Transformers in the real world: Spring Special

In the Marvel US story of July 1986, “Aerialbots over America!” (Getting to us in the UK only in November of ‘86— and people now complain about films and TV shows that don’t get released globally at the same time— spoilers!), Bombshell injects Hoover Dam engineer Ricky Vasquez and ultimately takes over his mind. As written by Bob Budiansky and with art by Don Perlin, Ian Akin, and Brian Garvey, the panels described the shell’s progress, telling of the shell making its way “...to the tangle of neurons and dendrites that comprises his brain, where in the area of the cerebellum that controls independent thought, it anchors itself...”

At the recent Health.tech Global Summit in Basel, I was lucky to see various presentations on developing medical technologies (see my Pelybonconsulting.com website for the detail). 

Watching the various computer animations and presentations of these developing technologies, I was immediately reminded of this scene and those panels.

The science fiction fan in me does get concerned to read presentations which literally say “mind control”. As noted in the above mentioned article, the applications are for therapeutic benefit; however, a presentation from a Start-up conference in Basel last December advised Start-ups and entrepreneurs of an area to consider to receive funding— the potential military application of their healthcare technology. The presenter noted the marked increase in investments in military projects in recent years (such is the geopolitical state of our world).

Thus, remote mind-controlling of robots from the other side of the world would be partly impressive, yet partly disturbing. But it would be payback for robots mind-controlling humans, eh, Bombshell?

Note: to clarify, I’m not saying any of the technologies would ever be utilised or manipulated in such a way. It’s to flag how theoretical technologies in science fiction stories now become reality in some form.