I'm fairly certain it's been stated a number of times in a number of places by innumerable people providing sundry links pointing to statements made that cyberware is absolutely required in the game.
On a philosophical note, however, WHAT is "human", or "true human"?
Not Cyberpunk, but, potential far future ...
In a potential post-singularity trans-human, post-human future, and all the more so for those of us that subscribe to Futurism and all it entails with 3D printed replacement bodies that could be entirely organic, synthetic, chimeric with animal DNA/attributes, and/or a composite of all those, in a world where animals themselves could be uplifted to human, superhuman and AI-augmented intelligence, in a world where machine minds, or data-encapsulated animal minds could download into those 3D-printed human replacement bodies and live an entirely "human" organic life, terminology like "human" can get really blurry.
If anything with a mind is basically software that can inhabit any substrate that accommodates a mind, then, what is "human"?
Is a human mind downloaded into a machine body, or an animal body still human? What if they transfer back into an entirely orthodox organic human body?
In a future where form and substrate can be fluid, where anything/anyone that qualifies as a mind can potentially take any form, then "human", or "true human" as narrow categories of definition become a little inadequate.
If we, for instance, ever encounter an alien civilization, then, basically anything originating from, or associated with Earth, then becomes "human", regardless of whether it was ever "human", inanimate, or even capable of housing a mind.
Human food, Human plants, Human vehicles, Human machines, Human rocks, Human solar systems ....
Yeah, I know, it's not really the subject of the thread, but, it's a bit of a peeve of mine that goes in with my personal philosophy for Inclusion over Exclusion. It bothers me because there's still the sort of folks that consider themselves "more" human, or other people less human, or not even human even to this day, so, when it comes to questions regarding the qualification of what is human or "true human", even if we're just talking about a computer video game, it gets me itchy.
... and, that's my soapbox for the day.
On a philosophical note, however, WHAT is "human", or "true human"?
Not Cyberpunk, but, potential far future ...
In a potential post-singularity trans-human, post-human future, and all the more so for those of us that subscribe to Futurism and all it entails with 3D printed replacement bodies that could be entirely organic, synthetic, chimeric with animal DNA/attributes, and/or a composite of all those, in a world where animals themselves could be uplifted to human, superhuman and AI-augmented intelligence, in a world where machine minds, or data-encapsulated animal minds could download into those 3D-printed human replacement bodies and live an entirely "human" organic life, terminology like "human" can get really blurry.
If anything with a mind is basically software that can inhabit any substrate that accommodates a mind, then, what is "human"?
Is a human mind downloaded into a machine body, or an animal body still human? What if they transfer back into an entirely orthodox organic human body?
In a future where form and substrate can be fluid, where anything/anyone that qualifies as a mind can potentially take any form, then "human", or "true human" as narrow categories of definition become a little inadequate.
If we, for instance, ever encounter an alien civilization, then, basically anything originating from, or associated with Earth, then becomes "human", regardless of whether it was ever "human", inanimate, or even capable of housing a mind.
Human food, Human plants, Human vehicles, Human machines, Human rocks, Human solar systems ....
Yeah, I know, it's not really the subject of the thread, but, it's a bit of a peeve of mine that goes in with my personal philosophy for Inclusion over Exclusion. It bothers me because there's still the sort of folks that consider themselves "more" human, or other people less human, or not even human even to this day, so, when it comes to questions regarding the qualification of what is human or "true human", even if we're just talking about a computer video game, it gets me itchy.
... and, that's my soapbox for the day.