Is it possible to give humans gills? The ultimate underwater gaming experience
As a passionate gamer who loves immersive and innovative gaming technologies, I‘m often asked if giving humans real gills for underwater breathing could ever be possible. This futuristic concept could open up wild new possibilities for virtual reality and augmented reality aquatic gaming! However, the current verdict is that developing viable gills for people is likely not feasible.
Why can‘t humans make their own gills?
While the idea of diving into VR oceans with your own working gills sounds incredible, human biology fundamentally works against this, for a few key reasons:
Our sky-high oxygen needs
Humans require a ton of oxygen to support our energy-hungry brains and bodies. To put some numbers on it, research suggests an average person would need to process over 50 gallons of water per minute across their gills. That‘s an enormous throughput of water even for hypothetical external gills. By contrast, the experimental Amphibio artificial gill device is only designed for aquarium use.
| Oxygen consumption rates |
|---|
| Humans: ~850 ml/min rest, 6000 ml/min intense activity |
| Goldfish: ~68 ml/min rest |
Marine mammals like whales and dolphins manage without gills, getting oxygen via their lungs, so re-evolving gills seems an evolutionary non-starter. Genetic modification to grow functional gills is sci-fi territory for now.
Physiological barriers
Assuming one somehow genetically engineered or surgically implanted gills, making them work in a human body poses its own problems. Gills can collapse when out of water, so we‘d constantly need to keep them submerged. Simultaneous breathing of air and water with a larynx poses choking risks too.
Overall, we‘d need some extreme physiological changes before gills could be viable.
Could augmented reality replicate the experience?
Whileactual bodily gill implants seem far-fetched with current science, creative gaming tech could potentially mimic the experience:
- A full-body haptic suit with compressed oxygen could make players feel like they‘re underwater breathing freely
- Realistic bionic "gill" props on the neck could sell the illusion in VR
- Augmentedreality glasses could overlay psychedelic underwater vistas in real pools and baths
These techniques could capture some of that exotic underwater living feel without modifying our stubborn human anatomy. Of course it‘s still early days, but with enough consumer interest who knows what insane watersports gaming could develop! I‘ll be following closely for any news on cutting-edge aquatic gaming tech.
Let me know what you think of these concepts in the comments! Would you play these hypothetical games? And do you have any other ideas for simulating gills in gaming contexts? Looking forward to brainstorming creative solutions to bring these gameplay visions closer to reality even without re-engineering the human respiratory system!
