Chuck, etc…

I note from the commercials for the upcoming third season (good for them) of Chuck that Chuck can know download skills, such as fighting skills, and become an instant Jackie Chan. Although the idea clearly has zillions of antecedents to The Matrix, that’s the best known, most mainstream portrayal of the idea and probably what the producers of Chuck took it from.

However, the idea is dumb, isn’t it? I mean, I’m not sure that would work with everyone on even something purely intellectual like acquiring a new language. Some brains are better at that sort of thing, aren’t they, and wouldn’t that effect utilization and retention of the downloaded language? I personally get tongue tied, would that stop because somebody downloaded a language into my head?

More to the point, physical skills aren’t solely a matter of reflex and muscle memory. I weigh about 300 pounds and wheeze going up stairs. If you downloaded Bruce Lee’s fighting skills into me, chances are I’d disable myself trying to execute a kick beyond my abilities more than I’d suddenly became a killing machine. The same thing with giving me Brett Favre’s football instincts. I’m still not going to accurately throw a pigskin 60 yards, nor run 40 yards down a football field.

In other words, you couldn’t make me into Babe Ruth. You probably could give me George Will’s baseball knowledge, however, so that would be good for Trivia Pursuit games.

Chuck is a slacker. He appears to be in reasonably good shape, but really. I just don’t think this translation of physical skills would work anywhere near as flawlessly as they seem to portray it; as basically a real life cheat code that would instantly make the real world easier to bend to your will. On the other hand, if they’re going after the nerd market, that definitely is playing into some powerful yearnings.

Another question, although more of a technical one. How are they planning to deal with the hilarious hardass character played by Adam Baldwin. And is he even necessary anymore, now that Chuck is as deadly a fighter as Baldwin’s character. I’m sure they’ll keep him around, but I wonder if they’ll pull off the change in their relationship at all smoothly.

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Terrahawk

They’ll keep Baldwin for the simple reason that people love his character. In the world of Chuck though, he has to stay around since Chuck is kind of hit-and-miss on when he gets his abilities.

Your other points are spot on though. Knowledge of how to do something doesn’t mean you can or are capable of doing something. I would even question is pumping your brain full of information would result in you retaining the information. Memory just doesn’t work like a computer hard drive. Think of how often you smell something and it reminds you of some piece of information that you hadn’t thought of in years or even decades.

In some ways, Chuck is realistic in that his knowledge is there but accessing requires a trigger that he can’t control. In other words, his knowledge isn’t really his.
Grumpy

The basic premise of a man with a computer in his brain is acceptable, but letting him download physical skills is a step too far. Do I understand correctly?
BeckoningChasm

Many physical talents are just memorized reflexes, in a way. For example, learning to play the piano is a series of movements that the “fingers” remember how to do as they move along a keyboard. That’s why people practice scales and so forth, until the fingers do the reflex actions they’re supposed to do.

So couldn’t something like that be downloaded from one brain to another? Martial arts might be similar in nature.
Terrahawk

I think it depends on how the brain and body really operate. Let’s take the pianist example you used. When someone who has trained to play the piano and reached the level where it is reflexive, how is the brain and body operating at that point? Is the brain still commanding each detailed action or has it achieved some sort of short cut sequence that the rest of the body responds to? If we assume the latter, and I think this is truer to fact than absolute central brain control, then putting the knowledge in another person isn’t going to work. The new person’s body is going to be going “You want what?!?!” This doesn’t include physical difference such as if the new person has smaller or larger hands.

I guess it comes down to if you accept a reductionist view of the human body or take a more holistic view.
KeithB

They had this in “The Forever War” when the hero was trained to be an officer, he was computer trained in martial arts skills, but it required his muscles and reflexes to be trained so he got really sore, IIRC.
Jim

And, to be fair, they did show him training as a spy and he failed because he wasn’t willing, not because he wasn’t able. His downward slope, cheeseball eating slide aside, he likely learned some actual skills there.
sandra

I agree that knowledge of figting skills doesn’t automatically translate into reflexes or muscular strangth and agility. You could probably make a pretty funny scene out of some port ‘downloaded’ shlub trying to do a Jackie Chan and hurting himselg more than the bad guys.

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