Well research similar to the robotic arm tests with chimps implies that cyborg arms are not that far off, nor are brain activated keyboards. North Carolina's Duke University Medical Center gives no finite word if the human brain is capible of carrying on more complex things like controlling a myrad of cyborg-tenticals, but the following quotes are positive. I'll keep hoping.
"Patients are awake during the surgery, and their brain signals are recorded to ensure that the electrodes are placed in the right location.
...
The study also showed that more parts of the brain could be used for neural interfaces than the researchers had previously tested with monkeys.
Unlike the monkey study, in which electrodes were implanted into the brain's cortical structures, the current study involved analyzing brain signals from electrodes inserted deep into subcortical structures.
"This shows that one can extract information not only from cortical areas, but from subcortical ones, too," says Nicolelis. "This suggests that in the future, there will be more options for sampling neuronal information to control a prosthetic device." " [betterhumans]
The future? I prefer this to the cyborg girlfriend scenario. In any case, my children are sure to find new and creative ways to offend me through body modification.
[Link via del.icio.us/tag/cyborg]
Posted by nym at June 22, 2004 01:33 AM | TrackBack