Practical Thoughts on Humans with Wings

[.Atlas]

This has been a serious passion for me for the longest time. Why can't we have wings? What are we lacking?

• For starters we would need a third limb girdle mounted on our back. This could be spaced anywhere from slightly above the butt to a more traditional on the back of the shoulders.
• Secondly, we would have to deal with how heavy our bodies are. Either the wing span would have to be impractically large or the muscles controlling the wings would have to be rather developed. From what I've read they'd have to be at least 1 meter in diameter...each.
• Even if the power issue was addressed, we would have to learn how to control them. This would be much easier to solve than the previous issues.(Not that I haven't already thought of how I could fix it.)
• With a pair of wings as large as we'd need, blood flow would become a serious issue. A stronger heart would be required, along with larger lungs.
• The third limb girdle I mentioned would have to be an extra shoulder. Wings act like arms withe the wrist being the connector join to the actual wing itself. The wing(feathers and all) is like a webbed and en-longgated hand.

Those are a few issues off the top of my head.

• The muscles and weight issue would be easily solved with a biological application of nanofiber muscles such as these.Those along with decently sized wings with bones similar to avians would probably solve the weight problem. If not, then we'd have a serious issue.
• As for how we humans might acquire a third limb girdle, we could remove a small portion of the shoulder blade and insert a smaller version of a basic human shoulder. How might we get a new shoulder in the first place? I was thinking on capitalizing on our new 3D printers. They've been able to print organic material before, I see no reason they wouldn't be able to print a shoulder out. If the entire thing is too much in one go, the simple solution would be to print out each individual bone and tendon required and set them together like a jigsaw puzzle.
• Scientists already have a basic grasp on nerves and connections, judging from what I've seen from some prosthetic(my second passion) videos.

Now, all that leaves is the blood flow issue, the heart power issue, and the lung capacity issue. These are what currently have me stumped.

/discuss I'll explain what I can more thoroughly when you ask, I just woke up and did this out of impulse.

[Ad Bot]

[Orion]

what is the use?
it may be cheaper than cars (the gas, to get these would probably cost tens of thousands.) but the travel would be 100x more uncomfortable. (The higher you are, the colder it is, you also have to use physical strength to actually flip the things to get anywhere and that would exhaust anyone extremely after a while). To counteract exhaustion, you'd have to make the wings much larger so you can balance the weight and the wing power. But since these things are loving gargantuan, you'll never be able to fit through a doorway again. you'll sit down at a restaraunt and take up the entire room. There's no 'hiding' these things, they're organic material, they don't just retract when you don't want them.

They seem completely pointless.

[Katadeus]

What the hell are you talking about, Orion, we need this.

[.Atlas]

what is the use?

The use? Really there isn't one at this point or we'd have them through evolution. Think of it as a passion and a challenge.

Although, with stronger muscles and the large wing span required, a human with wings would be able to go almost as fast as most subsonic planes. Who knows what we could achieve in a powered dive.

It could be an end to cars, lowering emissions. It could be a lot of things or could be nothing. All depends on how wide spread it would become.

[Cool Boi]

>Acquire wings.
>Dress in a white robe and look as clean as possible.
>Rig a stereo to play angelic singing when you hit a trip wire.
>Go to a church service.
>Profit

[Racerboy]

This is so impractical it hurts.

[.Atlas]

This is so impractical it hurts.

The use? Really there isn't one at this point or we'd have them through evolution. Think of it as a passion and a challenge.

Although, with stronger muscles and the large wing span required, a human with wings would be able to go almost as fast as most subsonic planes. Who knows what we could achieve in a powered dive.

It could be an end to cars, lowering emissions. It could be a lot of things or could be nothing. All depends on how wide spread wit would become.

There are probably some practical uses, all you gotta do is look for them.

[Orion]

the cons FAR outweigh the pros on this idea.

[.Atlas]

the cons FAR outweigh the pros on this idea.

Elaborate a little.

[Orion]

Elaborate a little.

i edited my first post. take a look at it.

[.Atlas]

what is the use?
it may be cheaper than cars (the gas, to get these would probably cost tens of thousands.) but the travel would be 100x more uncomfortable. (The higher you are, the colder it is, you also have to use physical strength to actually flip the things to get anywhere and that would exhaust anyone extremely after a while). To counteract exhaustion, you'd have to make the wings much larger so you can balance the weight and the wing power. But since these things are loving gargantuan, you'll never be able to fit through a doorway again. you'll sit down at a restaraunt and take up the entire room. There's no 'hiding' these things, they're organic material, they don't just retract when you don't want them.

They seem completely pointless.

Cost would be an issue, yes. Physical strength wouldn't be an issue if the nanofiber muscles I linked in the OP were used. The wing span issue would be addressed with the added muscle power but the wings would still be decently sized. Size is an issue, but have you ever seen some of the ways birds fold their wings to fit them to their body. Plus they wouldn't have any reason to stick up or out to the side like most artists show them to do. As for what to do when they're not is use, I haven't given it much thought. I'll get back to you with a reasonable answer in a bit.

I said issue way too much.

[Providence]

we'll just settle with the jetpacks before this.

[.Atlas]

we'll just settle with the jetpacks before this.

They'd be just as expensive, would cause higher emissions, and then you'd still have to pay for fuel.

[Katadeus]

Jetpacks are boring in comparison, and the control wouldn't be as manual.

[.Atlas]

To cut most of this off at a head, I said practical thoughts not uses. This is just my brain child, it doesn't need to be super practical.