>How the fuck could artificial legs be better than flesh and blood legs?

<<Uh...you really can't think this one through?>>

Well, I suppose this depends on your definition of 'better'.

I had a friend once who thought it would be better to lose all of his teeth and replace them with dentures. I suppose there are certain advantages to this. You can have multiple sets of 'teeth'. You can clean your 'teeth' by sticking them in a glass at night. There is one thing that makes your natural teeth superior to dentures though. Sensation.

I recall once some people were talking about a 'guinea pig' experiment in the United States, where a company would pay you $10,000 for an experimental laser surgery procedure. For $10,000 they would remove your small toe, then ATTEMPT to reattach it with a new, unproven medical procedure. I was all ready to sign up for the procedure, until someone pointed out that missing your small toe would affect the way you walk forever. Your balance would be thrown off slightly on the foot with the missing toe. You might have to walk with a cane for increased stability, you wouldn't be able to run the same way, or play sports in the same way. You would miss the toe every day.

Here's one thing about machines. They break down. The more complex they are, the more things there are in them to break down and require repair. Legs break down too of course, yet they heal. They are self-repairing. Artificial legs have to be repaired by a specialist.

Let's say someone gets a leg amputated and needs a replacement. Lets say this happens 20 years in the future, and the recipient opts for a cybernetic leg. This leg has certain advantages in a way. For one thing, there are options to smuggle things inside, or even mount a semi-automatic weapon. The toes, foot and heel can all be articulated by picking up nerve impulses left over from the missing leg. This is a remarkable achievement, considering that over half the bones in the human body are in the hands or feet (fifty bones, with complex muscle articulation.) Previous artificial legs were made of metal and heavier, causing an imbalance which needed to be adjusted to. These composite legs, which are expensive tend to be lighter, and longer lasting than previous artificial legs.

However, one thing medical science hasn't tackled is the 'phantom limb' syndrome. The feeling that the amputated leg is still there, and swollen, or suffering from cramps, or itchy. The recipient of the leg reaches down to scratch a leg that isn't there. He suffers from a muscle cramp in a leg which is no longer attached to his body.

Also, there is no nerve sensation in the artificial leg. He lost one of his rather expensive artificial toes when he got it stuck in a piece of machinery at work. Had this have been a 'real' leg, he would have been able to feel it. The nerve sensations in his toe would have registered as pain and he would have been able to withdraw his foot in time and save his toe.

No sensation. So no matter how articulate his complex foot might move, or how well the knee flexes, it will never be THE SAME as his original leg. He will never feel the grass on his toes for example. If a dog urinates against his leg, he would not feel it. If he was on his cell phone or reading the paper, he would be oblivious to this fact that his pant leg is covered in dog urine as he walked down the street, got on a bus, went to a job interview. Swimming would be awkward, if not impossible with his artificial leg, since the legs would have a different weight and buoyancy. He would never be able to get a tan on the artificial leg without using airbrush paint. No matter how good it was, the leg will always be an attachment, an accessory. Not really 'part' of him.

Fortunately, this amputee of the future has the choice of remaining with his artificial leg which is ALMOST as good, or having another leg grown out from his stump. This new leg would grow in much the same way it did when he was a fetus, from undifferentiated cells. All thanks to stem-cell research. This new leg would look 'pretty weird' for a year or so, like a little baby's leg stuck onto the leg stump of an adult. However, within a year it would be a 'new leg', with the same sensations and just as good as the old one.