Bionic Eye Gives Blind Man Sight

AmigaMMC writes "A man who lost his sight 30 years ago says he can now see flashes of light after being fitted with a bionic eye. Ron, 73, had the experimental surgery seven months ago at London's Moorfield's eye hospital. He says he can now follow white lines on the road, and even sort socks using the bionic eye, known as Argus II. I wouldn't go as far as claiming he regained his sight, but this certainly is a biotechnological breakthrough."

Comments

Then again

[AnonGCB]

He only got the starter package -- Due to the economy he couldn't afford his first choice with the laser.

Re:Then again

[Fluffeh]

"I see! I See!" said the blind man. Secretly, everyone knew he was full of shit...

Re:Then again

[gamanimatron]

...and his robe and wizard hat...

I'm not buying it

[Anonymous Coward]

so a man gets his sight back after being blind for 30 years, and the very first thing he does ISN'T download porn? This is some kind of hoax.

Re:I'm not buying it

[dov_0]

Maybe he prefers his porn to be, er, in 'braille'.

Re:I'm not buying it

[Kell Bengal]

Braille porn where you can 'touch' the pictures? You sir, might be the greatest genius of our age.

Re:I'm not buying it

[Spasemunki]

Maybe he learned something from going blind the first time...

Re:I'm not buying it

[Anonymous Coward]

It would certainly give more meaning to the phrase "rub one out".

Re:I'm not buying it

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually I lived with a blind guy who loved porn. Really. I never knew this until I met him, but he had tons of text porn that his computer would read to him at incredible speeds. sounded incredibly funny to hear a computer talking dirty in a voice approximating chipmunk speed, but it was pretty hot to him, I guess.

Re:I'm not buying it

[GoombaTroopa]

This reminds me of a stupid idea I thought of once: A Braille monitor!

I could imagine it now, a blind person moving their fingers across the screen, saying "There are two girls and a cup AARRGH AARRGH AARRGH AARRGH!!!"

Is this Slashdot or Star Trek?

[gravos]

His physical and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is Futile.

Re:Is this Slashdot or Star Trek?

[Anonymous Coward]

I, for one, salute our new bionic overlords

Too bad he's in London

[Guido del Confuso]

He says he can now follow white lines on the road

Here in California, that'd be good enough to issue him a driver license.

Re:Too bad he's in London

[geekoid]

Follow, not snort.

Re:Too bad he's in London

[PaganRitual]

In South Australia, knowing where the white line is in the center of the road in relation to your car basically overqualifies him.

Next they'll be telling me that this augmentation causes him to resist the urge to accelerate to fill the gap when I indicate to change lanes.

Insanity I tell you, insanity.

Re:I wouldn't go as far as claiming he can see now

[fractoid]

Congratulations, he's a human cockroach. :P

Re:The Eyeball Singularity

[incognito84]

I just want to have the ability to rotate my eyeball 180 degrees and look at my own brain.

REEEEEPOOOO MAAAAANNN

[Anonymous Coward]

He'd better be careful about when they come to reposess when he can't make the payments.

Ono-Sendai, or Zeiss?

[billstewart]

So was it the really good Swiss lenses, or the Japanese biotech ones that need to be replaced before your optic nerve rots?

Re:Ono-Sendai, or Zeiss?

[mabhatter654]

it's only good for 4 years.

Re:Ono-Sendai, or Zeiss?

[kohaku]

I only do eyes!

Re:73 years old?

[karnal]

What other forms of blindness it might be useful for remains to be seen.

Tell me you meant that in the form of a pun... please!

Re:The Eyeball Singularity

[mcpkaaos]

You have to stare into Putin's eyes for that.

Re:When i see things like this...

[gad_zuki!]

Take a picture from a camera. convert it to greyscale. Shrink it down to 8x8. Then expand it to fill your entire field of vision.

So if you see this then he see this.

Perhaps its a blessing afterall.

Re:The Eyeball Singularity

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a date.