I build and fit orthotics and prosthetics…this is mainly just a marketing gimmick. The myoelectric sensors that feed the data to the terminal device are built into the socket of the prosthetic. There’s no real reason to wear the socket without the hand, and you can’t operate the hand without the socket.

The hard connections from the end of the socket and the hand are very durable, and they typically don’t really have any issues with wear. I don’t think fidelity is a big issue because there’s not a ton of information being transferred, the myoelectric sensors haven’t really changed a bunch in the last 40 years and the amount of information being sent is minimal.

The biggest downside I foresee is that if you had different terminal devices, you’re probably going to have to pair them to the socket whenever you want to switch. When the traditional hard connection is just plug and play. That and you are just adding extra things to break in devices that are built to take a beating.

It definitely was, this was written by Heinlein over the course of like two weeks as an angry response to the US suspending nuclear weapon testing. Mind you this was still in the 50’s and right in the middle of the red scare.

Heinlein was a rampant libertarian, and as we’ve seen with the GOP libertarians are not too far removed from fascism. I think Heinlein kinda cooled his heels over time, and mellowed later in his career.