Brain Stimulation For Entertainment?

An anonymous reader writes: Transcranial magnetic stimulation has been used for years to diagnose and treat neural disorders such as stroke, Alzheimer's, and depression. Soon the medical technique could be applied to virtual reality and entertainment. Neuroscientist Jeffrey Zacks writes, "it's quite likely that some kind of electromagnetic brain stimulation for entertainment will become practical in the not-too-distant future." Imagine an interactive movie where special effects are enhanced by zapping parts of the brain from outside to make the action more vivid. Before brain stimulation makes it to the masses, however, it has plenty of technical and safety hurdles to overcome.

Comments

Re:How about electronic drugs?

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

It's definitely a consideration, the question is whether it's a giant downside, or the absurdly amazing upside:

If your neurology-fu is good enough, you should be able to produce a stimulus of essentially unimaginable desirability. After all, while we (currently) have to do various things in order to experience pleasure, 'pleasure' is something that the brain does, not something we absorb from a wife, 2.5 children, and a golden retriever in the suburbs.

If you could bring to bear all the available apparatus devoted to the experience of 'pleasure' you could skip all the grind and go right to the reward.

Aside from the practical problems of getting people to work when they could be experiencing timeless ultimate bliss, I suspect that this prospect will strike many as somehow creepy or dishonest.

On the other hand, what innovation could possibly contribute more to the happiness of mankind than a direct supply of dis-intermediated happiness, delivered fresh and pure right to the brain?

Re:Stimulation via Content?

[Immerman]

I have heard that for a long time the standard "retirement package" for at least mildly well-to-do Chinese who were facing the final inevitable decline was a pipe and all the opium they could smoke. Actually sounds a lot more civilized than the normal American routine - who wants to spend their last days/weeks/months draining their children's inheritance to fight a battle that can't be won? Let me die from starvation with a smile on my face and a sandwich beside me, ignored in favor of the pipe in my hand.