OT: Hardware-to-Organism Interfaces (h2oi)

[narf poit chez BOOM]

- vastly superior computers... think 100-1000x faster than today

someone posted a link a while ago about a company that's developed an 8000GHZ optical computer. the article said about ten years to get it into mass production.

and I have seen photos of individual neurons grown onto tiny little circuit Boards with itty-bitty little electrode pegs to hold it in place and stop it from growing away from (rejecting) the electronics.

ugh. borg is bad.

They couldn't leave it in -- it was too big, and the immune system would have rejected it anyway. But it did show that interfacing to the optic nerve was sufficient -- you don't have to interface to the brain directly.

wonder if they could use electromagnets and not interface directly to get around that.

[ February 06, 2004, 19:45: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[geoschmo]

I think that what will be a big help to the problem with the body rejecting the implants will be to not use implants. Right now we have to use implants because we don't have transmitter/receptors sensitive enough to get the signals though the skin. A little bit more advancment in that area and you will be able to have a device on the surface, or maybe just below the surface of the skin, that can do the job. Less intrusive then sticking little wires in the brain tissue right next to the neurons.

The popsci article mentions some research in small scale devices that work like an MRI using some of the new fangled superconducting materials that are being developed.

Geoschmo

[dmm]

Geez, everyone always brings up the Borg. The main problem with the Borg wasn't their bioelectronic interfacing, rather it was forced integration into a collective with loss of individuality. (Ed: Sort-of like high school.) Mutilating healthy bodies to allow for implants just emphasized their lack of feeling (not to mention aesthetics).

But if I had NO eyes, then I'd gladly take an implant (e.g., Jordi LaForge). Same with no arm -- prefer to have my own arm sewn back on, even with some loss of function, thanks anyway -- but if that's not possible then I'd take a Borgish arm over nothing. Well, OK, maybe not that drill thing! But how about one of those android bodies that Harry Mudd was going to get? (OK, now I'm drifting off into total fantasy.)

The point is: prosthetics =/ borg

[ February 06, 2004, 21:49: Message edited by: dmm ]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

i know, but it has the potential. and someone has to bring up the problems, just to make sure we aren't doing lemming imitations.

[geoschmo]

New developments in this area...
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/fun.gam...eut/index.html

[Grandpa Kim]

The first one that occurred to me regards eyesight.

How about an artificial lens implanted in the eye. Take out the organic lens, connect the new one to the muscles and it should work as is.

A step further, small camera in place of the eye. This would need muscle and nerve connections to work the way we want it to.

[EaX]

As DMM said the first thing that came up was the borgs, but i think it can be usefull as long we don't end as the borgs jajaj