Coffee's Caffeine-Producing Gene Isolated 194
There is a broader implication though: It's known that many drugs come from or are discovered in naturally occuring plants and then synthesized. If the genetic basis for these types drugs can be discovered and replicated, you could turn the human body into it's own pharmacy. Maybe synthesizing salicin internally could be as effective as taking aspirin? (and less irritating for your stomach) Or maybe if the fundamental genetic operations that synthesize chemicals/proteins is discovered (the microcode of cells?) you could even synthesize chemicals that don't occur naturally. Perhaps in the future a "pharmaceutical organ" will be hacked into the human body specifically for this purpose.
Of course there's the other side to this, where people will want to synthesize certain chemcials in opiates or marijuana ... Fun to speculate about, at least!"
get the bvious humourout of the way ... (Score:1)
No caffeine? (Score:3)
What's the point of drinking coffee then?
I mean what's next...non-alcoholic beer?
;)
Life without sleep (Score:2)
In-body Synthesis (Score:3)
You are more than the sum of what you consume.
Song idea: (Score:2)
Like 'Who's got the Knowledge to Hack your Body?!'
Come on, someone run with that idea.>:)
Kintanon
If we can make our own caffeine... (Score:1)
Excuse me sir, can you walk this straight line while touching your nose?
And do you think Coke and Pepsi will really let this happen? Unless they work it so that their drinks are the way the genes are spliced into our own, I don't think so.
hmm (Score:2)
Hmm, if you could have your body produce drugs on demand, that would be really cool.
"Hey man...wanna get high?"
"Sure...hold on a sec" (turns on his marijuana-producing gland) "wheeeeee"
Not reading
Caffiene Drip (Score:1)
Hack your body (Score:3)
Talk about adapatation (Score:1)
Even the samurai
have teddy bears,
and even the teddy bears
Better uses for the "caffeine" gene (Score:1)
And have it released in a circadian cycle? (like in the middle of the night. Wake up, Hot Mama, Daddy's home :)
Caffiene gene (Score:1)
mmm.. caffinated pickles...
-Spazimodo
Fsck the millennium, we want it now.
Good idea. (Score:1)
All right! Let's get started researching the alchohol, niccotine, and THC producing molocules right away!
Starbucks might have something to say... (Score:5)
I have a question (Score:2)
So now... (Score:1)
kind of like a runner's high (Score:4)
Anyone who's a long-distance runner knows the sweet feeling you get after a long run and how you get irritable and a little depressed when you don't run for a few days. This isn't so different from when my father used to get headaches without his morning coffee. We were both addicts: him to caffeine, me to endorphin.
It seems hacking your body so you get your morning caffeine without drinking coffee is like hacking your body to get endorphin with the requisite run. I think both of these miss the point: caffeine is only a pleasant side effect of people's very pleasurable coffee ritual just as endorphin is a pleasant side effect of doing something good for your body. To get these things without the work turns these rituals into just "using drugs". If the only reason people drank coffee was to get caffeine, we'd just start smoking crack cause it's much more effective and not much more expensive than Starbucks!
Think of the other possibilities... (Score:2)
Whoa, wait a sec.. (Score:1)
Make my own THC? (Score:1)
I think I met a lawyer the other day who's already done this, judging by his dopey demeanor. I'll bet the bastard's patented it already too!
Alan.
Caffiene ? Caffiene? (Score:1)
Didn't you teacher ever teach you that its "i before e except after f". Geez, kids these days.
Re:Life without sleep (Score:2)
Genetic Stock Pile (Score:1)
Joy of Cola? (Score:1)
Brian
Microsoft is Evil [bbspot.com]
Genetically altered java (Score:3)
Guess so, Microsoft have been doing it for years now.
Re:In-body Synthesis (Score:1)
In any case, I like this because I have trouble staying awake and have really low blood pressure as it is, so this could be a good thing for me. Maybe I can even get an injection that could last a month. There are endless possibilities.
Re:kind of like a runner's high (Score:2)
--
want cofffeee, suck my blood (Score:1)
And In Other Splicing Fun (Score:3)
Caffeinated fruit. Strawberries, bananas, grapes, oranges, you get the picture. Be healthy and get your wake up effect. Or just caffeinated tomatoes to help make Bloody Mary's better.
Caffeinated coffee beans. What?, you say, aren't coffee beans already caffeinated? Yep. But who says you can't enhance the genetic sequence to get the Super-Caffeinated bean?
Caffeinated malt, barley, and hops for the perfect all natural Beer for a little of the hair of the dog that bit you and a quick pick me up.
Re:In-body Synthesis (Score:1)
Re:Life without sleep (Score:1)
A very pissed off, aggrivated society. It's been proven scientifically* that sleep deprivation raises aggresiveness. The human body needs to shut down every so often to recharge itself.
---
*In the same way that it was proved that behavioral psychiatrists ring bells whenever dogs salivate.
NecroPuppy
toterlance/ (Score:2)
Say you body DID produce caffiene, after awhile your body would either become toterle or emune (god I can't spell) to caffiene to such an extent that you body would have to produce more, which it would come to toterlate as normal. Till one day you body would be in a state that caffiene would no longer have any noticeable effect (reguards of the dose). Then what the hell would you do for a caffiene buzz? Crank?
I would still donate my body to science for this. 3 hours to no sleep sounds like fun!
Re:Life without sleep (Score:1)
Re:Life without sleep (Score:2)
The caffine FAQ! (Score:2)
Not what it seems... (Score:1)
But controlling what our body produces would require either chemical controls (essentially more medicine) or constant genetic re-engineering of the PharmaGland(tm). And as any geneticist can tell you, you can only alter a set of genes so many times before they start to fall apart.
P.S. It's my name. I thought of it first. I'm filing the trademarks for PharmaGland(tm) right now. I have so little, don't take this away from me.
Re:I have a question (Score:1)
What side effects? Caffeine, like Aspirin seem to be among those rare drugs with almost no bad side effects, when consumed in moderation.
Voice of Cynicism (Score:4)
If you could have a way to turn drug production on and off, this might work. But chances are the way to toggle production would involve some other drug, which brings in its own complication.
However, there is something to be said for natural drugs instead of the synthetic "equivalent". Many people complain that (pills and tasty treats containing) lab-created caffeine irritates their stomach more than natural caffeine.
Perhaps we can set up the human-organ-producing pigs to also produce caffeine. Then my new heart will be pre-adjusted to my addiction.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
Re:If we can make our own caffeine... (Score:1)
Non-naturally occuring chemicals (Score:2)
Synthesizing any sort of a chemical involving large amounts of carbon is fiendishly difficult, as you can get something that is chemically equivalent and yet doesn't behave the same. And then you can get something that is chemically identical, right down to the way it folds, but is chirally different.
Anyone know if chirally opposite caffeine works on the brain? I'll stick with my coffee plunger until then.
JUST RELEASED: (Score:1)
"We are pleased to announce that the human body can manufacture caffiene. At this time we are only able to get mucous membranes to generate caffiene, but we are sure we'll be able to get other tissues to secrete this all important chemical in no time," said the groups founder Wally Heemuckle. Despite his rather haggard appearance (he looks like he hasn't slept for twelve days) he was able to continue, "And the cure is also just around the corner."
Other company employees were seen blowing their noses frequently, and placing the used tissues into bins labelled "To be processed".
This is Horatio Hornblower from passive 7, know one nose your news like we do. Goodnight.
-Adam
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
Re:In-body Synthesis (Score:1)
Re:Remember whom? (Yes, I know it's OT) (Score:1)
NecroPuppy
Now all ill need is a cyberjack. (Score:1)
I thought we didn't like sterotypes... (Score:1)
Speak for yourself. While I may catch heat for saying it, I ingest very little caffeine in a day. I'm not being judgemental, if you want to drink it, that's fine. But don't make it sound like all hackers are made with the same mold. Some of us drink Sprint and code with the lights on.
my hopes for the future may finally be realized (Score:5)
Perhaps... perhaps they will even create a medication that will lower my caffeine tolerance back to mortal levels. I haven't gotten a coffee-buzz in years. I only get messed up and neurotic if I don't have enough coffee, and that's no fun. I like coffee.
---------///----------
All generalizations are false.
*That's* the obvious use? (Score:1)
Somehow I'm not seeing the merit in endowing the body with the ability to produce caffeine. It's a pretty poor substitute for something the body already creates: adrenaline.
Rather, wouldn't it be much easier to get kids to eat their broccoli if they knew it was caffeinated? Heck, I'd eat it...
--ian
Substitution organs (Score:5)
Hmmmm. Creating our own painkillers as a replacement for aspirin? Let's extend the logic and see where this takes us.
As an insulin-dependant diabetic, I'd love to be able to tell my Generic Organ Implant[tm] to act like a pancreas and start kicking out insulin. (Given that my real pancreas is as useful as a paperweight as far as sugar conversion goes, and useless even as a paperweight given that it's sitting somewhere behind a kidney.)
Of course, given the technology to do that, I could presumably send the same message to my real pancreas, waking it up and telling it to earn its damn keep for once.
But let's extend this idea even further. Reprogrammable Organs! The body's own equivalent of FPGA's! Say I've been slacking on code and am running behind the product's shipping schedule -- I just tell my pancreas to hold off on insulin and start behaving like a brain to increase my programming speed. In the meantime, I revert to injecting insulin. Or tell one of my leg muscles to act like a pancreas, since I'm not using the legs anyhow (I'm sitting in a chair coding, remember).
The make-yer-own-apsirin idea is pointless anyhow. We already manufacture our own painkillers. They're called endorphins; a lot of painkillers are just synthetic endorphin analogues.
Re:I have a question (Score:1)
All of the known sides of caffeine are directly related to its method of action in vivo. There are no "impurities" to worry about.
Fans of Iain Banks will be excited (Score:3)
I guess I'll gland some Active and get back to work....
Re:it's caffeine, not caffeine (Score:1)
Mabey One day... (Score:1)
Re:Life without sleep (Score:1)
tolerance... (Score:3)
Instead, have glands that we can "control" in some fashion. When we need the caffiene, we have the gland make it. When we need the medicine, we have the gland make it. When we don't need it anymore, we turn it off.
Re:Think of the other possibilities... (Score:1)
Re:Substitution organs (Score:2)
He'd be unstoppable! Unless of course the Muscle Controller (running Windows 2010 of course) crashes and reconfigures his leg muscles into pure fat!
After caffiene comes... (Score:1)
Military Uses (Score:1)
Now, imagine a team of 4 of these guys walking right into Saddam's house, taking out all his guards, then forcing him to swallow a timed grenade wrapped in a condom?
YEAH!
Re:kind of like a runner's high (Score:2)
Brave New World or ... (Score:2)
I'm also not sure our conscious minds are better at regulating compounds in our bloodstreams than bio/analog processes, considering how judgement becomes impared with acclimation to a compound. i.e. becoming chemically dependant rather than just psychologically.
IMHO these are apples and sausages issues, has any warmblooded creature been found which produces the common plant compound of Caffeine?
The original story I heard on this was to breed plants to grow caffeine free tea and coffee. Quite a stretch from this posts interpretations.
Vote [dragonswest.com] Naked 2000
Re:Life without sleep (Score:1)
*YAWN* I wish my wife wasn't trying to break me of the pop habit. Trying to be healthy is going to kill me yet!
dont mess with the genes... yet (Score:1)
Being 7 hours jet-lagged and deprived of REAL coffee was not fun at all. After 3-5 cups (30cl cups) I had to go and sleep in the bathroom.
The strangest was seing people taking out the foam of expressos using some specialized metal cups... Expresso machines are supposed to make foam. The foam has to be thick enough to sustain a packet of sugar for a few seconds...
So, before you start knocking-in caffeine genes into the genome of your future children, please, please, please, start brewing better coffee.
JBv.
Re:Fans of Iain Banks will be excited (Score:2)
Oh no! Microsoft is going to get its products into our bodies, too! They'll probably buy out the developer of the genes for improving eyesight, just so they can get the name Visual, too.
the test (Score:2)
"Please stand still on your foot and touch your nose for 30 seconds."
or, if your pulse is over 200 beats/minute.
Re:Life without sleep (Score:1)
Sleep deprivation leads to all sorts of problems, eventually ending in death due to massive organ failure (prompted by your chemical balance going out of whack -- toxic degrees of chemical imbalance). Not a fun way to die, I'm sure.
Xentax
Re:I have a question (Score:1)
Let's take 'body hacking' to it's logical end ... (Score:1)
So your body receives the encoded messages, begins producing the medication, and you never have to take that medication again. The pills could be tuned -- 'produce y drug for z number of days, but only when you're awake'.
<conceptualLeap>
What has been one of the leading end goals that technology has been stirving towards? The answer is 'understanding of the human body'. There's a market here
The other thing we're working towards is being able to replicate the human body's potential inside an artifical environment. I think this is a natural thing to do
So how can we preclude the fact that it hasn't happened already? How can we say for sure that we, ourselves, are not just by-products of similar beings
</conceptualLeap>
The workings of our bodies is nothing more than an operating system. Once we understand how it works, we'll be able to replicate it, just as we may have already been.
I wonder what the IRQ is for creativity?
Looking ahead... (Score:3)
Kevin Fox
Re:Life without sleep (Score:2)
IIRC, he was also using amphetamines or a similar high-potency stimulant during the stunt.
I local DJ (Willie B, you've prolly heard him if you live near Denver) went for a world record a while back, and I think he ended up with like 3-4 weeks of sleep deprivation, and doesn't seem to be any crazier than when he started.
That's not to say different people are not affected differently, just that the famous case of the DJ that died is prolly more related to the drugs rather than lack of sleep.
--K
-----
---
Re:kind of like a runner's high (Score:5)
-B
How dare you! (Score:2)
If you don't smell like coffee when you sweat, you don't drink enough.
Decaffeinated coffee is the devil's brew [sorehands.com]
Re:kind of like a runner's high (Score:2)
So endorphins are the reason I always feel so good after a good thrash metal session on the guitar heh? My irritability comes whether I play or not though. I get irritable when I don't play (built up energy, plus I suppose the effects of endorphin withdrawal). Plus I get irritable when I play (something about the neighbors calling the cops cause your playing at 110 db again at 2 am;-).
The previous sentence is a joke, I only play on weekends when I know the neighbors are gone. Unless I'm angry with them for something
Re:No caffeine? (Score:1)
This could mean... (Score:1)
What will programmers drink now? Water?
Wouldn't that be fun (Score:1)
Re:Life without sleep (Score:2)
A certian part of you brain is stimulation deprived... This causes anxiety, a loss in attention span, and a few other nasty things. Anyway ritilen is an excellent stimulant to provide the necessary stimulation to that part of your brain that requires it, but the problem with ritilen is that it is also a powerfull drug with many side effects. Caffine also has the ability to stimiluate that part of the brain. By injesting Caffine/ritilen you are providing the stimulation necessary to the stimulation deprived part of the brain and a by product is the relief of the anxiety which allows you to relax and fall in the medative state which is required for sleep.
But of course IANAD (I am not a doctor ) so I may be way off base. It certianly is a good explanation of why giving a stimulate, ritilen, to ADHD people calms them down. Where if you gave ritilen to a non ADD/ADHD person it has the effect of a high, poor mans coke.
Anyway enough babling... Back to work!
Fun with "pharmacutical organs" (Score:3)
Imaging such an organ under concious control of its host (via electrodes in the brain or some such mechanism). In a tough spot and need everything you can muster? Poof! Produce a ton of adrenelin and other support chemicals to maximize your speed/strength/etc. Injured? Poof! Dump endorphins into your bloodstream to keep you from passing out from the pain, so you can get yourself to a hospital. Cramming for the final or falling asleep on a long drive? Poof! Measured caffine to keep you alert.
How about self-preservation? Detects the body has gotten too much anestesia during an operation - put out some stimulants. Need to fake your death? Have it out out measured amounts of curarae to simulate death.
And for spies, a suicide pill they can't take away from you.
The possibilities are endless.
Of course, whenever you use something like this you'll pay the price later (fatigue, twiches, withdrawl, migranes) - you never get something for nothing. But wouldn't it be great to have the choice?
Re:Now all ill need is a cyberjack. (Score:2)
Crunch it dry. Hits you within a minute that way.
Major Misconceptions! (Score:3)
I like that analogy. Each enzyme is like a laborer on an assembly line. What they've found here is one gene that makes one enzyme. Disable that gene and the assembly line can't procede past a certain point. You cannot just stick that gene in another organism, and expect to have a caffeine factory!
It is however done, that bacteria are altered to produce chemicals, however in these cases, we don't care about gene regulation. They can spew out all the insulin they can!
A side thought about what they're proposing here. Many of these pathways are down-regulated by end product. It's feedback inhibition, like a thermostat. But I see a possible problem here. Say you have a 2 step process going from compound A through intermediate B and finishing at product C
A--->B--->C
^ |
--------
(please excuse the awful ascii art)
product C, in high concentrations stops production of intermediate B, but if the step from B to C is stopped, say by removing the gene for the necessary enzyme, there's nothing to stop the production of B, you'll end up with tons of B which may taste bad, be unhealthy, something, and no A, which may be required for something else.
B BB B
B B B
A--->B-X->C
BBB B BB
BB BB B B
Just some thoughts
-Hatta
Re:kind of like a runner's high (Score:2)
The "runner's high" is an adaptation designed to allow people's bodies to continue to operate under extreme duress -- the endorphins help counteract the physical pain and psychological stresses of difficult activities.
Caffeine, on the other hand, jacks the body up. It increases nervous system activity throughout the body by basically lowering the threshold for signals passing between nerve cells. It's "enjoyable" effects are largely conditioned response, as people learn to expect and appreciate the perceived increase in their mental and physical energy levels.
Drinking coffee is "just doing drugs," albeit in a socially acceptable and ritualistic fashion. Many "hard" drug users have an equal amount of daily ritual to their usage, and probably gain similar psychological imprinting. If you want to make caffeine a more "natural" reward, then trigger its release only after certain phsyical criteria are met, just as endorphins are only released when the body has a reason for it.
However, the body already has a similar response in its use of adrenaline (or epinephrine to you Europeans out there). It would be difficult to find situations in which caffeine was a more physically useful stimulant, especially since its use carries at least as many (arguably worse) side effects as adrenaline.
Re:In-body Synthesis (Score:3)
Caffeine, though, is sort of a special case. Unlike the "classic" stimulants such as amphetamine, cocaine, or ephedra, it does not have a dramatic effect on dopamine or epinephrine (adrenaline) levels in the CNS. Instead, it increases calcium ion transfer in the nervous system, effectively lowering the threshold for a signal to get through. Every nerve cell in your body simply becomes more active, but continues carrying more or less the same data as before.
Think of it this way: Most drugs work like new components in a computer, such as a processor or drive. Just like a processor upgrade, or new sound card, they fundamentally alter the way it operates, and may or may not be totally compatible with the rest of the system. Caffeine, on the other hand, is much more like overclocking the system bus. None of the data being transferred changes, but it moves at a faster rate from place to place.
Unfortunately, just like OC'ing a machine, caffeinating your body doesn't do wonders for its reliability. Sometimes those nerve cells really don't take well to being pushed harder, and the signals start getting noisy while passing from place to place. Hence, the random tics and changes in mental state that accompany ecessive use of caffeine.
Not that I would have it any other way, mind you...
Re:I have a question (Score:2)
Regarding high doses, caffeine is the only drug that when given to rats in high doses will cause the rats to attack other rats or themselves. Crack won't do it, PCP won't do it, not even the Demon weed will do it. Imagine if they found this behavior with cocaine or heroin, the media would have a field day! But, I bet this is the first time most of you have heard of this.
-Hatta
Re:Starbucks might have something to say... (Score:5)
grafting Illicit-substance genes (Score:2)
No kidding. Some day, it'll be feasible for someone to graft a THC gene into his own body so that he basically pisses marijuana. It's already silly for governments to wage war on a naturally occurring feral plant, but how much sillier will it be when it's no longer an external plant but instead one's own body? What'll happen when some enterprising and politically conscious person hacks his own genetic code so as to shit pellets with DeCSS engraved on them? Will his own offspring be contraband?
Re:kind of like a runner's high (Score:2)
Just think: if things had gone a little differently, you could be calling dopamine 'endophetam', or serotonin 'endobanis'...
Re:dont mess with the genes... yet (Score:2)
My coffee and my beer are about the same color and consistency (I drink Guinness).
--
Re:Life without sleep (Score:5)
It will be quite a challenge to alter the physiology and chemistry enough to solve that problem.
This theory arose out of the simple observation that not having to sleep would be a tremendous evolutionary advantage -- so why are there not more animals that do not sleep? Instead, it seems sleep is a biological imperative, so there is probably some very basic requirement for it. Even fruit flies sleep -- do you really think they need to dream or store many memories?
Re:Life without sleep (Score:2)
Is that american or canadian Mountain Dew? =^)
Actually, with the exception of some Red Bull that my sister imported me from the UK (not avaliable for sale in Canada), i really haven't noticed caffiene affecting my sleep patterns one way or the other. I still have the ability to stay up all night without it, and to sleep early after drinking it. I just like caffeinated beverages because of the taste.
-legolas
i've looked at love from both sides now. from win and lose, and still somehow...
Re:Fans of Iain Banks will be excited (Score:2)
Remeber, there are a lot of genes in our DNA that don't do anything in most people -- they may code proteins that predecessor speceis used, or they may simply not be activated. In order to add caffeine synthesis to the human body's bag of tricks, you would not only need to add the gene that describes the synthetic process (which would undoubtedly be very, very different in a mallaian body than in a plant), you would need to set up an entire production system. That means either "hacking" a custom gland, tapping the resources of an existing one, generating it in various cells throughout the body, etc.
Every one of these changes carries the risk of causing all kinds of nasty chemical imbalances, genetic defects, or just plain wierd side effects completely independent of increased caffeine levels. I for one will not be jumping in to have by DNA tweaked anywhere near that drastically until the study of human genetics and biochemistry is significantly further along.
Re:kind of like a runner's high (Score:4)
If you eat a lot of these foods over a prolonged period of time, you begin to become tolerant to the levels of endorphin that are released after each meal. The level of spiciness ("mild", say) you started out with no longer serves to give you your kick. So you move on to "fairly hot" and eventually "blitzkrieg" in order to "keep up your habit".
Certain people are genetically made up in such a way that their bodies produce a larger amount of endorphins for a certain stimulus than others. I'm sure everyone knows someone who can take pain better that everyone else. This is not because they are real live macho's, but simply because they release so much endorphins they feel the pain less.
too much? (Score:2)
I only drank one pot of coffee today. I cut down to two pots of coffee a day.
I had no problem reading this.
Well whatever... (Score:2)
Most hackers, sys admins and techies in general are prolly thinking the same thing.
Though it'd be nice for when I couldn't find a coke. Just need to find a way to make the process slow down or pick up as needed. Might have to install a dial. Only prob is if someone turns it up too fast by accident you might get seizures or something. It'd create a whole new series of medical problems (overdosing during pregnancy for instance)
Better Decaf? (Score:2)
Alright, that said, I think this could really improve the state of decaf coffee. Currently, the way they make it is to (essentially) brew the beans once with an icky batch of chemicals that supposedly sucks out the caffiene, but leaves the flavor it. Yeah, right.
But, if they could just disable the caf-gene so the caffeine was never produced at all, then no intermediate step, and therefore better decaf! This would be useful for those times when you're trying to "cut down" because you're drinking 15 cups a day... switch a few to genetically engineered decaf, and you get all the yummy fun without all the speed.
We're already hacking our bodies (Score:2)
We eat and drink caffeinated foods and beverages in an effort to enhance alertness and to defeat our own circadian rythms. We wear eyeglasses in order to improve on factory standard equipment and to protect these vital tissues from damaging rays whilst out and about in the Big Blue Room. Some of us even submit these oh-so-tender pieces of flesh to the awesome might of a laser for input correction and re-alignment. We wear an assortment of braces and supports to relieve muscle pain and fatigue, use caustic chemicals to enhance our physical appearance, and braces on our teeth to guide the growth and placement of what would otherwise be non-parallel placed mastication devices. And then there's the whole Pandora's box of plastic surgery...
See what I mean? I know, I know, you're saying "but I want to tune my endorphin output using a heads-up display in my peripheral vision!" Hell, so do I. That's just hacking at the next level. We have been hacking our bodies for so long, most of us using the equivalent of rootkits, that we tend to forget that we are doing it. When articles like this talk about getting ready to hack your body they do so by keeping all of the daily hacks we all participate in below the base-line of what is currently possible.
Humans will create something not because it is needed but instead because it is possible. Once these things are made and used widely then they are, in effect, just another part of the human body, or more accurately a module which can be elected for use or not. We are already hacking our bodies, just not at the desired level. This is good. For what good would a hack be that had no room for improvement at a later date? Boring, I say. So bring on the cybernetic implants, the gene therapy, the bio-computers peppered about my person and the nanites on the rampage within. Bring it on, and let the hacking continue!
Re:Voice of Cynicism (Score:2)
Excuse me, I have to go get another 12-pack of Jolt Cola.
Re:Substitution organs (Score:2)
I'd definitely like to be able to produce insulin again, preferably in a better than human normal way.
Screw pharmaceuticals though, for genetic engineering I want more neural tissue, better sex, hyper acute / adjustable senses, better bone structure, stronger, faster than before, etc...
I do like Bruce Sterling's idea (from distraction) about being able to maintain multiple states of consciousness at the same time, but I'd want to be able to back out of it. (especially if you could get deadlock or race conditions - shudder.)
Wrong thing (Score:2)
You say the human body could syntetize caffeine itself but you could be much more friendly with your body by sleeping some time, even like Dali's flash sleep.
Look at the "Tour de France": Most of its performers are taking loads of alien drugs and though they finish in the Tour's few first, finish completely stoned out of the competition.
It is because of the current level of competition and because of the mediatic heavy fire that people feel likle beating more and more records not even because of the original sane thing that people call challenge or self-improvement but because they need recognition that people won't usually offer them if they just happen to be only cool.
So, yes, of course, you could make your body synthetize coffee, drugs or even adamantium but it will still secrete shit on a dayly basis and you'll still have to do with this.
What will be the next improvement ? Hermaphrodism ?
--
Americans don't drink coffee (Score:3)
> computer caffine cluture is internationally.
Seen from Denmark the coffein obsession is an American phenomen. Everybody here drink some disgustingly strong tasting coffee in absurd quantities, and the idea of decaffenated anything (coffee, tea, cola) is meet with puzzlement. Why would anyone want that? The point being, most people here are coffein junkies, and don't know it or recognize it as a problem.
Nerds are probably *less* coffein-addicted than the average population, simply because cola contains much less coffein than coffee.
Body ALREADY produces caffeine-like substance.. (Score:2)
Basically the body has natural recepticle's for natural hormones... drugs fit those keyholes - often imperfectly. Your body thinks caffeine is adrenaline and acts (mostly) accordingly. Your body naturally produces adrenaline, and it works a hell of a lot better than caffeine.
I like caffeine because I can get a rush while still being a computer slug, but I understand the difference.
I suspect if we could turn on and off adrenaline like we drink coffee, the body would develop some resistance...
Re:Substitution organs (Score:2)
I do like Bruce Sterling's idea (from distraction)
That book freaked me out. :-) And yes, I have looked a little bit at stem cell research. I also saw the article where somebody finally discovered the cause of Type I diabetes.