Researchers at Brown University have developed an extraordinary new device: an implant that is the first wireless, implantable, rechargeable, long-term brain-computer interface. You can now be your own Johnny Mnemonic. Having tried out the implant on pigs and monkeys, the researchers are ready to use it in willing human subjects. For those of us who are fans of the cult classic “The President’s Analyst,” the Brown implant seems vaguely familiar.
The device is a hermetically sealed titanium object about the size and shape of a pacemaker. It is connected to a small chip with 100 electrodes protruding from it that is embedded in the somatosensory cortex or motor cortex. The result is that you will never again lose your iPad or phone . . . as long as you do not lose your head or overload like Johnny Mnemonic.
The question is who is really behind this research. The answer is obvious . . .
Source: ExtremeTech
Dredd,
I’m sure she, he is here in some form or another….maybe posting…. May not be…. Think of what else is absent….
What I want more than anything would be a way to eliminate residual unnecessary memories (I still remember the phone number from my childhood home) and defragment & compact my brain. That would be worth a fortune!
leejcarroll, I am continually impressed on your efforts and attitude w/ fighting chronic pain. But it’s your attitude that is key. “Those who say they can, and those who say they can’t, are both correct.” John Wooden.
Anyone know what happened to Idealist707?
This is not so far fetched. I have a sensory cortical implant in the right side of my brain, attached to the dura, that send signals to help disrupt pain signal trajectory. I am only the 13th in the world with it, and they have done no more, and there are many folks with motor cortical stimulator implants, for pain, movement disorders.
I always wondered at what point it would be used for other things, like mnemonics or ultimately something more nefarious.
After this is implemented, kids today aren’t going to get any exercise. No more thumb workouts from text messaging.
Identity theft just got a whole lot easier.
OMG!
X-rays are a life-saving technology that saves many lives but it could have been perfected legally and faithful to a doctor’s Hippocratic Oath (to do no harm). While attempting to find the “safe-zone” some (not all) doctors gave white people a safe dose but gave African-Americans double or triple the radiation. When these Guinea Pigs got sick, the doctors gave them sugar pills and basically wanted to see how long they lived. The doctors didn’t receive life in prison or the death penalty but were advanced to the top of their profession for their breakthroughs. Maybe that is consistent with the morality of 1930’s Germany but is it consistent with Judeo-Christian values and James Madison?
What could possibly go wrong??
This is the device that we put in the red beanies which the Catolic Cardinals wear so that we can dictate all that they say or learn about all whom they dick. The information goes back to Remulak. If only Cardinals had coneheads. Then we could transmit without the beanies.
If it works, it could have great medical benefits.
RWL,
If I were paralysed/disabled due to a stroke or whatever, I would definitely welcome anything that might allow me to communicate of function better.
Outside of that, it would be a definite RUN AWAY!!
Re: RWL
It may be helpful but generally speaking the “laws” governing new technology haven’t caught up to the technology – and with excessive secrecy that could be potentially dangerous. Keep in mind in the post-World War Two experiments those doctors/scientists perceived themselves as good people serving the greater good – they perceived themselves as the good guys while committing premeditated murder! My only point is maximum transparency and only using CONSENTING
Guinea Pigs.
This experiment would be helpful if it treated a brain or muscle disease, such as Alheimers (misspelled), MS, or parkinson’s.
Ross,
‘Medical Apartheid?’ Sounds interesting. I will definitely check it out.
From a constitutional point of view one could argue that the CIA and DOD agencies (like DARPA) must operate within the U.S. Constitution/ Bill of Rights. Constitutional law is based on chronology (Ninth Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, Article VI, etc.) in the 18 th Century and that these 20th Century agencies’ activities have always been bound by the Rule of Law. Even though this hasn’t been the reality, shouldn’t it be the goal? How do we know it’s not happening today at Guantanamo or some prison? There is no national standard for secrecy designations or a watchdog.
Whose behind this…. Could it be the CIA…
There is a great book titled “Medical Apartheid” by Harriet A. Washington where the CIA hired former Nazi scientists/doctors to perform lethal experiments (murder) on African-Americans without their consent or knowledge. Published in 2006 ISBN# 978-0-7679-1547-2. What’s the danger of excessive secrecy? These experiments were forbidden under the Nuremberg Code of 1947.
This is on every level of disturbing that there is..
How does this not scare the piss out of people?
This would bring something new to the concept of ‘virus’.
Seriously – who would consider shrinking their desktop PC and implanting it in their brain?
We would all end up thinking in Chinese or NSAese.
We would get irrestible urges to send money to Nigeria, or buy ‘stuff’.
Presumably it would be illegal to unlock or jail-break such a thing.