Bionics

March 31, 2005 8:13 AM

Bionic Implants: Brain chip reads paralyzed man’s thoughts, enables him to control devices like a computer or television.
Stanford physicists and eye doctors to design a "Bionic Eye.”
posted by dfowler (20 comments total)

update on this fpp-- similar experimentation with monkeys
posted by dfowler at 8:15 AM on March 31, 2005

Call me when they can put a chip in my brain that will read WOMEN'S thoughts.
posted by spicynuts at 8:35 AM on March 31, 2005

too late for Terri... coulda showed us that there WERE no thoughts.
posted by pmbuko at 8:37 AM on March 31, 2005

So what if he's trying to work and all he can think about is that he'd rather be looking at porn?
posted by orange swan at 8:38 AM on March 31, 2005

Those fullstop links are easily missable.

Prof. Donoghue received an award last year just by the by.

Very interesting FPP........the future is (virtually) now.
posted by peacay at 8:41 AM on March 31, 2005

errr.....missable = missed
posted by peacay at 8:46 AM on March 31, 2005

Will it make that awesome sound effect? :)
posted by Foosnark at 9:20 AM on March 31, 2005

Whoa.

(Anyone read Feed?)
posted by Specklet at 9:22 AM on March 31, 2005

I saw something on this a year ago on some Discovery-type channel. Cool stuff.
posted by blendor at 9:46 AM on March 31, 2005

That's a wonderful invention for a parapalegic. However, I can think of all sorts of not-so-nice applications. Does the good outweigh the (possible) bad? /tinfoil hat
posted by deborah at 9:49 AM on March 31, 2005

A brain chip + one wireless card = EEEEEVIL!
posted by JHarris at 10:10 AM on March 31, 2005

*cough* singularity *cough*
posted by iamck at 11:26 AM on March 31, 2005

I did some research on vision substitution systems, and direct retinal stimulation has the best promise for good vision - assuming the remainder of the visual pathway is intact, though. Unfortunately, a huge amount of blindness comes from stuff other than macular degeneration, so this particular project does nothing to address that. There are tons of other projects like this, though. Good links.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:59 AM on March 31, 2005

Indeed, JHarris. A brain/computer interface coupled with wireless networking would basically be telepathy. Very exciting. Viruses, spyware, and hidden goatse links could be a lot more painful to deal with, however.
posted by Potsy at 12:49 PM on March 31, 2005

This is a good read, the technologyreview article... but... they need to implant some apostrophes and quotation marks. Where did they go?
posted by blacklite at 1:48 PM on March 31, 2005

i get tired of the whole "reading thoughts" hype. this thing measures electrical activity in different areas of the brain. the thing being controlled responds to brain activity in specific lcoations of the brain. the user is taught how to create activity in a specific areas of the rain being monitored as controls. that might involve "thought," but not thoughts like "there is no decoding of thought.
posted by 3.2.3 at 2:14 PM on March 31, 2005

First heard about this guy a few months ago. I posted the following on my own website:

There's a great article at Wired about Matthew Nagle and the BrainGate, an implant in Nagle's head that allows him to control a computer cursor. Nagle, a quadriplegic paralyzed in a knife attack, has a chip embedded in his head which interfaces with the computer. Wired has an earlier article on how "if people with physical handicaps could control a computer by just thinking, they could also operate light switches, television, even a robotic arm," and has a video of Matt using the BrainGate. (23MB .wmv file)


There was other news today on how researchers have developed a pacemaker for the brain to treat depression. The device uses deeply implanted electrodes to stimulate the brains of those with depression that has not been helped by traditional treatments. They basically stuck wires deep in the brain, ran them inside the back of the skull to the neck, and then around to the chest where a battery was implanted to provide constant electrical stimultaion.

posted by daHIFI at 2:28 PM on March 31, 2005

oh yeah, daHIFI, I remember that article. Oh wait...I posted it.
posted by bingo at 7:40 PM on March 31, 2005

I get tired of reading nit-picking comments like yours, 3.2.3.

What an excellent contribution to this thread.
posted by dfowler at 5:40 AM on April 1, 2005

That's so Buckaroo Banzai.
posted by Smedleyman at 5:44 PM on April 1, 2005