PDA

View Full Version : Lab rats 'acquire sixth sense'


bogeyman
14th February 2013, 15:59
"US researchers have effectively given laboratory rats a "sixth sense" using an implant in their brains."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21459745

What nextI wonder?
Flash
14th February 2013, 16:00
So rats will get better than us, the useless eaters?!!!
Calz
14th February 2013, 16:04
Sounds like a push for transhumanism ...

... be my guest if that is your choice.

Not for me.
Living Food
14th February 2013, 18:02
Sounds like a push for transhumanism ...

... be my guest if that is your choice.

Not for me.

I agree. It is much more rewarding to develop your own sixth sense by awakening your pineal gland and raising your conciousness. Everything advocated by transhumanists is something the human body can already do naturally, but of course everyone's too lazy to put the work in so they want a "magic bullet" technological solution. Our natural powers are far greater then any technology we'll ever come up with, but people would rather get implants then work on self-improvement and enlightenment. It's a sad state the human race is in right now.
sigma6
16th February 2013, 19:20
http://25.media.tumblr.com/2b909e01f4811340e67b77943a646020/tumblr_metp5q79OW1runk2uo1_500.jpg

Innovative... highlights the adaptability and to some extent the specialized nature of the brain, in that as long as "the new sensory input" was usable data, the brain was able to process and organize it into some kind of useful interpretation of external awareness... in this case it sounds like they were feeding electrical signals that detected infra red and fed that into a known part of the brain that usually accepts signals for tactile sensation, the rat eventually began to use it to become aware of a frequency of energy (infra red) that it previously didn't have any sense organ to detect.

To me I can see this as a blend of ideas, there is an aspect of bio feedback, and then piping this info into an existing signal receptor, which is really a form of artificial brain stimulation... literally hacking the system in way... using existing technology and knowledge of existing structures in the brain...