That's awesome, Amateur. Very cool idea.
Seems like it could go two ways doesn't it. Once it does become a competitive advantage, and it's no guarantee that it will, I doubt anyone will prevent an otherwise normal athlete from mutilating himself in order to acquire it if they are "dedicated" enough. The Pistorius' of the world will dominate, and the "normal" runners will adapt or perish. If you like your legs, you won't be a sprinter. Or, we decide it isn't "pure", and we ban the use of "performance-enhancing" medical advances. The line is already a bit blurry here, since quite a bit of money goes into clothes, shoes, "legal" drugs, hell even psychology, in order to enhance "natural" performance. I'm not putting a best case for this scenario forward I know, but I just think it's untenable.
Let the bionic man run, I say. Consequences be damned. It's interesting, could attract attention to the wobegone sport that is track and field that might actually be, you know, positive - thank you decades of steriod cheats. And if it leads to more people tearing their legs off to run faster. Well, I think if it comes to that - so be it. Nothing like a little voluntary mutilation to spur some debate about what the fuck we're doing as a species. Bring it.
"I'm not disabled, I just don't have any legs." What a great quote from this kid. Thanks for this story, SummersEve.
This was fanstastic. I'm pulling for Pistorius to make the Olympics. Thanks for the link, SE. Also, if you are so inclined, have a peek at this bit about Microsoft's blogging initiative, which includes a dossier compiled by the Evil Empire on Wired's reporter and then inadvertantly sent to him. Great stuff.
To be honest, there's one thing wrong with the whole piece: the goddamn music in the video. The article opens with a description of the sound of his running, it has a video, and we can't hear it?
My nomination for Quote of the Week: Nothing like a little voluntary mutilation to spur some debate about what the fuck we're doing as a species. Bring it.
I'm not even sure mutilation would be necessary. This photo seems to indicate that there is enough room for legs and feet in front of the Cheetahs, provided they raise the runner a couple of inches. I'm pretty sure they could fit those to able-bodied athletes. Let's see them try if they give such an advantage.
You could at least duel with the chick in Grindhouse for a couple of seconds. That machine gun leg snuffed out many a man and at least one man's interest in seeing the film.
That machine gun leg Not to nitpick or anything, but it was actually a machine gun/grenade launcher leg. I'm just sayin'.
Yeah, I noticed that tonight. Still not convincing me.
This photo seems to indicate that there is enough room for legs and feet in front of the Cheetahs, provided they raise the runner a couple of inches. When they were talking in the article about the cheetahs flexing some, they were not kidding. Click on the first picture at the top of qbert72's link. Those things really flex alot.
