Masamune Shirow wrote:In this story, people of Willis' generation are often not directly linked with cyberbrains because they don't want their own brains fiddled with by cyberbrain doctors young enough to be their children. But since this also limits their dealings with the world, they try to bridge the gap through cyborgization. Willis is a good example.
This brings up another question I've been wondering. What exactly is a cyberbain?
Is it a mind-machine interface or external memory device? Or is it a machine that interfaces with the mind and enhances the brains functionality with AI programs?
I haven't really given it any thought until now.
The prefix 'cyber-' normally implies interaction between man and machine coming from the word cybernetics that was first coined to describe the entire field of control and communication theory. So from that I would suppose it means a brain that is capable of communicating with an artificial device, any form of man machine interface.
This is very loose usage though and in a fictional context it tends to refer to any brain that has been, in part or fully, artificially replaced or augmented(already done in labrats ) with an electronic construct, with emphasis usually being placed on the ability of the cyber brain to connect with an augmented-reality(I hate the term 'cyberspace' ) or net.
and then there's the question of wether an augmented brain means an augmented mind, another thing to consider in the mind-body problem.
Joseph Cambell wrote:Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths.
In the world of GitS I believe that a cyberbrain is primarily a brain that's been hooked up by connecting the brain cells or the synapses to nanomachines which then connects to external memory devices and interfaces and cybernetic bodies. I suppose that those nanomachines also need some write capability in order to transfer data from the external memory to the internal memory (and also allow ghost hacking ), so I guess that it'd be possible to have advanced programs enhance the mind by letting it perform routines which a regular human mind might not be able to do. But that doesn't seem to be a big focus in GitS, so either it doesn't happen often enough to matter, or it's so common that it's never mentioned. Kind of like cyberbrains - in SAC they're apparently so common that no one mentions that they have one.
What if cyber-brain is just a new word for brain.I mean following the quite correct description made by Elmo,a cyber brain is nothing more than a brain connected to artificial devices. In the world of ghost in the shell almost eveyone is "connected",but i think of it more as a state of mind,in a world where every human lives(is forced by society to live?) in symbiosis with technology.
So here's the fact: aren't we already living in such a world?
Isn't human body already a man(brain)-machine interface?
I think it is, so we already have a cyber-brain that enabled us to write on this forum.
(Motoko is probably dying from laughs somewhere in the vast and infinite net for what i just said...)
A cyberbrain is a combination of synthetically grown brain material, original, and anything hardware wise connected to it. (I am pretty sure combinations of side-notes and in movie/show quotes point to this. Running off of memory is a tricky thing, as it can deteriote and falsify itself over time even without hacking) The problem is, whenever you do all that, your brain can be messed around with via hacking, not just by young adults working on your inside (hell, one scratch on the brain could do a LOT of damage, so there is definitly a degree of trust in the responsibilities of a docter messing around with your head.)
Because of this, the people try and maintain as little hardware attached directly to their brain as possible, while swapping out body part for porthetics that run off your nueral systems instead of your brain. That way, no one can ghost-hack you or a doctor can screw with what essentially makes up you when you are uncouncious.
) with an electronic construct, with emphasis usually being placed on the ability of the cyber brain to connect with an augmented-reality(I hate the term 'cyberspace' 
) or net.
), so I guess that it'd be possible to have advanced programs enhance the mind by letting it perform routines which a regular human mind might not be able to do. But that doesn't seem to be a big focus in GitS, so either it doesn't happen often enough to matter, or it's so common that it's never mentioned. Kind of like cyberbrains - in SAC they're apparently so common that no one mentions that they have one.
