Loki said:
"I'm interested in robotic/cybernetic enhancements that don't simply mimic a human function, but rather *add* or *change* the functionality of a human. We're already there in some ways, technologically/pharmaceutically; yet, I only know one or two people who have really given thought to *how* they would alter themselves were it cheap and safe to take advantage of what exists/is being developed. "

The most basic and obvious example of your point Loki is what
I call techlepathy, quantum enhanced communicative skills that not only offers vastly improved social networking possibility but real time downloading of data/skills that some are now familiar with through the movie the Matrix. For what it is worth some of us have been contemplating this for a lot longer than Hollywood.

A second obvious example from Sci-Fi lit is the group of enhancements that kept the psychological aspects of "humane" while completely discarding the physical aspects of "human" in the now very old and dated series of works by Anne McCaffery called the "Ship that Sang" series in which human minds are embodied as trans-stellar FTL ships and "Co-Captain" with their physical "Hands" of human crews.

Would you mind making your suggestion a thread onto itself? I think it is a worthy idea and I would love to not merely contribute more concepts but read the ideas others have.

For example I have the idea of creating "familiars" in which shared awareness can operate trans-species to allow us to cohabit the body of associated species like felines, canines, primates, orca, birds etc. This would mean being able to completely experience the "reality" of what the other species is experiencing through their own eyes so to speak but it would also mean an aspect of communication that is reliable across the current limits of species.

Another form I expect is to go well beyond the limits of an RC for remote planetary exploration of worlds such as the Gas Giants and build a level of direct sensory linkage into the device so that even while it is being destroyed the level of "extension" allows the operator to extract vastly more precise and important data than is possible by remote control as this would overcome the time lag. This aspect of extended awareness would also allow the operator to be far quicker in responding to condition on world and this would improve survival chances for the probe.

These are but few of the ideas I have and I suspect others have many more. See why the question deserves its own thread and focused study?

I don't want to own a dragon, I want to be the dragon.

I anxiously await the era of personality distribution. I have chosen to expand my intelligence throughout a network of physically disconnected machine bodies; now I need technology to catch up to this bold vision. I will essentially become a nation unto myself, which may cause more primitive humans to fear me unless I take steps to prevent negative reactions.

This opens up a whole new can of worms, of course, and numerous social dynamics that we are only now beginning to extrapolate. Governments may move to illegalize XOXOX copying (distributed personalities), which would mean I would have to move quickly before precedents are set. Of course, the guage may swing the other way, allowing personalities to "rent" however many bodies in whichever locations they like with little more complexity than renting a movie from a video store. Imagine: you could rent a whole construction crew of bodies to build a new house, which you would only inhabit with one family of bodies (some of them yours, many not, others shared); you could rent one of the few bodies present on Mars to explore the red planet as a vactation....while you're busy working at your job in another body. Will there even be jobs? I suppose there must: humans need to feel productive.

Here's to finding a robot under every tree this year! [Hoists egg-nog in cheer]

Merry Christmas!