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Startup Aims To Commercialize a Brain Implant To Improve Memory (ieee.org)
the_newsbeagle writes: Neuroscientist Ted Berger has achieved some remarkable feats in his work on an implanted brain prosthetic to boost memory. Working with rats, he recorded the electrical signals associated with a specific memory from one animal's brain, then inserted that signal -- and thus the memory -- into another animal's brain. Working with monkeys, the implanted device enhanced the animals' recall in difficult memory tasks.
Still, it's startling to learn that a startup is ready to commercialize Berger's work, and is trying to build a memory prosthetic for humans suffering from Alzheimer's, brain injuries, and stroke. The new company, named Kernel, will fund human trials and develop electrodes that can record from and stimulate more brain cells. "An implanted memory prosthetic would have electrodes to record signals during learning, a microprocessor to do the computations, and electrodes that stimulate neurons to encode the information as a memory," writes Eliza Strickland via IEEE Spectrum.
Still, it's startling to learn that a startup is ready to commercialize Berger's work, and is trying to build a memory prosthetic for humans suffering from Alzheimer's, brain injuries, and stroke. The new company, named Kernel, will fund human trials and develop electrodes that can record from and stimulate more brain cells. "An implanted memory prosthetic would have electrodes to record signals during learning, a microprocessor to do the computations, and electrodes that stimulate neurons to encode the information as a memory," writes Eliza Strickland via IEEE Spectrum.
Just 'cause he used an illegal compressor, there's a reason such things ain't approved by the FDA!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
This is a crock of such dimensions that I don't know where to even start. It's like recording the electrical signals of an Intel FPU while doing square roots and injecting an AMD FPU with them in order to teach it to be faster.
Those guys have been reading too much science fiction.
For some people it will be a trade-off between being unable to function or even stay alive, and trusting a medical device manufacturer and the government not to screw with your implants.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
I wouldn't.
Just think of the implications. Imagine some evil terrorist hacker or just some bored teen with to much time on his hands messing with your brain and turning you into a suicide bomber or having you running around naked downtown on a saturday morning, screeming, singing and cussing at the top of your voice, just for the kicks of it.
The fight with brain-hacked loser scene in GitS is cool, but the interrogation scene that follows is pretty emotional and scary. In my opinion though it pretty precisely shows what a society with brainware is in for.
No f*cking way would I have such a thing installed.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca