A Visit to Diego

Posted on by scott

One of the themes of the Uglies series is transhumanity. In other words, how we humans change when we use technology to alter our minds and bodies in radical ways. Throughout the series I tried to juxtapose the good (special reflexes and pretty health), the bad (being bubbleheaded or cutter-brained), and the ambiguous (manga heads and Radical Honesty) changes that our species is capable of.

At this year’s TED conference athlete Aimee Mullins spoke on that very subject. Aimee has no legs, or rather, she has many legs to choose from. In Uglies terms she is a Diegoan, someone who alters her body at will for practical and aesthetic reasons. She’s also good at talking about these alterations in awesome ways.

So check her out in this very brain-rewiring video.

Go here for more about this talk.

Or here to hear a much younger Aimee talk about running.

78 thoughts on “A Visit to Diego”

  2. Ok so I have stopped writing Cake and no I didn’t give up I just feel that If I was supposed to write it I would have inspiration and it wouldn’t be so hard so I have started a series though I can’t come up with a name so I am taking a vote:

    Angels of Darkness
    Angels in the Dark
    Angels in the Darkest Hour
    Dark Angels
    Darkened Angels

    Please reply I seriously need help deciding

  3. “Yes!”
    “No, now stop talking so loud you’re gonna get us kicked out.”
    I whispered to one of my best friends Cheyenne Rhodes.
    “But you said you would.” I can tell she is irritated but I don’t care.
    “How about I come to practice today instead?”
    “No you are coming to practice anyway because you are going to do the talent show with me and that is final.”
    Trying to negociate with Cheyenne is like trying to get the CIA to negociate with terrorists, it just doesn’t work that way.
    “Fine!” I say a little too loudly to be in the middle of an assembly; needless to say everyone turns and stares at me like I’m some kinda of weirdo, of course to them I am.
    “That was my bad!” I quickly apologize and continue talking to Cheyenne.Of course by now she is laughing her head off.

    *************************************************
    Thats all I have for now…..

  4. Eclipse: I like Angels of Darkness. I wouldn’t recommend using Dark Angels because there used to be a show called Dark Angel (I think). People can be really annoying about titles. Like, the Avatar: The Last Airbender movie is just going to be called The Last Airbender because someone else claimed Avatar before they started work on AtLA.

  5. That is so cool and so cool. Parents telling their kids how to judgethings is wrong. It is so awesome that she has been able to do this and share her experiences

  6. It think it totally rocks for someone who has a “disability” to turn it around and make it something to flaunt instead of hide.

  8. Really! that’s amazing def diego material. And when she said she could change her height, the first thing i thought was “NOT FAIR!” It’s cool that she’s going out and raising awareness that “flaws” in our society are actually the things that set us apart and make us beautiful.

  9. Has anyone seen the other video on the TED site, the one about the 6th sense? To be honest, it reminded me of the interfaces that exist in the Uglies world… like with interface rings and stuff. (I always got the impression that people in the books typed just by moving their fingers, which is probably why this seemed so familiar.)

    If that’s where technology is going, I’m really excited. 🙂

  10. That was beautiful, very inspiring. A great outlook too, I’m definitely going to have to check out more about TED. Thanks for sharing!

  13. That’s really…wows. Very powerful. Today I stepped on a colony of fireants. Barefoot. Ouchness. But now, I’m not gonna complain.

  15. Hey, Scott, I noticed you used to comment on your blog a lot, and now you don’t 🙁
    but I guess that makes sense because there are a LOT of comments to respond to…

  20. so let me get this strait… this lady got here legs cut off just because? they didn’t need to be amputated or anything? strange but extremly amazing and brave(and icy) i think its great that shes helping kids to think for themselves

    Alex-wa sorry for asking and im not trying to be rude but could you explain TS to me? i kno kids with disabilities and i think their totally normal sometimes i even forget they have disabilities

    ps i like that “dont dis my ability”

  21. even if they did need to be amputated she is still amazing and brave and shes helping the world realise that even people with disabilities can be human or even … superhuman

  22. sorry that was an add on im still not sure if they were ampuutated or if they didnt need to be
    if anyone has an answer, could you plz post it, ill check back

  24. pony-la go to inventorspot.com and search superhman contacts
    youll come up with something totally amazing!!! its basically like an interface except its in a contact!!

    ps i googled aimee mullins and found out that she had a diease and did need to have her legs amputated

  25. Thanks. that’s really cool. have you read the Bogus to Bubbly book? it explains soo much stuff!! did you know that hoverboards are not too far off in the future? all we need is a superconducter magnet that will operate at room temp and there we go! also, research “Buckyballs”, there might be a cure for cancer if we could injuct a cancer-killing toxin into the buckyball and it would only drop the toxin when it hits a cancer cell!!!

Comments are closed.