Cyborg Life for Me

After reading a fascinating article in the current Discover Magazine on the current state of mind/computer technology I was filled with real hope that at some point in the near future the blind could see, people could walk who might never have had hope to do so again and any brain could be connected with a computer and offer a vast and nearly unlimited wealth of knowledge.

The article, Rise of the Cyborgs is an exciting glimpse into the world of the future. Successful tests have already been run to allow a human to control a computer interface with the power of thought. By implanting electrodes in the brain of a locked-in victim of a stroke (locked-in means the inability to move or communicate while still fully conscious) doctors in Atlanta were able to provide the man the means to communicate by thinking about moving the mouse with his left hand, this thought triggered a signal in the electrode in his brain which then traveled to a receiver on his pillow and finally was decoded by a computer to allow the cursor to move.

With this kind of technology the possibilities are endless and not just for those who have problems to be solved. With the power of this discovery technology could accurately be controlled from long distances, people could be connected to machines and, of course, it could provide mobility, sight and communication for those who go through life without. And we are not talking decades here, we are talking years, these studies are moving quickly and the scientists involved are looking to the near future for applications.

So perhaps the exciting time has finally come to become a cyborg.