Sometimes the cyberpunk future is OK
February 15, 2020 7:19 AM Subscribe
Psychology professor and electronic music artist Bertolt Meyer uses a prosthetic hand, but found it too imprecise to turn the tiny knobs on his synthesizer. So he, with the help of electronic engineer Chrisi Zollner from KOMA Elektronik and his husband Daniel Theiler, hacked his arm to control the synthesizer directly.
Entertaining comments are fun*, yet I look forward to comments that are inclusive of the experience of people with disabilities and how the world is navigated with one hand. I also look forward to comments on how electronics and technology are being designed to include usage by people with a range of disability-related limitations,
Hats off to the manufacturer who gave him the schematic to create these adaptions, in addition to the part. That’s the sort of collaboration that makes accessibility possible, in addition to the personal hours and sweat for customization in this circumstance.
*people with disabilities are very familiar with people chatting up perceived benefits for the abled while erasing or ignoring the circumstance, such as a lifetime of having one arm that ends before your wrist, overuse of the second hand, dealing with the limitations of prosthetic substitution(which is demonstrated in the video) as well as managing prosthetic maintenance and malfunction.
posted by childofTethys at 9:09 AM on February 15, 2020 [9 favorites]
Hats off to the manufacturer who gave him the schematic to create these adaptions, in addition to the part. That’s the sort of collaboration that makes accessibility possible, in addition to the personal hours and sweat for customization in this circumstance.
*people with disabilities are very familiar with people chatting up perceived benefits for the abled while erasing or ignoring the circumstance, such as a lifetime of having one arm that ends before your wrist, overuse of the second hand, dealing with the limitations of prosthetic substitution(which is demonstrated in the video) as well as managing prosthetic maintenance and malfunction.
posted by childofTethys at 9:09 AM on February 15, 2020 [9 favorites]
Getting the schematic was a big step. More music is good.
posted by scruss at 9:20 AM on February 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by scruss at 9:20 AM on February 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
Is a cyberpunk future where everyone is a cyborg on some level not a unique future that is inclusive of individuals with physical disabilities? Is desiring to BE a cyborg for the benefits dismissive of people who currently have no choice but to utilize said technology to function?
These are genuine questions because I wonder if cyberpunks and bodyhackers in the present consider this.
posted by Young Kullervo at 9:29 AM on February 15, 2020
These are genuine questions because I wonder if cyberpunks and bodyhackers in the present consider this.
posted by Young Kullervo at 9:29 AM on February 15, 2020
Dang, this is super sweet!
posted by egypturnash at 9:43 AM on February 15, 2020
posted by egypturnash at 9:43 AM on February 15, 2020
This two channel system is the first few steps on the road! Imagine what incredible musical instruments will be invented in a few years time, when we can read the nerves controlling all of the fingers.
posted by monotreme at 9:57 AM on February 15, 2020
posted by monotreme at 9:57 AM on February 15, 2020
I look forwards to dimming the lights by clenching and unclenching my gluteals.
posted by CynicalKnight at 10:19 AM on February 15, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by CynicalKnight at 10:19 AM on February 15, 2020 [2 favorites]
Most of the cyberpunk literature that I’ve read (not extensively, mind you) doesn’t differentiate much between necessary and optional cyberware. You are either cybered up or you’re just a meatbag. If anything, it’s mostly dismissive of unmodified humanity.
Speaking as someone who could definitely use a kidney and pancreas replacement, among other things, I personally could care less is someone wants neon silica glass hair fibers or a forearm embedded monowhip, so long as the monowhip user is way over there. Hell, as long as your pretentious little katana has the Sendai-DuPont No-slip Grip properly applied, you do you.
As for the musician above, worry more if he is any good or not. All the cyber in the world won’t help if you just plain suck.
posted by drivingmenuts at 11:17 AM on February 15, 2020 [3 favorites]
Speaking as someone who could definitely use a kidney and pancreas replacement, among other things, I personally could care less is someone wants neon silica glass hair fibers or a forearm embedded monowhip, so long as the monowhip user is way over there. Hell, as long as your pretentious little katana has the Sendai-DuPont No-slip Grip properly applied, you do you.
As for the musician above, worry more if he is any good or not. All the cyber in the world won’t help if you just plain suck.
posted by drivingmenuts at 11:17 AM on February 15, 2020 [3 favorites]
This holds great promise for all air guitar aficionados...
posted by jim in austin at 1:31 PM on February 15, 2020
posted by jim in austin at 1:31 PM on February 15, 2020
This is very cool.
posted by doctornemo at 6:19 PM on February 15, 2020
posted by doctornemo at 6:19 PM on February 15, 2020
As a musician who uses modular synths, this is remarkable. I don’t have any disabilities except not being very good on a keyboard. But if a musician can find a way to play their instruments with little standing in the way between their ideas and the sounds coming out of the speakers, then more power to them. This two CV channel interface is just a start for this guy. There can be positional sensors, etc. and he can use both arms to play music. All this cyber talk is dumb. This is just a guy who creates music, who now can do even more.
posted by njohnson23 at 8:59 AM on February 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by njohnson23 at 8:59 AM on February 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
Is a cyberpunk future where everyone is a cyborg on some level not a unique future that is inclusive of individuals with physical disabilities? Is desiring to BE a cyborg for the benefits dismissive of people who currently have no choice but to utilize said technology to function?
William Gibson's The Peripheral has a character with a physical disability in it, though I'm not sure the book is really "classic" cyberpunk in the usual sense, sort of adjacent to it with an updated view.
I think the assumption in cyberpunk generally is usually that prosthetics are as good or better than natural, so volunteering to become "more cyborg" is not an irrational choice... but cyberpunk game systems have an "essence" or "humanity" cost for such replacements. That doesn't have great implications about what they think of people with disabilities.
Even Star Wars has the "more machine than man" line about Vader, as if he chose to be thrown into a volcano.
As for the musician above, worry more if he is any good or not. All the cyber in the world won’t help if you just plain suck.
This really comes off as crass. Music is not an activity reserved only for those who are born excellent at it; in fact it takes practice, and if everyone who "sucked" was discouraged from practice, there would be no music.
Thankfully there are plenty of amateur synthesists who love it as a hobby with no concern for whether some random internet commenter thinks they "suck." Especially where it comes to modular synthesis, where connecting the dots from math to science to electronics to one's ears, and exploring the possibilities of sound design, is already pretty wondrous to experience firsthand without even getting into the musical side of things.
I am a much better musician (by my own standards, which are the ones that matter to me) in 2020 than I was in the mid-80s when I started, and I had a great time with it even back then.
posted by Foosnark at 9:38 AM on February 16, 2020 [5 favorites]
William Gibson's The Peripheral has a character with a physical disability in it, though I'm not sure the book is really "classic" cyberpunk in the usual sense, sort of adjacent to it with an updated view.
I think the assumption in cyberpunk generally is usually that prosthetics are as good or better than natural, so volunteering to become "more cyborg" is not an irrational choice... but cyberpunk game systems have an "essence" or "humanity" cost for such replacements. That doesn't have great implications about what they think of people with disabilities.
Even Star Wars has the "more machine than man" line about Vader, as if he chose to be thrown into a volcano.
As for the musician above, worry more if he is any good or not. All the cyber in the world won’t help if you just plain suck.
This really comes off as crass. Music is not an activity reserved only for those who are born excellent at it; in fact it takes practice, and if everyone who "sucked" was discouraged from practice, there would be no music.
Thankfully there are plenty of amateur synthesists who love it as a hobby with no concern for whether some random internet commenter thinks they "suck." Especially where it comes to modular synthesis, where connecting the dots from math to science to electronics to one's ears, and exploring the possibilities of sound design, is already pretty wondrous to experience firsthand without even getting into the musical side of things.
I am a much better musician (by my own standards, which are the ones that matter to me) in 2020 than I was in the mid-80s when I started, and I had a great time with it even back then.
posted by Foosnark at 9:38 AM on February 16, 2020 [5 favorites]
I look forwards to dimming the lights by clenching and unclenching my gluteals.
You mean you're not already doing this? The wife says I've never been more flexible...
posted by RolandOfEld at 7:03 AM on February 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
You mean you're not already doing this? The wife says I've never been more flexible...
posted by RolandOfEld at 7:03 AM on February 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
I look forwards to dimming the lights by clenching and unclenching my gluteals.
Important point: you can sing "butt dimmer" to the tune of the theme from Goldfinger.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 7:36 AM on February 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
Important point: you can sing "butt dimmer" to the tune of the theme from Goldfinger.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 7:36 AM on February 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by Young Kullervo at 8:07 AM on February 15, 2020 [11 favorites]