by Max Barry

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Region: Empire of Andrew

Braindance:
Braindance technology is a mechanism to experience other people’s sensations, developed by Ryan Industries.
While recording experiences for a marksmanship training Neuromod, a glitch occurred that was only detected afterward the Neuromod was tested on a user before being shipped. The tester didn’t just gain the knowledge of how to be an excellent marksman, they felt vestiges of the experience of shooting, the kick of recoil, the crack of the gunfire. The experience was reportedly surreal but helped the user comprehend the information.
Realizing the potential of this, a team was set up to research this phenomenon. The team developed a rudimentary means to hook into the nerves and record sensations, and discovered that the data could be saved and then, if connected to a different individual, be played. The user would experience the same sensations as the recorder. Several years of experimentation later, the Braindance implant was announced with great fanfare by Ryan Industries.
Each Braindance implant consists of a small device connected to the nervous system, a small device implanted at the brain, and a suite of powerful sensors. The nervous system connection allows the implant to transmit information to and from nerves and control nervous input to the brain, while the brain implant records and analyzes what occurs in the brain during recording, and plays it back, essentially recording or playing thoughts. When playing a Braindance, this is used to replicate the sensations of the recorded individual, feeling every bit of pain, pleasure, every thought, everything the individual experienced, without risk to the body. To allay concerns over invasions of privacy, the implants possess no wireless connectivity and all sensors automatically turn off when a Braindance playing or recording session is terminated by the user and stay off until the next session. The implants can be accessed via a small port at the side of the neck, and access via this port (preferably at a Ryan Industries store, though a home system is available for a somewhat exorbitant price) is the only way to update software, download new Braindance experiences, or upload Braindances you have recorded. Evolved versions require only one implant anywhere in the body, because of the adaptability of Blacklight.
Obviously, the fact that Braindancing requires an implant makes it a limited market, but Ryan Industries is working hard to try to develop a wearable device or mechanism allowing more customers to experience Braindances. Many Rapturites have Braindance implants and the technology is slowly growing in popularity in the broader Empire. Ryan Security personnel use Braindances to train (alongside Neuromods and conventional training), and some Rapturites have even become Braindance stars.
Concerningly, some criminal groups have reverse-engineered the home Braindance systems and there is a fairly large market for illegal Braindances; while sexual Braindances are available on the open market, illegal Braindances involve things like illegal drug use, harmful fetishes, or even the death of the recorder being recorded and made available through the black market. Ryan Industries and the Imperial government are working together to crack down on this black market.

Thoughts?
(Obviously derived from Cyberpunk 2077. I thought the concept was fascinating, but realized the only way the Braindance wreath thing you use in-game works is because almost everyone has cybernetics already and it can just transmit the data to your already-extant cybernetics that are attached to nerves and such. In the EOA-verse, cybernetics are generally a rare thing, so I had to rethink how it works, ending up with the implant. In addition, I figured since Ryan Industries already had Neuromods that record knowledge, it wouldn’t too big a leap for them to be capable of recording and replaying sensations and thoughts and experiences.)

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