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Warwick Gets a Few More Wires
teamhasnoi writes "CNN reports that a British university professor has been fitted with cyborg technology. (100 wires embedded in his wrist) This apparently enables his nervous system to be linked to a computer, encoding movements like wiggling fingers and feelings like shock and pain, and recorded for the first time. Is this the end of VCR+? Or the beginning of an (unholy) marriage of man and machine?" Warwick has been doing this for five years now.
Has anyone here read Neuromancer? It was the first book of the Cyberpunk genere, and it preceded Snow Crash and The Diamond Age.
Anyway, in this book, one of the main focuses is how they are fitting the characters with wires and chips and such, and they set it up so that one of the characters is acting like a video camera and another one is set up in such as way that he can see and feel and hear everything she experiences.
Right now, I'm wondering how we can use this to grow the appropriate meat chunks based on a user's input...
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
Better not try to fly from Newfoundland to Toronto, if he knows what's good for him.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
Scary...
What happens when your batteries run out?!?
"...Or the beginning of an (unholy) marriage of man and machine?"
I still can't marry a boyfriend (man and man).
Get your priorities right.
Captain Cyborg shoots down from the skys and enters the realm of bullshit...yet again! And what happens? the entire mainstream media decides he's obviously an expert in his field and listens!!!
Do they know the rest of the Cybernectics profession cringes with embarrassment every time Captain Cyborg appears on the back of a cereal packet???
I can't help but feel like this kind of technology errodes a person's "essence". I wonder what the chemical reaction between the electrodes and his nervous system will do to him in the long run?
stinking cyborgs.
We all know that little kids in Japan already have Sony Playstations grafted into their bodies.
Button sensors in fingertips, a video pipeline into the optic nerves, etc.
It's a big secret, but we all know they are doing it. The reason Sony can't provide a 1000x performance increase to the PS3 is because of the limitations of the human nervous system, not because of some silly thing like computing limitations. You just wait for umbilical attachments for kids so they can work in parallell.
"Mommy, Billy jumped off the couch after a dragon and hurt my belly button!"
I can just imagine the lawsuits.
We are Sony. You must be assimilated. Do not buy XBox, Do not buy Gamecube. Wait for PS3k
-Scott
Boy, did that movie suck?
We Apprentice Developers and Designers
R
Wired Article by Warwick is Here. It looks like his 1998 plans are coming to fruition.
"I was born human. But this was an accident of fate - a condition merely of time and place. I believe it's something we have the power to change. I will tell you why."
Warwick also hopes to wire himself up to a ultrasonic sensor, used by robots to navigate around objects, to give himself a bat-like sixth sense.
Hmm.. I've heard that when somebody loses one sense (sight, hearing, etc) the other senses grow stronger to compensate. So the obvious question is: Would this work the other way around? If you add a 'sixth sense' would the strength of your five basic senses be diminished? Would they become 'lazy'?
air and light and time and space
It would seem that this technology can only be used to gather information going on in this guy's nervous system. Is it possible to provide stimulus using a chip like this, or would modification be required?
"For success, it is essential you have Thunderball Fists." "I can have such a thing?" "That's right. Thunderball Fists."
I cannot wait till I can jack in to my computer!!
I hope this also helps in prothetics and other medical uses, but the jacking in and computing at the speed of thought is what grabs me the most.
"Technology lies on the leading edge of life" Rush
When he implanted something that made doors open for him in the building he works in.
Video Game cheats, hints a
... only it's been there for almost 12 hours. :)
2 4536.html
Oh yes, plus their usual sarcasm (as the story isn't stupid/embarassing enough)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/
I hope he doesnt leave the country alot .. .. and make major bucks once the airport security guys insist on pulling the wires out of his arm.
.. i have to say this is neat .. especially how this technology could lead to 'filtering' nerve impulses through a processor for things like 'MS' or maybe parkensons.
otherwise he may have to get involved in a scandolous lawsuit
and stealing his sunglasses.
But back on topic
or another posibility (off the cuff) allowing people with severe burns or severd nerves to regain tactile feeling in their hands (even if its simulated)
--Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum, non erravi pernicose!
twisted and e-vil
Blaze a trail to the New World
His claim that a 2 hr operation proves this is not a publicity stunt does not carry a lot of weight w/me.
The girls at most any local strip club have been through more surgery than that- and it has nothing to do w/noble intentions.
.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
as i understand it, pain/heat/cold sensory input is sent through the nerve endings as chemical/electrical pulses. wouldn't this sort of electrode "paralyze" his hand, removing him of all feeling, or at the very least; give him that "oh shit my arm went all tingly when i fell asleep on it again" feeling? i know the latter has to do with lack of blood-flow, but it seems like his sense of touch will be at a serious disadvantage.
on a second thought; do you have "upstream" nerve channels (hand to brain), and "downstream" (brain to foot) nerve channels? or do they just use the same neural pathways?
this is good for "terapalegics" (3 limbs missing?), but might this have any applications for scroleosis, or MS? (my friend was recently diagnosed, and a co-worker just had back surgery, i know not much more about the disease)
moox. for a new generation.
Anyone else reminded of the movie Brainstorm? This soulds like the step in the right (?) direction.
--
If you moderate this, then your children will be next.
In related news, a Candadian cyborg has fallen prey to stricter airline security checks...
I can just see it, when windows crashes your pubic hair will straighten out from the good old fashioned shock treatment.
for those too lazy to do a cut & paste job.
The Register Article
Video Game cheats, hints a
I was kind of hoping that the first cyborg would have a borg-like eyepiece and very tall grey hair, so he could greet humanity with the phrase "HOW ARE YOU GENTLEMEN !!"
Instead, the first cyborg greets humanity with "I am not a quack! This is real science! No, it's not a publicity stunt! We might actually learn something from this!"
What a let down.
"Beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he deems himself your master."
According to the article:
"It is possible that the procedure could lead to a medical breakthrough for people paralysed by spinal cord damage, such as Superman actor Christopher Reeve"
With cyborg implants connected to radio trancievers, I wonder how long it will be before the police will actually be able to make you "Freeze! Stop right there! Don't move or I'll shoot!"?
Think about it...pretty scary.
"A terrorist is someone who has a bomb but doesn't have an air force." -William Blum
makes him the world's first cyborg -- part human, part machine
What a load of crap. What about people with pacemakers, artificial hearts, or artificial limbs?
It will bring a whole new meaning to the blue screen of DEATH
for human computer interfaceing, there is a more direct method for gathering movement information: These guys at Brown University have gotten this information from a monkey by monitoring very few neurons directly in the brain(I as few as 20). Looks like the monkey are always going to be one step ahead of us:)
--
What is the sound of this sentence?
when he went through customs.
A very zealous customs/police officer could make life a bit painful for Warwick
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
They'll be happy to marry you.
" Is this the end of VCR+? "
Mr Jones. It has come to our attention that you are using our SunBan glasses while having cybernetic eye implants. Under the terms of the DMCA we ask that you cease and desist this action immediately.
You know while all of this type of cybernetic stuff is kind've cool, I have to believe that $715,000 on a few gadgets is a bit extreme. Look at it this way, I have two daughters who's computing power, mobility, task ability, etc ad infinitum is vastly superior to anything we will see for some time. I think I have a few hundred dollars in each of them (what insurance didn't pick up and including vaccines, etc), and I had a hell of a lot of fun creating them. Yeah, working with servos and transistors is some fun, but I like to make my future chore doers the old fashioned way. ooooo -- penguin dung
Check out The Register's coverage of Warwick. This guy is a publicity hound, with little (if anything) to show that justifies all this hype.
he can see and feel and hear everything she experiences.
He most certainly does.
Why bother.
VCR+ is just so late 90's. TiVo is where its at ! ;-)
From the register article:
"But wait, where there's a sponsor, there's a commercial opportunity. Tumbleweed, a specialist in secure communications, is providing the technology "vital to ensure the safe transmission of our nervous system signals via the internet," Captain Cyborg says"
They say they want to send "feelings" over the web.
I can't wait until they start sending out emotional spam. I haven't really bought into any of the "enlarge your penis" emails. But if they carry with them a great sense of inadequacy...
who knows?
.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
with all these electronic nerves in his wrist permanently connected to a computer, I guess we will be able to say for certain how much of a wan**r, you have to be to do this to yourself.
On a serious note I can see good uses for this technology in terms of gesture control of digital devices. Imagine being able to point at your PC or TV and being able to control it just by waving your hand!
You can't win Darth. If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine
Give me that
Give me that
Cyborg
Frank Zappa was truely ahead of his time to devote an entire album to hum/cyborg relations (if you know what I mean).
Warwick Gets a Few More Wires
Am I the only one who thought of the movie Willow when they read this headline?
epenguin.org - Can You Feel It?
www.timcoleman.com is a total waste of your time. Never go there.
If we can decode the human nervous system, that would be a huge step. I'm not sure if it's a good one or bad one, but a step.
However, I don't know how successful we will be at integrating computers and the body. As far as I understand it, the nervous system while based on electrochemical energy circuits, is not a binary system. Each nuron has many possible states, not just on/off. These various neuron states cause different neurotransmitters to be released at synnapses (where they connect) and somehow a super-complex net of this leads to consciousness. Hopefully this research will eventually shed some light on that "somehow".
In the mean time, the most succeess will probably come from just letting the human body adapt to computerized input, like that optical sonar implant they did a while back.
Howard Dean for president
Prepare to be asimilated, resistance is futile.
the real importance of this (besides all the realllly cool street samurai stuff) would be the ability to overcome debilitating diseases and damage from accidents.
this may be the perfect way to interface with nanomachines, send a certain message through the external device into the nerves and muscles for them to attack this section or help rebuild.
your jesus is another mans xebu. chew on that hypocrites.
In the register they say:
Sponsoring the operation is a company called Tumbleweed. And we have a statement from Martyn Richards, vice president at the company: "We are proud to potentially be part of history in the making as for the first time ever, one human will be truly able to say to the other, 'I know how you feel!"
This is hype.
You cannot KNOW how someone else feels unless you become them.
You could know what it feels like to have implants that do something to you that approximates what happened to them- but feelings are completely subjective. So how it "feels" to you will be unique to you alone.
I hope these tumbleweed folks aren't putting too much of their future into this. It might not be too bright.
.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
Despite the fact that some of you feel The Reg. to be unnecessarily sarcastic or (tongue and cheek) sensationalistic, I think they've hit it spot on with their take on Prof. Warwick. He seems to be pretty much into it for the 'look-at-me-I'm-original' factor, but he doesn't seem to have much scientific credibility when it comes right down to it. Here is a good Reg. analysis from 2000, after his the big story in Wired came out about him: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/29/9250.html.
His attempts to become a cyborg from what I understand consisted of little more than putting a chip in his body which would open a door as he walked towards it. How is this that different from: having the chip in your pocket, sticking it to your arm with some sort of patch, etc. My roommate's cat has a chip implanted in her to find her in the case of her running away. Is she a cyborg kitty??
As far as this new venture is concerned, Warwick seems to have the idea that using this kind of technology to help paralyzed is his idea, or has never been done. Think again, Professor Warwick (I really this is somewhat different but seems to be essentially the same idea, stimulating nerves to create movement in people struggling with paralysis...my point is merely that Warwick is not the brilliant loner on the revolutionary fronts of scientific acheivement that he makes himself out to be...there are people doing real science all over who don't need the gratification of being in the media--this is a non-story).
Check out this link for further information: http://www.kevinwarwick.org.uk/.
"Put forward in fiction, these ideas can be quite interesting, but to see these ideas put forward by someone who's supposed to be a serious theorist...."
Build stuff. Stuff that walks, stuff that rolls, whatever.
waves hand "You will change to channel 56" the TV complies and changes channels
Ok, maybe not so neat, I can do that with my remote right now (waves hand over remote while touching buttons). On the other hand (no pun intended) controlling Traffic Lights with a wave could be useful....
McFly777
- - -
"What do people mean when they say the computer went down on them?" -Marilyn Pittman
Maybe Warwick can tell when the Green Goblin is about to hurl a pumpkin-bomb at him.
From this time forward...you will service...us!
Chris
Watched the discovery channel a while back. Had a piece about these devices that implanted wires to help paralyzed people walk. Problem was that the wires break/wear-out. The paralyzed people end up with hundred of wire filaments lacing their legs where the few good nerves are. The xrays looked like steel wool. They reported that it tended to be painful but surgery to remove the thousands of little pieces of broken up wires was just too difficult.
Beware of combining organic and non organic substances. The living things break and rebuild themselves constantly, in fact it is part of their design. Metal wire are not organic.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
sooo... what you need is a tiny wireless application.
... will require a scalpel!
Curious George
***General Consultant to the Human Race*** My opinions are free. You get what you pay for.
"It is hoped the science could one day help actor Christopher Reeve"
Looking at the picture, hopefully it will help him get a haircut too.
From Sealab 2020
"I want chainsaw hands!!! Bzzzzzz"
When will the cool acessories come out?
"Hey, I hear you got that new Speechbus v2.0, how's it working out?"
"J-j-j-j-j-j-j-ust a f-f-f-f-ew m-m-m-m-m-inor d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-...driverissuestosolve,butotherw iseit'salotfasterthantheoldo-o-o-o-o-o-o-one."
It seems to me that this might be our second next step in evolution. There was recently an article about how evolution might be halting in humanity since we allow too much intermigling and no isolated populations where mutants may form (and exploit the survival of the fittest). Even if evolution isn't halting, it is unlikely that natural evolution over millions of years will be fast enough to satiate humanity's goal of advancement. Obviously the closest thing that we are going to do is genetic alteration of newborn. Whether this is legal initially is inconsequential. In the long run we won't be able to hold it back, the world is too big. A genetically altered mutant is more likely to advance in society due to greater intelligence, strength, and reduced genetic diseases. And since they'll breed, society will eventually be altered.
But concievably there is a limit to how far we can advance humanity this way. From here we will have to turn to machines. This is really our next big step in evolution. Regardless of whether we like it or not, if we come and visit humanity 10,000 years from now, it is likely humans will be partly machine. Of course the initial gains might be first in military strength since it is the easiest to realize the value of technology. Imagine the power of an infantryman with just a few enhancements! And due to this fact, the countries that embrace cyborgs will have the greatest advantage (not only in military might, but potential other areas such as communications and memory) in the new age of cyborgs. Those who don't will be punished (due to the lack of the inherent advantages) and will either convert or be reduced in power.
As for being unholy integrating humans an machines: I don't think so. Since machines are really just products of our minds, its more like an extension of the mind: making the body able to fully harness the mind's power.
Suddenly, the hairy finger of a familiar monkey tapped me on the shoulder. It was time.--G. T.
Really, if he doesn't look like a Cyberdemon, who cares?
;)
Can you imagine if MS gets involved in this?
One day you install a new "service pack" for your MS Cyborg 2003, and the next thing you know you find yourself installing Windows XP, destroying your linux CD's, then suddenly your vision goes all blue screen and your genitals get faxed to Guam...
Ceci n'est pas une sig.
I have seen people in public that have a jack behind their ears that connects to hearing device. Here is a link with info.
Isn't this being 'jacked in'?
A Nucleus cochlear implant changes sound into electrical impulses and uses these electrical impulses to stimulate the hearing nerve, which can be interpreted by the brain as sound.
Isn't this what this article is talking about? The only thing I can see that is different with this Slashdot article is that the info coming from the nerves can be sent to a computer. I'm sure these ear implants can do that also, but the need isn't there.
Kevin Warwick does this sort of thing - I don't really believe that it is purely a publicity stunt, but receiving emotions via an implant in his arm? Please, talk to the hand 'cause the face don't wanta know.
I do think that he believes passionately in what he does but he does let his enthusiasm (and perhaps his desire for research grants) get the better of his judgement sometimes.
Elgon
Uh, I don't get it. Why?
GROGGS: alive and well and living in
doesnt it say that the mark of the beast will be on the hand near the hand... and that sure seems kinda like a mark , heh ... i dont know if i like this whole idea .. :)
Yours Truly, Wes -- Owner
Have they steralized him?
He's been a media doll for years. He's no damn cyborg, and even if he is, Steve Mann got him beat as the first.
Steve Mann is the man, or part-man I should say. Hope he recovers from his airline experience.
Zodiac Survey
My cat has one of these widgets. I can't actually track my cat with it. However, it does, let the local animal shelters scan him with a reader and pull up his current place of residence.
Did her psychic friends see it coming?
I guess this is the equivelent to "Full Duplex"...... I mean you can already jack off.......
There's no way building cyborgs will work.
People are too religious about computers. They'll want circuitry to be developed in such a way to be more beneficial to the computer than to the human.
People will call for "separation of computer and state." It'll get crazy.
"I have to thank Professor Kevin Warwick at the Cybernetics Department of Reading University. He was very generous with his knowledge during the research period of this book. Professor Warwick is the first human being to insert an active computer chip into his body, directly connected to his central nervous system. Proof that this story is not science fiction."
Two things which spring to mind when comparing this book with Prof Warwick's self aggrandising waffle are that...
while he may capture the "signal" of sensations like pain, he's only catching it at one end, isn't he? There are various layers of signal processing that occur between the point of sensation and the brain.
Now, if he was fitting electrodes (perhaps some with dopamine, GABA, serotonin sensitive versions) into his hippocampus, amgdyla, olfactory bulb, and other parts of his limbic system, then maybe it would be more interesting and with real-world significance.
Why does not direct vagus nerve stimulation work to fend off some seizures? Are there other nerves that could be stimulated in the brain to interrupt such feedack loops (OCD, PTSD, etc) or cascading firestorms (seizures)?
Fark.com had a good caption for this story: "All your science are belong to us, old boy!"
Hee hee!
Uh oh. The very first cyberman.
The last few Leprechaun movies have been particularly lame (even for Leprechaun movies). But a Cyber-Leprechaun.. oh yeah!
I worked in the lab which built the door-opening, PC-booting stuff at Reading. What we didn't tell the countless media hacks was that he had the implant removed after a few weeks, and that a Smart Card in his back pocket was exactly what was opening the doors ;o)
He was/is, however, very competent at teaching Control Theory. He had me understanding Nyquist in a few weeks, which is saying something. Unfortunately, as I graduated, he seemed to have laid claim to work done by other people in the department, causing several good staff to leave.
It is a pity that Cybernetics is reduced by Warwick to robotic gizmos, when it should really be known as a meta-science or scientific philosophy. Its applicability is far beyond robots and just the technological, to business models, large-scale human behaviour, meteorology, etc., etc.
Warwick about Warwick Watch:
It's pretty good. I feel a bit of a celebrity in a way. I think it gives me some street cred.
Ouch. The proper way to talk about 'street cred' is in the third person. 'I have street cred' is pretentious, and 'you have street cred' just sounds silly. 'he/she has street cred' is the only way to discuss the concept that doesn't make you look silly.
Maybe the state's highest function is to grind out insoluble problems. (Zelazny, Hall of Mirrors)
Mr. Warwick has just undergone his most extensive and painful 'cyber-surgery' to date. After a gruelling twenty-hour operation, cutting-edge 'cyber-medicine' has managed to give Warwick a prosthetic clue.
The electronic 'micro-chip' helps regulate Warwick's desperate appetite for publicity. Scientists hope that one day, clueless people everywhere will be able to benefit from this technology, including such celebrities as George Bush and the Church of Scientology.
- undoware.ca
seeing as how we believe that we may have canceled our ability to evolve, could this be our new evolution? what kind of impact is this going to have on our bodies tho. when something like a neural implant goes bad what will happen. and beyond that couldn't such things pose a huge security risk? imagine someone hacking YOU!
FormicaGOD
But people integrate organic and non-organic all the time! Look at all the implants out there. People carry pacemakers in their hearts and cohlear implants in their skulls, and all sorts of really neat mechanical, electric and electronic stuff in their bodies.
;)
Sure, no implant lasts forever, every now and then one must replace the "equipment"
I don't know if you read this, but it appears that our society ,may not be ready for cyborgs..yet
"Get them before they get....
FSP and Kermit are the only way to go.
Shit. If it weren't for you we would just forget the laws of the street. Shit. Shit.
Pushin' 'n dealin', shovin' 'n stealin'
"really neat"? God. I'd love to put a pacemaker into your doubtlessly miserable bod.
Pushin' 'n dealin', shovin' 'n stealin'
...when the alternative is 'not being able to hear' or even better, 'death'. Doc tells me I can die or he can stick a gizmo in my chest? Call the doohickey what you like, I say 'really neat' is Understatement of the Month.
I can't wait until there is a cell phone chip for my head.
Ah, chum, I see we cross paths again.
Perhaps you would be interested in my "cybernetic nut transportation device". It is a simple device, really, though the way it accomplishes its end goal is really quite elegant.
Though it was first used following the tragic accident of Astronaut and test pilot Steve Austin, it has since evolved into a much more accessible and consumer-based solution. It integrates the most advanced cybernetic technology with cell cultures gleaned from one's own perenium.
Through the combination of these elements, using some of the same techniques as Professor Warwick, my firm has been able to develop a stronger, more versatile satchel with which I may transport nuts. A "super nutsack", if you will.
Perhaps, with your blessing, I may outfit you with one of your own someday.
-------------------
I am a highly intelligent squirrel
Fascinating stuff!!
Gregory Casamento
## Chief Maintainer for GNUstep
Hopefully this study will shed some new light on
tissue rejection of the particular components he used.
i love you mr i have a nutsack
Resistence is futile - let the implants begin.
Wanna bet a thousand bucks that when you NEED a pacemaker you will find it neat, cool, and everything that goes with that?
What's wrong with you? Don't you want people to benefit life-saving technology? For God's sake, people actually BENEFIT this stuff, it's not some sort of perv twisted SM that "feels high" with gadgets operating inside heart, skull, etc.
Let me sum up:
Steve Mann: The real boy-toy.. the one thats nerdy.
Kevin Warwick: The little bitch.. the one that fucks for money.
I just wasted your mod points! HA!
You can read more article about him on our http://www.neuroprosthesis.org/blogger.html and http://www.neuroprosthesis.org/cyborg.htm pages. We have been following his rise and although we are trying not to take him very seriously, it is quite impossible these days. Even Science Magazine presented a lengthy article about Professor Warwick's "science" in the February 8 special issue.
It figures that you would be a gambling man, if you enjoy getting sucked into the spiral of checkups, experiments, more checkups, and the gutless doctors trying to get a publication out of the unexpected sweltering sores on your chest. Enjoy the clusterfuck, you might even get lucky.
Pushin' 'n dealin', shovin' 'n stealin'
If you are truely interested, why not obtain some Lysergic Acid Diethylamide and see what it's like?
Cool! Amazing Toys.