spiderman-brianimplants

In a [|Kurzweillian] future, the world would become a very strange place, where converging advances in nanotechnology, biotechnology and computer science combine to propel humanity to its next stage of evolution. “By the end of this century, I don't think there will be a clear distinction between human and machine,” Kurzweil told the [|Foresight Institute’s] Eighth Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology.

The miracle of giving light to the [|blind] or sound to the deaf ha[d] been made possible by implantation of electrodes, demonstrating the technical possibility of circumventing damaged sensory receptors by direct electrical stimulation of the nervous system.[|2] Computers that become part of our bodies are not so far-fetched.… Surgeons have performed [|cochlear implants] on patients with hearing loss. “These people are already walking around with chips in their heads,” says.

Giving completely paralyzed patients full mental control of robotic limbs or communication devices has long been a dream of those working to free such individuals from their locked-in state. There is little doubt that direct brain-machine interfaces will be available in the very near future.

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