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Hacking Our Five Senses and Building New Ones
ryanguill writes "Wired has an article about expanding your five (maybe six) senses to allow you to sense other things such as direction. It also talks about hijacking other senses to compensate for missing senses, such as using electrodes in your mouth to compensate for lack of eyesight. Another example is a subject wearing a belt with 13 vibrating pads. The pad pointing north would vibrate giving you a sense of direction no matter your orientation: '"It was slightly strange at first," Wächter says, "though on the bike, it was great." He started to become more aware of the peregrinations he had to make while trying to reach a destination. "I finally understood just how much roads actually wind," he says. He learned to deal with the stares he got in the library, his belt humming like a distant chain saw. Deep into the experiment, Wächter says, "I suddenly realized that my perception had shifted. I had some kind of internal map of the city in my head. I could always find my way home. Eventually, I felt I couldn't get lost, even in a completely new place."'"
Smission. I wouldn't want to use taste to compensate for vision. Have you licked a Buick lately? Not as sweet as they were in the 50s.
You never expect irony, do you?
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It also talks about hijacking other senses to compensate for missing senses, such as using electrodes in your mouth to compensate for lack of eyesight.
They used to do it in Guantanamo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyltryptamine is responsible for the 6th sense, imaginary friends, self replicating machine elves, and telepathy... bitches.
I am pretty sure that the first thought, of the mother and kids in the library, when they saw/heard your pants vibrating, did not involve your enhanced sense of direction.
Instead of rushing to get a FP anonymously and making my day, I bet the guy next to me that we will get a porn related comment within the next 10 minutes.
Needless to say, I won my bet from the 2nd post!
You speak London? I speak London very best.
I can already sense many EM waves, from deep infrared to bright purple.
These qualify as 'senses' because they convert environmental information directly into sensations.
By that definition, why not count your sense of humor?
That would be pretty cool if you could do it with nonferrous electromagnets. Implanting magnets or indeed anything magnetically attracted in your skin is fucking stupid.
Yeah, you'd better hope you never need an MRI for anything.
I think they should make 'em modular, myself. Just flip up your fingernail to access the space. If you're not using them for magnets, you could transport secret messages, say, or extra Tabasco for your lunch. Don't see any way for that to go wrong!
I can sense shorter wavelengths than that. Only at pretty high intensity, though, and there's a latency period of a few hours before the sensation really picks up, and then it takes several unpleasant days to extinguish. And then there's the peeling.
I already have extra senses(or extra strong; same thing), and I can tell you they're damn annoying.
I can locate electronics by the extremely annoying ringing/screeching sounds they emit. It was an utter pain finding a clock for beside my bed; I finally settled on one that runs off an AAA battery, and only needs a new battery every couple years. No audible noise coming from it.
I can locate TVs, monitors(CRTs, malfunctioning LCDs), DVD players, and some PSUs and Mobos by the sounds they make. Some devices still make sounds when "off", and others don't. Even some power bricks make annoying sounds. Some cordless phones do too; one actually gave me headaches, but most don't.
(it really is hit or miss, per device rather than per model; device quality really must vary!)
That's one of the reasons that my main computer is an Athlon XP 2400+; it doesn't make any annoying noises... though I suppose the 4000RPM fan is a tad loud. ;) But at least it isn't screeching at me!
Having a sense of direction would be neat, but let me assure you super hearing isn't what it's cracked up to be. It might be acceptable if I was surrounded by the outdoors, but surrounded by electronic gadgets... gah!
Interestingly, it appears to be genetic. My Uncle could hear that "Mosquito teen repellent" noise until 50-55 years old.
I don't like crowds, because I have trouble understanding what people are saying over the background noise. :/
Example: what direction is "down?"
Towards the enemy's gate.