cyborgs among us

[illuminati]

plazul wrote: I was reading about recent advances in prosthetics and came across a story about a man who has an artficial arm controlled by a chip in his brain. He literally learned to will his artificial arm to move and became so comfortable with it he tore off his prosthetic hand trying to start his lawnmower. The ground breaking surgery is a medical milestone, to say the least, and can only be successful if the injury is recent and the victim still feels a "phantom limb." The experience of phantom pain from a severed limb stems from neural pathways that are still fresh and therefore available for reconnection to artificial impulses from a brain implant.

So the Six Million Dollar Man has apparently arrived and the implications are obvious. In addition to being a boon to amputees the new technology might also have military applications or even elective surgery applications for the wealthy.

But chip enhancement of brain function may give way to stem cell enhancement and organic computing technology in which the brain is organically improved to achieve computer like memory capacity and speed for multi-tasking. Nano technology also promises to produce nano neural surgery in which artificial neurons will be inserted into disfunctional brain tissue.

In short, we may be witnessing the evolution of our species but the danger is that, just like natural evolution, it could be a selective process.


I find these new medical advances absolutely fascinating.

Artificial limbs? Good thing.

Brain enhancement? First I've heard of this. It makes sense though.

Exciting and scary at the same time.