Blind girl given sight by hooking cameras up to her Brain

[Shi Huangdi]

http://rdu.news14.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=82612

An Excrept from the article:

Neurosurgeon Kenneth Smith, M.D., of Saint Louis University School of Medicine, said the procedure is the first to reverse blindness in patients without eyes. "They are really seeing. The brain is getting impulses just like when you and I see."

A camera on the tip of Robertson's glasses sends signals to a computer that's strapped around her waist. The computer then stimulates electrodes in the brain through a cord that attaches to the head. Patients see flashes of light and outlines of objects.

"Whatever I see is just two splashes of light, so I know something is there," Robertson says. She admits support from her mom and the local Lion's Club keeps her spirits high. "If I was all depressed, I couldn't affect anybody's life for the good, and I want to make a difference." Friends, family and doctors say she already has.

Really amazing stuff, I thought stuff like this would be a long way off. Makes you wonder how far off we are from real direct mind/machine interace- how long will it be before you can plug your brain directly into a computer?

[Whoha]

pretty far off, the brain isn't something you'd want any programmer to mess with.

[GePap]

I doubt a true brain/machine interface is anything as close as two decades away- I mean, the quality of vision is not great. It will porbably take a long time until they saw well enough to compare to say someone near or farsighted, which in itself i far from perfect.

That said, I wonder what gaining sight for someone who never had it would be like......

[Sava]

I saw a program on the History Channel that was pretty cool. They are already working on computer/brain interfaces. This parapelegic guy had a chip implanted in his brain, and he could use his thoughts to move robotic limbs and control mouse cursors and stuff. But it was still experimental.

I don't know how far away this stuff is...

What is more of a threat to humanity?

handicapped people who eat fetuses for the stem cells then get superhuman strength?

or

handicapped people who become cyborgs?

either way, I think the solution is pretty clear....

we need to put a stop to handicapped people now!!!

[Jon Miller]

I saw something on TLC or Discovery about connecting electrodes up to some place on the spine to give women orgasms

this was just for some women who couldn't seem to achieve it ever (seemed like there were physical problems)...

it was a success in 3/4 situations

JM

[Sava]

and let's be honest here


you watched that program strictly for scientific purposes eh?

[Whoha]

Originally posted by Sava
I saw a program on the History Channel that was pretty cool. They are already working on computer/brain interfaces. This parapelegic guy had a chip implanted in his brain, and he could use his thoughts to move robotic limbs and control mouse cursors and stuff. But it was still experimental.

I don't know how far away this stuff is...

What is more of a threat to humanity?

handicapped people who eat fetuses for the stem cells then get superhuman strength?

or

handicapped people who become cyborgs?

either way, I think the solution is pretty clear....

we need to put a stop to handicapped people now!!!

the threat to humanity is the unhandled exception that fries the prospective test subject's brain.

[Apocalypse]

I bet even with just that she can now drive better than most elderly people.

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by Sava


and let's be honest here


you watched that program strictly for scientific purposes eh?

they were ugly

JM

[alva]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
I saw something on TLC or Discovery about connecting electrodes up to some place on the spine to give women orgasms.

JM

/me thinks he wants this gadget...


Wife: "Bloody hell, you're not going to watch football again, are you?!!"
me: *pushes button *

[Pekka]

I did see a program on Discovery Channel few years ago where these doctors tested things on frogs, and basically had frogs growing with no eyes at all etc, and then they'd grow them new eyes. Stuff like that, I think it was different field though, you know, where they check out your DNA and then grow you knew stuff that is your own (so your body won't reject it). It was amazing what they already did succesfully. It was like 'woaaah!'.

[Andemagne]

WOW!

[Solver]

That's very good stuff - I honestly can't understand what some luddites are thinking, the ones who are against this sort of stuff, or stem cell research, etc. The cases are few so far, but a number of people have already been helped by brain implants - several people can control wheelchairs/artificial limbs/computers with their mind, another bunch of blind people regained sight thanks to this.

This sort of technology has real potential to actually make people's life better. Give another twenty years to perfect the technology, and you could reach a point where most physical disabilities would cease to be a life-crippling condition and just become an inconvenience.

Can anyone explain, though, why does it say that, for the procedure to work, the patient must once have had sight?

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Imagine the networking possibilities once mind machine interfaces become a reality.

One person could truly feel what another is experiencing.

[Saras]

hacking would take on new meanings