[Technology] Newcomer Wows at Citadel Cybernetics Expo

Newcomer Wows at Citadel Cybernetics Expo

Presidium Daily

A routine exhibition of the Citadel Cybernetics Expo has taken a turn for the interesting today as Mason Barnette, of newly-created Barnette Innovative Applications, wowed the crowd with a closed-door presentation of a new invention. Codenamed “Petrarch,” little is actually understood about the product aside from the demonstration made by Barnette, but Presidium Cybernetics contributor Xhoar’zen stated that the system displayed ran on a brand-new, exciting interface.

“We saw him performing menial tasks and the like, nothing fancy at all, just running various programs as anyone would,” Xhoar’zen stated after the demonstration. “Yet he was doing this without an omni-tool or any physical commands. All the processes and programs seemed to be keyed through implants matched with his nervous system.”

Furthermore, several individuals present confirmed that Barnette successfully ran an active-cloaking program through the same process, reappearing seconds later sitting in the middle of the audience. When asked, Mr. Barnette admitted this was achieved through a rented cloaking device, but was intended to show the kinds of possibilities he intended for the Petrarch system.

Barnette was particularly vocal throughout the demonstration, making mention of the human Dark Ages and drawing a relation between them and the Reaper War. He also harshly criticized Council Space’s “focus on repairs and not the future.”

“To this I must ask, have we not waited long enough?” he asked the audience during the demonstration. “Did we not, as a whole, simply sit back and wait for the arrival of the great enemy?…No, greatness must be seized and brought down: the future must be taken held of or slipped away.”

Several market analysts have already raised questions over the capabilities of “Petrarch” and whether or not it would actually live up to Barnette’s claims. Indeed, all that was shown of the system in action only lasted about five minutes, and very little was shown that current high level omni-tools cannot do themselves. Most attendants agree, however, that the presentation was influential, and many have expressed hopes that later releases will back his claim of wanting “to help change this galaxy.”

A full transcript of Mr. Barnette’s address can be found here.

Direct neural interface? Oh man, if that lives up to expectations, that's going to be pretty sweet. Color me excited! :]

Promising.

I cannot for the life of me see what is so revolutionary about this.

The main push of the thing seems to be the direct neural interfaces, but that technology is done, and it has been done for humanity for centuries and for other galactic civilizations for even longer. The greybox, the Huerta procedure, biotic implants, the implants hanar routinelly get to join the galactic community are but a few things from the top of my head that involves a lot more direct neural interfacing than simple limb / omni tool control.

It's just a new API/protocol to push another upgrade cycle. At most and this is me being very genourous it is a new production system that will result in a lower price for the consumer but I doubt that. Even then it would be an evolution and not a revolution.

If it delivers. This Mr...Barnette's a showman and a salesman I'll give him that much and his demonstration will almost undoubtedly line him up a few private investors (which was rather the point I imagine); but as the esteemed Mr. Lowell stated neural wetware and direct interface with external hardware is hardly groundbreaking.

Granted this was an extremely limited showing, enough to whet some appetites and generate a little gossip and hum. My thoughts are either that he's deliberately trying to build up a, shall we say, "larger than life" aura around his product because the implant suite itself isn't particularly earth shattering and he's attempting to marshal backers with what he's got anyhow. Or that he's deliberately obfuscating its true capabilities in order to hold the hypothetical cat in the metaphorical bag for as long as possible which, itself, would indicate that there is a special significance to the augmentations and he's simply employing some healthy paranoia.

Either/or really. Frankly at this stage it's too early to call with any degree of absolute certainty.

Should one invest now while the stocks are rising, Sandman?

I don't know about investing, but just on personal hunch I'd wait for a more comprehensive tech demo. I'm excited for the possibilities, but just as a rule of thumb I wouldn't bet on one instance. Two successful demos, maybe three just to get more data points. So to speak, anyway.

Still, I really hope it does live up to the hype. An implant that lets me fly by thought? You can bet what my next savings goal would be!

Well, as far as I see, it's a startup, if not a one man show.

Often a good idea never takes off if no big player picks it up and throws a lot of promotion and marketing at it. I'd be cautious if this guy has no history in making ideas profitable businesses.

But then, I still remember a few friends burning a ton of money clinging to their omnigel investments while saying "Nah, thermoclips are a silly thing and will never take off!". Well, go figure.

Er, setting aside the fact that I have no idea if this company has even had their IPO yet much less if they're publicly traded at all I would take what the two individuals above me said under consideration. There's been about five minutes of actual demonstration in a closed door showing which, while impressive enough according the eyewitness accounts, didn't particularly do much to showcase the full range of the implants's functions (which is assuming that there is even a "full range" to display).

Secondly, I know next to nothing about this Mr. Barnette nor his professional history although but (assuming someone was holding a gun to my head or something) I'd hazard a guess that this is his first time at the Expo as a potential vendor based upon the title of the article.

Also thirdly, judging by their recently incorporated status I don't think that they're actually looking for street-level support (although if they are/planning on going public that certainly would still be a priority for them) so much as corporations and angel investors.

But if you feel like gambling away your money, by all means go right ahead.

Spend your entire life savings.

I was hoping that we'd hear more about the recent developments in the field of synthetic myomer technology. Damnit, got my hopes up.

Neither do I. Hell, this whole thing seems to be a setup for disappointment.