Brain Implants Get Brainier

the_newsbeagle writes "Did my head just beep?" wonders a woman who just received a brain implant to treat her intractable epilepsy. We're entering a cyborg age of medicine, with implanted stimulators that send pulses of electricity into the brain or nervous system to prevent seizures or block pain. The first generation of devices sent out pulses in a constant and invariable rhythm, but device-makers are now inventing smart stimulators that monitor the body for signs of trouble and fire when necessary.

Comments

Entering? Cyborgs?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh shut up. Pacemakers have been around for decades.

Re:Entering? Cyborgs?

[Anubis IV]

While some pacemakers are programmable, they are not "smart stimulators that monitor the body for signs of trouble and fire when necessary".

On the contrary, that's exactly what they are. From Wikipedia's pacemaker page:

Modern pacemakers usually have multiple functions. The most basic form monitors the heart's native electrical rhythm. When the pacemaker does not detect a heartbeat within a normal beat-to-beat time period, it will stimulate the ventricle of the heart with a short low voltage pulse.

The earliest ones simply stimulated the heart at regular intervals, but this newer variety that monitors the heart for signs of trouble (e.g. irregular heartbeat) and fires when necessary has been around for decades.

Re:Entering? Cyborgs?

[sjames]

Modern pacemakers are exactly that. They can detect when they need to pace and how much and can also act as internal defibrillators.

Sci fi

[Iamthecheese]

Brain enhancements are a tall order. We need:

• Better knowledge of human brain function
• Microbots that can evade the immune system
• Microbots that can move through brain tissue without causing harm
• Microbots that can link together to from insulated wires, or build insulated wires that are safe in vivo.
• Microbots that can transmit power and information through several layers of nerve and other tissue

The thing is, we're getting there. These are no longer science fiction: the path to each of these abilities is very clear. And when these abilities converge we'll have matrix style give-me-knowledge-now and complete VR. Not to mention brain augmentation. This future is far, far closer than it seems.

Re:Sci fi

[jellomizer]

In terms of brain implants, we are at the Peg-Leg level of sophistication. We can offer them a solution that will help with some problems, but it isn't a case where we can solve all the problems.

So something that detects that a seizure will happen then does a pulse to stop it. Will help stop the seizure, but not cure all the problems, as well it may bring in some side effects, because the brain so so complicated.

However for some reason we have been polarized to a point that we really can't judge tradeoffs any more. We want a 100% cure. We want our food to be 100% healthy and fill us up, and meet the taste we are craving, we want technology to Run Fast, Use little power, and be tiny. We want our contractors to be Cheap, Fast and Good.

The fact that we live in this imperfect world, seems to have a lot of people paralyzed to the idea of progress where progress will sometimes means there will be a tradeoff.