ktlight
25th November 2011, 09:18
FYI:
"For years, many have mocked the idea of implantable microchips and cyborgs as both conspiracy theories and science fiction. Anyone who so much as mentioned these possibilities to their neighbor risked being labeled either as a religious fanatic or delusional and paranoid. However, as they have become more and more prevalent in everyday society, it has become increasingly difficult to ridicule these concepts.
For instance, with stories like the recent Singularity Hub article entitled, “Revolutionary New Brain Chip Allows Monkeys To Grasp AND Feel Objects Using Their Thoughts,” these emerging technological possibilities are almost impossible to ignore.
This article discusses how scientists have recently announced the creation of an implantable device that can be placed in the brain and which will allow for the control of computers by thought. Dr. Miguel Nicolelis and company have already tested these devices in monkeys with stunningly accurate results. In addition to allowing the user to control the computer by thought, it also allows the user to feel the virtual object it is manipulating.
Of course, this device is not the first of its kind. For years, implants have allowed monkeys to control computer cursors and even robotic arms in laboratory settings.
In the most recent experiment, two macaque monkeys were trained to control a virtual arm represented on the computer screen and use the arm to “grasp” virtual objects. The difference between this latest experiment and those that have preceded it, however, is that these monkeys were able to actually feel the objects they were grasping.
The good news is that this could provide individuals who have lost limbs with more than a mere prosthetic replacement. Indeed, it would be able to offer them a prosthetic that comes complete with the sense of touch. As the quality of prosthetics continue to improve, this technology could no doubt go a great distance toward replacing lost limbs with something more than simple equipment that allows merely for basic mobility.
Yet mobility, for some, is still the main goal. Miguel Nicolelis and his associates who conducted the experiment have expressed desire to take the technology to the next level. In conjunction with The Walk Again Project, there is allegedly a concerted effort to “restore full mobility to patients suffering from a severe degree of paralysis.”
Nicolelis’ lab at Duke University is already working toward this end. Because the ultimate goal of a return of full mobility to a person experiencing such paralysis will require support for the body itself, the scientists are also developing what they call a “wearable robot” to encase the person who is being implanted.
Yes, I said a wearable robot.
And yes, a wearable robot can also be described as an exoskeleton.
Peter Murray of Singularity Hub writes:
The brain chips – if they work – will be a technological triumph by themselves. Custom designed, the brain chips will be low-power and wireless, transmitting their signals to a processing unit worn on the patient’s belt about the size of a cell phone. That brain activity will then be translated to digital motor signals which will control the actuators across the joints of the exoskeleton. Force and stretch indicators throughout the exoskeleton will signal back to the patient’s brain the whereabouts of his or her joints and limbs.
That technology is being created which may enable the lame to walk again is obviously good news.
However, for everything good in the world, there is an evil twin. This technology not only provides for the possibility of some darker applications, but, considering those who are currently guiding the destiny of the world, it almost ensures them. If we allow society to continue to move in the direction it is currently headed, these technologies simply do not bode well for the future of humanity as we know it."
source for more
http://www.activistpost.com/2011/11/implantable-microchips-and-cyborgs-are.html
"For years, many have mocked the idea of implantable microchips and cyborgs as both conspiracy theories and science fiction. Anyone who so much as mentioned these possibilities to their neighbor risked being labeled either as a religious fanatic or delusional and paranoid. However, as they have become more and more prevalent in everyday society, it has become increasingly difficult to ridicule these concepts.
For instance, with stories like the recent Singularity Hub article entitled, “Revolutionary New Brain Chip Allows Monkeys To Grasp AND Feel Objects Using Their Thoughts,” these emerging technological possibilities are almost impossible to ignore.
This article discusses how scientists have recently announced the creation of an implantable device that can be placed in the brain and which will allow for the control of computers by thought. Dr. Miguel Nicolelis and company have already tested these devices in monkeys with stunningly accurate results. In addition to allowing the user to control the computer by thought, it also allows the user to feel the virtual object it is manipulating.
Of course, this device is not the first of its kind. For years, implants have allowed monkeys to control computer cursors and even robotic arms in laboratory settings.
In the most recent experiment, two macaque monkeys were trained to control a virtual arm represented on the computer screen and use the arm to “grasp” virtual objects. The difference between this latest experiment and those that have preceded it, however, is that these monkeys were able to actually feel the objects they were grasping.
The good news is that this could provide individuals who have lost limbs with more than a mere prosthetic replacement. Indeed, it would be able to offer them a prosthetic that comes complete with the sense of touch. As the quality of prosthetics continue to improve, this technology could no doubt go a great distance toward replacing lost limbs with something more than simple equipment that allows merely for basic mobility.
Yet mobility, for some, is still the main goal. Miguel Nicolelis and his associates who conducted the experiment have expressed desire to take the technology to the next level. In conjunction with The Walk Again Project, there is allegedly a concerted effort to “restore full mobility to patients suffering from a severe degree of paralysis.”
Nicolelis’ lab at Duke University is already working toward this end. Because the ultimate goal of a return of full mobility to a person experiencing such paralysis will require support for the body itself, the scientists are also developing what they call a “wearable robot” to encase the person who is being implanted.
Yes, I said a wearable robot.
And yes, a wearable robot can also be described as an exoskeleton.
Peter Murray of Singularity Hub writes:
The brain chips – if they work – will be a technological triumph by themselves. Custom designed, the brain chips will be low-power and wireless, transmitting their signals to a processing unit worn on the patient’s belt about the size of a cell phone. That brain activity will then be translated to digital motor signals which will control the actuators across the joints of the exoskeleton. Force and stretch indicators throughout the exoskeleton will signal back to the patient’s brain the whereabouts of his or her joints and limbs.
That technology is being created which may enable the lame to walk again is obviously good news.
However, for everything good in the world, there is an evil twin. This technology not only provides for the possibility of some darker applications, but, considering those who are currently guiding the destiny of the world, it almost ensures them. If we allow society to continue to move in the direction it is currently headed, these technologies simply do not bode well for the future of humanity as we know it."
source for more
http://www.activistpost.com/2011/11/implantable-microchips-and-cyborgs-are.html