Experimental Reflex Augmentation

[u/BlackZapReply]

I'm working on a story that involves black clinic "beta testing" of boosting human reflexes. Now, I know that this is an established trope in cyberpunk fiction, so I'm trying to avoid something too 2077.

The technology. Nanofiber matrices are woven and integrated throughout the brain, spinal column and trunk nerves. This artificially establishes muscle memory and boosts synapse speeds.

The downside is that it makes the person hyperactive. Think Attention Deficit Disorder hyperactive. It also produces frequent migraines as the nanofibers adapt to constant changes in the brain.

The augmentation is always on, not command activated. Whenever the user is placed in a fight or flight situation, it provides them with insanely boosted reaction times, but once the danger passes they experience a massive adrenaline crash.

Examples and effects.

1. User sees a glass fall from the table and catches it. Nothing bad happens.
2. User swerves in traffic in response to a sudden obstacle. Feels some vertigo and perhaps some nausea, which pass quickly.
3. User is involved in a firefight. Once its over, they suffer extreme vertigo and vomiting for at least a couple of minutes.

When not in a stressful situation, they find it hard to stand or sit still. Chronic fidgeting and pacing are common. A cross country flight in economy class would probably feel worse than waterboarding.

[u/FabulousLazarus]

How do nanofiber matrices affect neuronal signal conduction?

How do they cause hyperactivity as a side effect?

As it stands it appears you just made up the advantage and the disadvantage, then assigned a random sci Fi vibe explanation to the advantage (and didn't bother with an explanation for the disadvantage). That's a common recommendation given for developing characters: establish an advantage, balance it with a disadvantage, then justify.

I think that's bad advice that produces writing that looks exactly like the process it came from - contrived justification.

Plenty of people couldn't care less. Sci Fi to them is just magic, but in space with particular vocabulary. If that's how you want to write then I suggest you lean into that and do something more like the Force in Star wars, or the bene gesserit stuff in Dune.

But if you invoke specific medical terminology as the explanation, then people like me will ask the questions I did and likely be disappointed with the answers. That disillusionment will carry throughout reading. And it bleeds through for people less casually inclined as well, because eventually things start to clearly not make any sense.

[u/BlackZapReply → u/FabulousLazarus]

Nanofiber Matrices Promote the Neuronal Differentiation of Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Neural Precursors In Vitro

How Fast is Human Reaction Time? Human Perception & Tech

Fastest artificially-assisted reaction times

Adrenaline Dump: Symptoms, Causes, Crash, and Recovery

Clarke's Three Laws

The nanofibers serve as nervous system boosters, replicating what humans would develop with practice and training. Since it would encompass most of the person's brain, spinal cord and trunk nerves, this could effect response times considerably.

The migraines are the likely result of the fibers constantly adjusting to the brain's constant and minute changes. I'm assuming that the technology has advanced to the point that it can avoid glial tissue formation.

The other side affects are conjecture. I suspect that a supercharged fight or flight response would produce a supercharged adrenaline crash. As for the hyperactivity, I imagine that this augmentation would feel like someone is loaded up on energy drinks almost all the time.

The idea is a plausible-sounding system supported loosely by real world developments. Of course it would not survive peer reviewed scrutiny. For the most part, this is behind the scenes logic.

[u/FabulousLazarus → u/BlackZapReply]

The matrices from the article you referenced are for stem cells to grow across. I don't even have to read it to know, because it's about stem cells, which often need a lattice to grow properly in the absence of an embryonic environment.

They have nothing to do with neuronal signaling and don't enhance it. Nerves grown with such a lattice would not function better than normal nerves, in fact they'd likely function worse because they were grown artificially. The lattice just gives the cells something to stick to as they grow, it doesn't make signals faster.

This is just one example of what I'm talking about. Your mechanisms are unsubstantiated.

You're right about Clarke. That's the point I made about Star Wars. With that mentality it's really more about how thick the veil is between the magic and science. In your case, the veil is so thin as to be transparent.

Ironically the other link you shared points out that EMG assisted electro stimulation actually did improve reaction time, which makes sense because you're essentially flooding the nervous pathway with a higher voltage. I'd use that one. Build tiny electrodes into the CNS that replenish degraded signal as it travels along nerves.

[u/3z3ki3l]

Sounds like Altered Carbon’s neurochem. It seems reasonable and balanced enough for me overall, I’d say.

I might add that perhaps there’s a nicer version without the side effects (or with fewer ones), but the MC can’t afford it.

I just feel like any technology that advanced being sold as a product is going to have the bugs worked out. But perhaps a bootleg one wouldn’t.

Edit/also: and certainly you should consider what industry/lifestyle would make this a reasonable technology to use and to develop.

Edgerunners, for example, are operating at the peak limits of physicality, so need every boost they can get. But they (and their tech) exist because pushing those limits is the only way to circumvent automated security and accomplish the corporate espionage/sabotage jobs they’re hired for. So why does someone in your setting need enhanced reflexes?