Microchip Eye Implant Promises To Restore Sight

Anguirel writes "The BBC is reporting that a microchip implanted in the eye could restore sight. The chip has already been tested in some animals and seems to work. Researchers hope to begin tests in humans in 3 years. Present generation is fairly limited in scope, but this could pave the way for cybereyes in the future." A search for retina shows some of the other research going on in this field, too.

Comments

The real question is...

[Kalewa]

If these got advanced enough, how many people would sacrifice their real eyes for something bionic? And would geeks start hacking their own firmware for them?

Re:The real question is...

[fireboy1919]

They had this type of question on Star Trek once...why don't other people have eyes like LaForge's?

I think we need to be more realistic: we haven't ever been able to produce anything that matches the quality of nature in terms of durability or usefulness.

Sure, we can produce things that work faster, and sometimes with greater resolution, but often the benefit is minimal: power consumption is great, they break sooner, etc.

And as far as anything that NATURE does, we haven't even come close: our eyes and brain work together to understand more about the world than anything that humans have produced.

I doubt that these will get advanced enough. How would you like to go blind while driving because you get a little smog in your eyes? How would you like to deal with intense vertigo and headaches when your chip malfunctions and sends the wrong signals?

How would you like to stay awake all night staring at white light because your chip is burnt out and constantly sending the same signal (even when you shut your eyes)?

I'd rather not risk even 10 minutes of such possible conditions. My eyes work pretty well, unlike human hardware.