Cyborg can now see!

[Dark Jaguar]

After seeing this on Discovery Science Channel, I had to check out the site they gave. They've managed to link up a camera to a human's brain, the visual center, to restore site to this person who's been blind for 20 years (oh, and 7 other patients...). It's monoscopic vision right now, at least in this guy I saw, but the fact that a computer is sending data TO the brain and the brain is interpreting it is pretty amazing, no?

http://www.dobelle.com/news.html

Here's the site for it, with pictures and a few videos.

[A Black Falcon]

Wow... that is pretty cool...

[Great Rumbler]

WHAT HAS SCIENCE DONE??!!

...

Oh wait, this is a good thing!

Maybe someday we'll be able to surf the net...with our brains!!

[Sacred Jellybean]

Holy shit... that's incredible. I haven't gotten to reading the link yet, but I will in a second.

Another really neat thing I read recently was that scientists successfully installed a robot arm that was manipulated by reading impulses from a monkey brain. Absolutely amazing, is all I can say.

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah... in the future, replacement eyes and arms you can control with your mind... cool!

[EdenMaster]

I'll only put my brain in a robot body if I could be a robot cat!

But why so short?

[Great Rumbler]

With the strength of five gorillas!!

[alien space marine]

God not the Borg!

[EdenMaster]

And titanium teeth! We can eat nails and shoot them out as bullets!

[Laser Link]

Wow, that is amazing. I had no idea that science had advanced that far in the study of the brain.

[Dark Jaguar]

The brain is a creative computer after all. Another group has developed a sort of chip for alzeimer's patients to improve memory, and they are currently working on a way to properly attach it to the brain. As this site has explained, a surface connection is the only truly safe way to do this because during normal human movement the brain bounces around and shifts inside our skull boxes. Something that actually went INTO the brain, as they also said, would almost certainly cause major damage as the brain shifted, unless it was designed to shift along with the brain without any rigidity. That's the current challange.

Here's another amazing thing I saw on the Science Channel, but sadly don't have a link for. One fully paralized old man was, as you can imagine, sadly completely unable to communicate, but was visibly concious of his surroundings. The family made a rather risky choice in allowing yet another group of scientists to implant a small device into this fellow's brain (MAYBE implanted deep with the lack of movement to shift the brain, not sure, they never went into that detail). This device was designed to pick up signals from the brain, at the motor cortex. Essentially, they were rough coordinates, Y and X. They were hooked up to a computer and it was programmed to use the data picked up to control a mouse cursor. The man soon learned that the mouse cursor would move at his thoughts, and after a few days of learning how to control it, he could finally communicate via a program with many pictures and words to click on. Actually, I'm not sure if the device also picked up bits of signal to determine a "click" or if the program was just designed to detect hovering for selecting, but in any case the man is now happily communicating with his loved ones.

Truly, the similarity between our neurological system and electronic systems is rather amazing. While our brains are most assuredly far more advanced, we're getting closer to understanding little details bit by bit.

Oh yes, as the site above says, the device so far communicates very rough data. To see HOW rough the data is, watch some of the movies that show what the camera is feeding the brain. Seems to be sufficient for slug-like sight, a little better with some other filters, but it should improve I imagine.

Just remember, plugging a giant metal spike into a port on your skull is DANGEROUS if you're moving about :D.

[Great Rumbler]

Here's another amazing thing I saw on the Science Channel, but sadly don't have a link for. One fully paralized old man was, as you can imagine, sadly completely unable to communicate, but was visibly concious of his surroundings. The family made a rather risky choice in allowing yet another group of scientists to implant a small device into this fellow's brain (MAYBE implanted deep with the lack of movement to shift the brain, not sure, they never went into that detail). This device was designed to pick up signals from the brain, at the motor cortex. Essentially, they were rough coordinates, Y and X. They were hooked up to a computer and it was programmed to use the data picked up to control a mouse cursor. The man soon learned that the mouse cursor would move at his thoughts, and after a few days of learning how to control it, he could finally communicate via a program with many pictures and words to click on. Actually, I'm not sure if the device also picked up bits of signal to determine a "click" or if the program was just designed to detect hovering for selecting, but in any case the man is now happily communicating with his loved ones.

Stephen Hawking?

[Dark Jaguar]

No no, while his neural disease has all but paralyzed him, he controls his voice simulator via his hand which he can still control enough to click a button. His system involves a selector that scrolls automatically (since he doesn't have enough muscle control to scroll it himself) until the right "line" is pointed to, at which point he clicks, and then it scrolls along this line until the correct word on it is highlighted, and then he clicks again, and thus his GENIUS is revealed to the world one word at a time.

[Great Rumbler]

I saw Stephen Hawking's movie. Pretty cool stuff.

[Dark Jaguar]

Movie? I had no idea he had a movie. I've read one of his books (The Universe In a Nutshell), and seen a special on the Science Channel by the same name, with him talking all about how confusing and COOL the universe is (for instance, don't be too concerned about it being "real" it's more a suggestion of itself, meaning so long as the formulas are accurate, don't worry about how much sense they make). That's where I learned about his voice system at any rate.

So, what's this movie called?

[OB1]

"Stephen Hawking's Journey To The Magical World of Swizterland, Where Swiss Cheese Is From. It's Awesome"

[Dark Jaguar]

They tell you it's awesome right in the title? Then I MUST watch it! He probably has some formula for determining string density that involves the ratio of swiss to chedder or something.... Well, so long as the numbers work out, it doesn't matter if it makes sense, because it's RIGHT.

[OB1]

Yeah he was so excited about his movie that he had to put it in the title itself.

[OB1]

So... where can I get a robot body?

[Great Rumbler]

Originally posted by Dark Jaguar
Movie? I had no idea he had a movie. I've read one of his books (The Universe In a Nutshell), and seen a special on the Science Channel by the same name, with him talking all about how confusing and COOL the universe is (for instance, don't be too concerned about it being "real" it's more a suggestion of itself, meaning so long as the formulas are accurate, don't worry about how much sense they make). That's where I learned about his voice system at any rate.

So, what's this movie called?

It's called "A Brief History of Time". It's a biography/theory of blackholes movie. It's really very insteresting.

[OB1]

Hmm... insteresting indeed.


:D

[Dark Jaguar]

As of this moment, a robot body would be WEAKER than what you have, and that includes rate of breakdown! Ever have one of those robot toys with a remote control arm? Ever try moving, well, anything heavier than a kilo with it? Well, imagine trying to pick up a box only to find your robot arm is making a loud grinding noise and then clicking backwards a bit before grinding forward and clicking back again. Not exactly a way to take over the world... I imagine any butler bot with arms that size using today's technology trying to crush an old lady's head would have the same effect, which I think would be HILARIOUS. Then the robot would be destroyed for giving a bad massage :D.

Oh, well I already SAW that movie then. It was that special I told you about earlier.

[OB1]

...

But I want to have the strength of five gorillas...

[Dark Jaguar]

Well, then try one of those massive pile driving machines they use on the roads, or a massive crane arm or something. Don't expect much manuverability though... Having that for an arm would probably crush you....

[OB1]

But... but that's not what Captain Murphy said would happen...

[Great Rumbler]

I want to have bulldozers for arms.

[Dark Jaguar]

Captain Murphy is an idiot jerk.

Bulldozer arms would be cool, except they'd tear themselves out of you.... But hey, if designed right that means you have two remote control bulldozers!

[A Black Falcon]

Nova is such a great show... definitely one of the best on TV.

[Dark Jaguar]

Ah, nova. Haven't seen THAT in a LONG time. Never really knew when it was on actually, but now I don't depend on PBS just to watch science stuff every now and then.

[A Black Falcon]

Nova, you know, has a weekly slot... :)

I believe it might be Tuesday at 8, on our PBS anyway. Probably varies with region.

[Dark Jaguar]

Ah.... Again, I'll just watch Science Channel. Likely covers all the stuff that show would cover but in more detail and more often (Discovery channels tend to repeat their specials twice a day, and then over and over the rest of the month, though that can also be a bad thing :D). Besides, I have a very hard time catching shows that aren't on 4 or 5 days a week. I always forget if it's a one day a week thing... I tend to only catch sitcoms after they get syndicated to Fox for instance. I REALLY hate that I know what syndication is... I wish I was WITHOUT that knowledge!

[A Black Falcon]

Oh, not much on PBS isn't done elsewhere... science has its own channels, historical documentaries, news, business news, talk shows, newsmagazines, etc... one of our local channels even has a ripoff of Antiques Roadshow... :p

PBS just does them really well. And without ads... which is just so great in these days...

[Dark Jaguar]

You're telling me. Anyone notice how they are playing ads DURING shows now?! I HATE THEM ALL for it! At LEAST have the decency to wait until a break instead of covering the subtitles or some important letter we are supposed to read with that ad! CN used to be good about it, until they started doing two horrible things. One, they are trying to hype us up about COMMERCIALS FOR STAR WARS. That's right, I accuse that "mini-series" of being little more than a commercial! I saw the first two! The first was a SUMMERY, a SUMMERY! That's not awesome! The 2nd had about as much content AS a commerical (though, those expressions were priceless, pure hilarity). Worse yet, they are putting advertisements for those commercials on during show too! Nice and small, BUT THEY MAKE NOISE, and LOUD noise! I've missed more than a few lines of IMPORTANT dialog in shows because of those blasted Clone Wars ads playing during them! On the networks I ALMOST didn't have a problem because it was technically free, but Cable we PAY for! Another thing, Adult Swim's cards once said "you get this for free so stop complaining". We PAY for our cable here AS!

*breathes heavy*

Okay.... rant mode over... I'm gonna, I'm gonna go lay down now....

[A Black Falcon]

Ads during shows? With sound? That's not nice at all!

[OB1]

DJ, why on earth are you complaining about the Clone Wars length? We've always known that they were only going to be three minutes long!

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah, that is kind of strange. Given that they are three minuites... what is bad about them? They sound really awesome!

[Dark Jaguar]

I'm complaining because it turns out to be a TERRIBLE idea. They shouldn't have done that.

[A Black Falcon]

Says you. :)

[Dark Jaguar]

Well duh :D.

Sorry, they things run JUST long enough to get me ALMOST interested, then they stop, making me say "pfft, forget this". 3 minutes is an impossible time length. They should have just made it one half hour long thing. I'll get all the story they show here in that 3rd movie anyway.

[A Black Falcon]

No, the point here is to partially bridge the gap between AotC and ep.3... why in the world would it all be in Ep3? Maybe a few mentions of events... but no more than that I'm sure. This is seperate...

[OB1]

There are new episodes every day so stop the whining. And the reason why they're so short is because this whole thing is a test for Lucasfilm. They wanted to see how well they could do an animated SW series.

[Great Rumbler]

I keep forgetting to watch it!!

[Dark Jaguar]

Perhaps I was a tad harsh. But really, 5 minutes isn't enough time to get me to care much. Pack it into at the very LEAST, 15 minutes, and then it's long enough.

Besides, those cyborgs are all like "advanced", not like this cyborg! This one reassures me that machines are still inferior to us, and it's a good thing.

[Great Rumbler]

I wish my head was a giant robotic lizard that could eat people with it's horrilbe metal jaws.

[Dark Jaguar]

Just find a dark wizard who's in league with an evil scientist then. Dreams really CAN come true!

[A Black Falcon]

A tad harsh? Yes. Is it short? Yes. But is it bad? No. Do we all wish it was full length? That goes without saying. But we'll take what we can get...

[OB1]

Well no one is forcing you to watch them right now, DJ. You could always just wait until the inevitable Clone Wars CN marathon after the first ten shorts have aired.

And guys, you can go to starwars.com/clonewars to see the shorts in case you missed them on CN. Hi-res if you have a Hyperspace accounce and low-res if you don't.