Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a surgical procedure involving the insertion of a small electrode into the brain to modulate electrical activity. Over 40.000 patients worldwide have undergone placement of Medtronic Activa, the most popular DBS system.
Radical Prosthetic Implants
by Mike TrederAn article in Scientific American titled ”Scientists Set Sights on an Implantable Prosthetic for the Blind” tells about a Boston neuroscientist who is “developing a device that may someday help the blind by sending images directly to the brain.”
Prosthetics-a-gogo
by George DvorskyThe latest cyborg arms, augmented risk-assessment, using your head to Wii, and tattoo interfaces for your smart phone.
“Techno-Doping” and the New Olympics
by Jamais CascioOscar Pistorius, AKA “Blade Runner”—the South African sprinter who uses carbon fiber prosthetics in place of the lower legs amputated as a child—has officially lost his bid to run in the 2008 Olympics.
Program Yourself
by Christopher Harris“Most people don’t realize how common brain implants have become in the last couple of years. Every month thousands of patients all over the world have electronics surgically implanted into their heads to treat problems with hearing, movement and pain, and more recently with epilepsy, vision, paralysis, depresssion, compulsive behaviour and loss of consciousness (Perlmutter & Mink, 2006; Lebedev & Licolelis, 2006; Kringelbach et al, 2007). The iPlant is just another implant, aimed at new regions in the brain.”
Future Problem Solver Presentations on Neurotechnology
On January 9th I helped the Connecticut Future Problem Solvers organize a morning seminar for more than 200 students, grades 5-12, and their teachers on neurotechnology.
Atypical Instruments: Musings on Gaming, Musicianship, and Neuroscience
by Anne CorwinGuitar Hero may not teach you to play the guitar, but it could be really good for your brain.
In memory of Peter Houghton
by Giulio PriscoPeter Houghton died on December 2, 2007, at the age of 68.
Sad news: IEET Advisor Peter Houghton has died
Obituaries: BBC - AndArt - Independent - Sentient Developments - ChinaDaily - IndiaDaily
The Second Uncanny Valley
by Jamais CascioThe “Uncanny Valley” is the evocative name for the commonplace reaction to realistic-but-not-quite-right simulated humans, robotic or animated. Most of us, when encountering such a simulacrum, have an instinctive “it’s creepy” response, one that is enhanced when the sim is moving. Invented by roboticist Masahiro Mori, the Uncanny Valley concept is typically applied to beings (broadly conceived) as they become increasingly similar to humans in appearance and action. But what about beings as they become less similar to humans—following the path of transhumans and, eventually, posthumans?
Technocitizenship, innovation and the biopolitics of medical devices
by J. HughesThree hundred and fifty years ago, while pioneering the use of microscopes, the British scientist Robert Hooke foresaw that science would eventually create artificial organs and implantable devices to enhance sight, hearing and memory. He wrote “By the addition of such artificial Instruments and methods, there may be, in some manner, a reparation made for the mischiefs, and imperfection, mankind has drawn upon itself.”
Electrode implant stimulates consciousness
by Moheb CostandiResearchers report in Nature that they have improved brain function in a minimally conscious patient by implanting electrodes into his brain.
On Bioengineering, Modification, and Motivation
by Anne CorwinDifferent existing, emerging, and potential technologies and techniques tend to have different motivations behind them, as well as different affected populations. And yet, frequently it seems as if these technologies, their agents, and their implications end up quite muddled whenever people start discussing bioethics.
The Accidental Cyborg
by Jamais CascioLet me tell you, being a cyborg isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. But it might be, sooner than you might expect.
Can’t Beat ‘Em? Culture Them: Computing with Meat
by Moheb CostandiCultured neurons seem like ants away from their colony: removed from their parent organ, dissociated from their fellow workers and placed into an unnatural environment. But neurons plated onto a culture dish connect to each other, forming simple neural networks that give rise to spontaneous electrical activity.
Implanted Medical Computers
by Mike TrederNot in a flying car, but in biomedical implants, the future is racing toward us. It looks less like The Jetsons and more like Holy Fire—but it’s a near-future that could only be viewed as science fiction just a few years ago.
IEET featured in New York Times article on cyborg athletes
Congrats to George for (yet again) getting the IEET noticed by the big media and blogosphere. This time he was quoted in the May 15, 2007 story in the New York Times (sub reqd) titled “An Amputee Sprinter: Is He Disabled or Too-Abled?”
Is the world ready for cyborg athletes?
by George DvorskyLook out professional athletes, here come the cyborgs—and they’re aiming for the Olympics.
Deep brain stimulation could restore vision to the blind
by Moheb CostandiIn an advance online publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from Harvard Medical School’s Department of Neurobiology show that the perception of single spots of light can be elicited in monkeys by electrical stimulation of a part of the brain called the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN).
How Uploading Works
by Marshall BrainThis article was adapted from a lecture given by Marshall Brain at the 2nd Annual Workshop on Geoethical Nanotechnology on July 20, 2006 in Lincoln, VT. Marshall an author, public speaker and founder of HowStuffWorks, offers an understanding and explanation of the pace of technology change how he believes in two to three decades, ‘mind uploading’ will work. [Video: Streaming Windows Media DSL/Cable or Dialup] [Video: Google version (Mac compatible)] [PowerPoint slides] [Audio (mp3)]
Controlling animal behaviour with an optical on/off switch for neurons
by Moheb CostandiLast week, I wrote about the work of Ed Boyden and his colleagues at MIT’s Media Lab. Boyden’s research group has developed a method by which light is used to control neuronal activity. The method involves the use of a light-activated protein called channelrhodopsin (ChR2), which was recently isolated from the extremophile archaebacterium Natronomonas pharaonis.
Poll: Should people be able to sell one of their kidneys?
OK, OK. No support for libertopian organ trading here. Poll participation hit a high of 179 voters, of whom two thirds hated the idea and 20% thought it pointless given the alternatives.
New poll: Will the ability to change skin, hair and body at will help make racism irrelevant?
IEET Cyborg Life Project
IEET advisor Peter Houghton and IEET Executive Director James Hughes are writing a book, tentatively titled Cyborg Life: The Reality of Living With Artificial Parts. Peter is an artificial heart device recipient (LVAD) and the founder of several charities in the UK working on the technologies and needs of people with artificial organs. He has been collecting narratives of people with heart assist devices, insulin pumps and similar devices, and in this book we intend to describe the current experiences of people with implanted medical devices, and the public policy agenda to ensure universal access to safe, life enhancing devices in the future. The website - with resources and a blog - is here.
Top Ten Cybernetic Upgrades Everyone Will Want
by Michael AnissimovThe IEET would like to welcome our latest contributor, Michael Anissimov, author of the popular Accelerating Future blog.
Feelings from a prosthetic limb
by Moheb CostandiLast year, ex-marine Claudia Mitchell, who lost her left arm in a motorcycle accident when she was 24 years old, became the world’s second recipient of a “bionic arm” after she had a pioneering surgical procedure performed on her by surgeons at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.
“You are the platform”
by George DvorskyJournalist Quinn Norton recently gave a talk at the 23rd Chaos Communication Congress which took place in Berlin during the first week of January 2007. Her presentation was titled, ”Body hacking - Functional body modification. You are the platform.”
Hughes quoted on cell-phone implants
IEET Executive Director James Hugheswas among the experts quoted on Michael Kruse’s article for the St. Petersburg Times In-your-face interface:
“We’re moving inside” the body with cell phones, said James Hughes, a bioethicist and sociologist at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., and author of Citizen Cyborg. “My opinion is it is realistic. But for at least a couple of decades, I don’t think it’s going to be terribly attractive to open up our heads.”
Longtime mobile industry analyst Bob Egan agrees. “I don’t think the mainstream population is ready to make that leap,” said Egan, with Emerging Technologies in Needham, Mass.
Other well-known experts were quoted, from the Washington Post’s Joel Garreau to Kevin Warwick, but perhaps the most representative voice came from the youngest person interviewed…
Eddie Morrell is 20 and works at one of the two Cingular kiosks in St. Petersburg’s Tyrone Square Mall. He said he sometimes falls asleep with the thing still on his ear.
“Once you start,” he said, “you don’t go back.”
Miraculous memory for mere mortals
by George DvorskyIf you’re looking to significantly augment your memory skills, but don’t have the patience to wait for a cybernetic memory implant, mnemonic techniques may be the answer.
Prosthetic Perception: Turn on, Tune in, Tune Out (and then hit Replay)
by Wrye SententiaReview of Michael Chorost’s Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human (2005)
Healthcare and Private Perfections
by Dale CarricoIn his Confessions St. Augustine, contemplating the excesses and indiscretions of his youth famously pronounced the verdict, O Lord, how crooked and sordid, bespotted and ulcerous was I. From Paul to the present, the Church has expressed especial hostility to the pleasures and meanings aroused in the free play of human bodies and brains in the world, and preached mortification of the flesh and faithful obedience as routes to the presumably deeper, more spiritual satisfactions the Church offers instead.
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