This kind of stuff's been going on for a while.  Here's an incident from January 30th:
[14:24:07] jarandhel ([email protected]) joined the channel.
[14:24:07] Topic is A hangout place for otherkin, therians, and furry kin of all types. Discussion on spiritual, therian and otherkin topics is highly encouraged. Also, refrain from RP in here, this is a relatively serious discussion forum. | minecraft.kitsunet.net:47000 | Ops: simha/mewtwo is KOS
[14:24:07] Set by Alynna on January 7, 2012 12:11:33 AM EST
[14:24:18] Ranulf_S: Hey there, bro.
[14:24:32] Mode is +ntrS
[14:24:40] Hyratel: touchs (1,3,5) (remember 1/5 are opposable) at various spots along the length of the tail
[14:25:11] Hyratel: Ranulf_S, do you see what I'm doing?
[14:25:45] Hyratel: kyox, should I turn up the gain or the radial precision?
[14:25:56] Ranulf_S: I just woke up. The fact that I can see THE SCREEN is a miracle.
[14:26:10] Hyratel: offers coffee and OJ to Ranulf_S
[14:26:32] jarandhel: waves to Ranulf_S
[14:26:59] kyox: fidgets slightly, rolling forward on her claws a bit. "Probably gain but I'm really not used to doing well...anything with a tail. Never had one."
[14:28:03] jarandhel: watches Hyratel and kyox and wonders what's going on.
[14:29:37] kyox: Robot got a tail :D
[14:30:17] jarandhel: I see...
[14:31:03] Hyratel: I'll leave the gain low then so it doesn't saturate
[14:32:08] Hyratel: can you move it?
[14:32:15] Hyratel: voluntarily
[14:33:04] kyox: wags it a little, but ostly just waves her butt back and forth
[14:34:57] kyox: Mostly*
[14:35:36] Hyratel: puts a foot on the tail root "can you Wag it left?"
[14:36:15] kyox: leans a little bit to the left, but does manage to wiggle it that way
[14:36:37] Hyratel: beaksmiles, "Now the right?"
[14:37:24] kyox: swings it a little bit easier to the right side.
[14:37:47] Hyratel: beaksmiles and chirrs, "You're getting the hang of it
[14:42:31] kyox: chitters and fluffs up headfeathers, pleased.
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[14:49:34] jarandhel: That's amazing work, Hyratel.  If you can upgrade kyox's hardware and software like that, have you thought about doing robotics work like that in the physical?  You'd be significantly advancing earth's technological development… we're still quite far away from self-willed robotics.  I imagine the technology would have applications in other areas too… I'm guessing an advanced mechanical entity
[14:49:34] jarandhel:  like kyox has a fairly advanced power system as well, or else would require near-constant recharging just from the processing power being used.
[14:51:04] kyox: is not FULLY robotic, unfortunately. Still requires squishy organic fuels
[14:51:32] kyox: But a lot of it. And a modified digestive system to extract what I need.
[14:52:05] jarandhel: That's even more advanced, then… cybernetic technology like that would have a lot of applications, especially in the medical field.  Hyratel could save a lot of lives with it.
[14:52:43] Hyratel: well, it's actually not hard - fairly advanced capacitative touch sensors are out there, as well as complex resistive
[14:52:52] kyox: Or make monsters like me.
[14:53:54] Ranulf_S: looks kyox over. "Monster?"
[14:54:04] Hyratel: for helping kyox , it's more a matter of being able to VERY clearly visualise the system, and understand how the parts interact
[14:54:36] kyox: is a monster, yes.
[14:54:53] Ranulf_S: ... not seeing it, sorry.
[14:55:41] jarandhel: Just imagine kyox with arms up, fingers curled into claws, and going "rawr".  See?  Monster.  Chibi-monster, anyway… ;-)
[14:56:01] Hyratel: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10250 with stuff like this available to hobbyists now, it's not a great stretch for things like a prosthetic tail, though the power reqs would be the biggest hangup
[14:56:22] Hyratel: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8782 this as well
[14:56:30] kyox: evolveddinosaurlizardbirdlikecyborgbeast. Monster.
[14:56:35] Ranulf_S: That's just it. Monster, for me, is about what you DO, not what you look like. And I'm just... completely failing to imagine kyox living down to that title.
[14:56:51] kyox: has the potential.
[14:57:03] Ranulf_S: Potential isn't reality.
[14:57:04] Hyratel: builds kyox a LEGO city to terrorise
[14:58:49] Ranulf_S: EVERYONE has the potential to be a monster. All you have to do to stop listening to the little voice that says "this is wrong."
[14:58:53] jarandhel: Hyratel: I realize some people have been able to build DIY prosthetics, but this sounds more than a little beyond that and into true cybernetics.  Especially where you're getting it to interact directly with kyox's nervous system (or have I misunderstood?)
[14:59:19] Hyratel: USB is called "universal" for a reason
[14:59:27] Hyratel: ;D
[14:59:44] Hyratel: amirite, kyox ?
[15:00:01] kyox: would be discussing this more if not on a phone keyboard, argh
[15:00:12] Hyratel: y/n/pie?
[15:00:33] kyox: It can interact directly with my nervous system, yes
[15:01:32] kyox is now known as kyox[classified]
[15:01:57] Hyratel: .. I see what you did ther
[15:02:10] kyox[classified]: Jaran, I can tell you more about it when I get home
[15:02:13] kyox[classified]: Hehe hyra
[15:02:23] jarandhel: ok
[15:03:02] kyox[classified]: This ittle phone keyboard would just kill my hand lol
[15:04:59] kyox[classified]: And ranulf...I still think I'm a monster. It has other meaning behind it, but thisself felt that word, and it keeping igt
[15:05:28] Hyratel: capacitative touch and SMA would be not-too-hard to implement a functioning (though sluggish) tail
[15:06:02] jarandhel: Yeah, if you didn't want it to interact with the nervous system at all…
[15:06:04] Hyratel: add a pressure-sensitive layer on top of the captouch layer
[15:06:20] Hyratel: From #otherkin: jarandhel, that's what translation layers are for
[15:07:41] Hyratel: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10664 this would have more than enough lifting power to perform the necessary multiplexing
[15:07:52] Alastago ([email protected]) left IRC. (Input/output error)
[15:08:02] Hyratel: the hardware is there.
[15:09:15] Hyratel: the human nervous system, just as an example, is capable of "writing its own drivers" on the fly
[15:10:25] Hyratel: and there is now a prosthesis-anchor that attaches integrally tot he skin
[15:10:26] jarandhel: Errm… a translation layer between capacitive-touch (a physical input method) and direct nervous-system interface (where you'd literally have to connect individual nerves into the hardware in such a way that they can transmit intelligible signals?  I'm not sure I see what you mean, there.  Aren't translation layers normally just software or hardware that converts one set of codes into another?
[15:10:26] jarandhel:  This would be more than just code conversion, it's a fundamentally different type of interface… as different as a keyboard is from voice command.
[15:12:35] Hyratel: http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/19759/
[15:12:58] Hyratel: the software and hardware does exist, if at a very crude level, here-and-now
[15:14:02] jarandhel: Ok, so why not take us the rest of the way?
[15:15:00] Hyratel: because RLsy, I don't have the skills, knowhow, or equpment to do so. this is me, interacting with KYO.
[15:15:08] Hyratel: in a handwavery way
[15:16:02] Hyratel: is now playing: -EON- - Universe City (ID: 76041)
[15:17:15] Hyratel: it's more...
[15:17:27] Hyratel: I'm not making this in my basement. I'm making it in my head
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[17:08:24] GuestBlueMouse is now known as kyox
[17:09:17] kyox: HI GUISE I KNOW I SAID ID TALK WHEN I GOT HOME BUT I GOT A HOTTUB CALLIN MY NAME so bbl kays