point is it too much? Assuming medical technology continues to improve at some point we may be able to replace entire bones with metal or ceramics. If a fighter had their entire tibia and fibula replaced with titanium or some super-strong ceramic would that be an unfair advantage? How would you regulate this, especially if these procedures become commonplace and the replacement was deemed 'medically' necessary?
2) What about medical enhancements? Within a decade or two it may become commonplace to completely replace failing bio-components. Take michael bisping's permanently damaged eye. Maybe in the future the solution is just to drop in an electronic eye. But what if this eye provides him better than natural vision? Or what about someone who develops a muscular disorder? Perhaps there is a synthetic muscle replacement available? Would this immediately disqualify him from athletic competition?
These scenarios may sound like science fiction but it is something that may become a reality sooner than you would think. And if we don't start discussing and anticipating these realities we may end up with some sort of super-human cyborgs fighting regular people in the cage. Remember when the ACs were too slow to adapt their TRT regulations, and super-juice Vitor Belfort spun around the cage nearly decapitating people? This could be a far worse scenario.
Fighters get titanium or whatnot implants all the time with broken bones. Plates in their skulls, rods in their limbs etc. As this technology becomes more prevalent we will see increasing cyborged fighters competing.
In the near future we may see technological advances that will fundamentally change the nature of athletics.
My question is twofold:
1) At what point is it too much? Assuming medical technology continues to improve at some point we may be able to replace entire bones with metal or ceramics. If a fighter had their entire tibia and fibula replaced with titanium or some super-strong ceramic would that be an unfair advantage? How would you regulate this, especially if these procedures become commonplace and the replacement was deemed 'medically' necessary?
2) What about medical enhancements? Within a decade or two it may become commonplace to completely replace failing bio-components. Take michael bisping's permanently damaged eye. Maybe in the future the solution is just to drop in an electronic eye. But what if this eye provides him better than natural vision? Or what about someone who develops a muscular disorder? Perhaps there is a synthetic muscle replacement available? Would this immediately disqualify him from athletic competition?
These scenarios may sound like science fiction but it is something that may become a reality sooner than you would think. And if we don't start discussing and anticipating these realities we may end up with some sort of super-human cyborgs fighting regular people in the cage. Remember when the ACs were too slow to adapt their TRT regulations, and super-juice Vitor Belfort spun around the cage nearly decapitating people? This could be a far worse scenario.
