The big issue here isn't that these advances are not possible, but since they are approaching singularity levels of technology, whichever faction is able to perfect their technology first is going to win. The Bios will either achieve their genetic engineering goals and be able to impose their will, or will not have achieved the ability to do so before the Cybers swoop down and impose their dominion upon the Earth.
This is pretty predictable because augmenting to such an extreme degree both implies a steadily and exponentially increasing advance in the knowledge base, but also an exponentially increasing set of skills, abilities and capabilities. If the mismatch becomes too great, then you will be faced with the situation of Imperial Japan just prior to the start of WWII, the United States outpaced Japan in every economic metric important at the time (for example, having 8-10X the annual steel production, a rather important metric if you plan to fight a naval war), so the side which can increase their capabilities more rapidly through first mover advantage will almost certainly win.
There are a few cheats you can impose as a writer. Perhaps the initial set of modifications provides a huge advantage, but unanticipated problems prevent version 2.0 mods from working properly, allowing the other side to implement their version 1.5.3 upgrades and catch up temporarily. Of course the losing side could also invoke the "Sampson Option" and bring the entire edifice of civilization crashing down by unleashing WMD (nuclear attacks are equally effective against both cyber and biological upgrades), in which case the survivors will be equally matched using sticks, sharp rocks and other advanced tools of post nuclear warfare......
manpreet![Tuteehub forum best answer]()
Best Answer
2 years ago
In this world, there are two trans-human species that are emerging at the same time. They vehemently despise each other and conflict is fast approaching. I would like to make the struggle between the two trans-humans as hard-fought as possible. If I cannot realistically make the struggle close, and there is an obvious winner, I might just abandon the idea. Without further ado, the two trans-human factions are:
The Bios
They have decided to reject computer chip implants, but they may use tools, guns, ect. However, their primary characteristic is that they consider ANYTHING bio related fair game, so they take genetic engineering to the extreme. Some things to expect from them are:
The Cybers
Conversely, these trans-humans do not genetically modify themselves, but instead embed computer chips and network cards into themselves and have many machine-like advantages like number crunching and network intelligence. They still have eyes, ears, and other vestiges of their former human selves, but these "monkey-meat" body parts act more like an input for the cyber-driven intelligence to get data from. Some things to expect from them are:
fast reaction times (drones can react faster than fighter pilots even at present given in aerial combat drills)
computer aided everything (motor function, night vision, ect)
quick skill learning (theoretically, just drag and drop skill sets into the cyber brain)
augmented physiology (an exo-skeleton suit integrated into their body perhaps with gold/carbon fiber for anti-EMP, drills for fingers, ect)
Assumptions
Question (reiterated): Building off this basic premise as described above, but also subject to your own opinion on what additional advantages/disadvantages there might be with regards to the two factions, is this going to be a good match-up? If it is shaping up to be very anti-climactic and too predictable, I would also appreciate speculation as to how to level the playing field.