They already have those suits that starkiller was talking about and they do not permanatly attach to the body.
Cybernetic appendages/enhancements can easily be used to aid people who are handicapped or lost limbs in war or other accidents. Would you then start calling those people borg and say they are 'assimilated'.
You're the one the one that brought up the whole thing about the borg and a collective conciousness. The issues at hand/raised by this 'technology' are from from having to worry about those 'being borgafied' brings up. the main issue is personal privacy. also the issues brought up here about increasing violent crimes for simple robbery.
as far as replacing credit cards and such. if someone steals your credit card (or you loose it) you call the company and they cancel it and give you a new one. if someone cuts off your arm to take your chip can you call up the company to get a new arm? and this is assuming its in an arm, what if its in the back of your neck, or some other location...you may not survive the theif taking it from you. I can guarentee that the company that does the implant, while they may give you a new chip free of charge (yeah right, most cases would probably require you to pay for it, or at least the surgery) i can guarentee they wont give you a new arm or life (if the theif killed you to take it).
as far as guarentees, yeah the more they do it the better they get at the procedure and the safer it becomes...does that mean you're gonna let them use you as a guinea pig? cause i know im not gonna (and neither does that senator seem to want to either)
we already add more 'parts' as you put it (glasses, contact lenses, artificial limbs). We already modify the brain (drugs, prescription and not, heck, even school and learning 'modify' your brain) guess we're already 1 foot in the door of 'Borgdom'
bullbleep. I am not a computer. I can feel and create. A computer just runs programs. I can grow and learn, a computer can't. I was born, a computer is manufactured. My intellengence is real, not artificial. I am unque. Borg are not.
that was almost a valid point, however its (almost) validity does not negate the validity in starkillers point. The human brain could techincally be called a computer (and im pretty sure it has been referred similarly by respected doctors/scientists)
as per dictionary.com a computer is
1) A device that computes, especially a programmable electronic machine that performs high-speed mathematical or logical operations or that assembles, stores, correlates, or otherwise processes information.
2) One who computes.
where does that say anything about growing and learning, or being born, or feeling, or creating. besides, what about learning computers, they can meet some of these requirements. also, who's to say your intellegence is any more real than a computers..you learn from experience, so do neural nets/learning comps.
however, all that aside, the last part of that statement is the best. "I am unique. Borg are not." Ok, Dr. Spock. Thanks for pulling the Borg reference out of no where again.
Sorry if i rambled some, but I am getting ready to leave work and wanted to respond to your post(s). I think I addressed most of your points, though my main grievance was the 'Borg' stuff. and just to be clear I dont mean this as a personal attack, I just dont think the borg is a pretty far leap for the topic JediSage brought up in the article.
-Darth Simon