Have you ever heard of Oscar Pistorius, the world class sprinter from South Africa? That fact that Oscar is such a great runner is not the most amazing thing about the man. It's the fact that he's also a double amputee.
The man competes as a runner at a world class level with artificial legs. They call him Blade Runner.
But that's not all. No no no. He was recently denied entry in the Olympics by the International Association of Athletic Federations because his prosthetics give him too much of an advantage. His carbon fiber feet are three times more efficient at conserving energy than human bone and muscle. He can maintain the same speed as a flesh and blood competitor with 25% less energy.
And that is the state of prosthetics today. In the next decade or two the superiority of prostetic body parts will be vastly greater than flesh and blood. Soon we will be able to tie them into out neurological system so that we will be able to feel sensations through our artificial limbs. Pressure, warmth, texture, pleasure and, a far superior damage warning and assessment system than the primitive one we call "pain".
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