Replacable Parts: Designer Prosthetics

Prosthetic limb technology has come a long way. Gone are the days of comically inefficient wooden peg-legs (a la that quadripelegic pirate from Family Guy) and Captain Hook hands. Today's prosthetic limbs are functional and elegant, but most aren't made to look like "real", human limbs. Why? Modern prosthetics users find the almost robot-like limbs more useful and empowering.

A prosthetic limb can only look so much like a human limb. Skin-tone plastic may fool the eye from a distance, but up close it's a poor substitute for flesh. In fact, a limb that looks almost real can actually evoke a negative response in humans. This phenomenon is known as the "uncanny valley". For example, think of how creepy wax statues are. They bear a very strong resemblance to people, but they aren't people; hence, people are creeped out by them. The same thing can occur with human-esque prosthetic limbs. The solution? ...well, haven't you kind of always wanted to be a cyborg?

Just ask runner/supermodel/prosthetis-vixen Aimee Mullins. Despite being a double amputee, (she might say because she's a double amputee), she's an athlete, a scholar, and an inspiration to others. And get this: she doesn't try to cover up her prosthetic limbs when she models. She's proud of them. She has a pair for running, a custom-made pair designed by the late fashion great Alexander McQueen, and scaled, reptilian pair. When she appeared on the Colbert Report, she said that she kind of feels sorry for people who can't change their legs. Rather than a disability, Aimee Mullins has a unique perspective.

Maybe I'm biased, but I think science and technology are pretty awesome. Sure, we get the atomic bomb one in awhile, but we're much better off with technology than we are without it. If you're an amputee, current technology can't give your biological limb back. But, it can give you something better.


And your cat's covered, too.