Cyberpunk’s Body Modifications in Beauty and Functionality

In a lot of the cyberpunk short stories I’ve read it is clear to see that many of the characters in these stories almost always have some sort of body modification. From fake eyes, nails, teeth and arms it is possible to see almost any body modification when it comes to cyberpunk.

When looking at most of these modifications it is hard to picture what some of them would like in real life especially when we look at characters like ‘the boy’ from Daniel H. Wilson’s “The Nostalgist”. When we view these characters or cyborgs it is hard to tell if they have any human-like qualities due to their extensive hardware and body modifications.

In some instances I do support some body modifications that can typically be seen in cyberpunk such as Johnny Mnemonics robotic arm. I find this modification more acceptable as opposed to Rikkis fake genetically enhanced eyes because it serves a practical service.

Extreme body modifications that are done out of necessity are okay like losing a limb and replacing it with a new one in Johnny’s case. But for beauty enhancement I don’t really see there being any point in that at all unless you’re extremely depressed about the way that you look so maybe this is something more practical for a burn victim perhaps.