https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023...%20muscles.
"A man who was paralysed in a cycling accident in 2011 has been able to stand and walk with an aid after doctors implanted a device that reads his brain waves and sends instructions to his spine to move the right muscles.
Gert-Jan Oskam, 40, was told he would never walk again after breaking his neck in a traffic accident in China, but has climbed stairs and walked for more than 100 metres at a time since having the operation.
The “digital bridge” is the latest from a team of neuroscientists in Switzerland who have a longstanding programme to develop brain-machine interfaces to overcome paralysis. The project aims to use wireless signals to reconnect the brain with muscles that are rendered useless when spinal cord nerves are broken."
Brave people to let other people put things in their brains...
(25-05-2023, 08:33 PM)Oh_hunnihunni Wrote: [ -> ]Brave people to let other people put things in their brains...
Brilliant! In 1978 I had an accident where I fractured and dislocated 3rd 4th and 5th Cervical verterbrae. I was totally paralyzed an was in hospital for several months, traction on a special bed. Slowly. I got a little feeling back and got to the stage where I could learn to walk again. A couple of operations on the spine since. Not very nice but necessary. Still have problems but at 80, I thank which ever deity was responsible for my surviving with all my heart.
Thing is, I was 36 with a wife, kids and mortgage and until that little first spark of feeling came back, I wanted to die so my family wouldn't be burdened by me the way I was.
This is why that announcement interested me, bloody marvelous!
(25-05-2023, 08:33 PM)Oh_hunnihunni Wrote: [ -> ]Brave people to let other people put things in their brains...
Evidence suggests that the Coloured Party had quite a few people put things in their brains before said organs went into hiding.
(25-05-2023, 08:33 PM)Oh_hunnihunni Wrote: [ -> ]Brave people to let other people put things in their brains...
So you're not a starter for
Neuralink then. Imagine being able to drive your mobility scooter by just thinking about it. What could possibly go wrong?
based on this you can imagine the day when you could have a life changing paralysing injury - A & E fit you with this WIFI capable device overnight and you could be walking out the hospital door the next day... OK maybe not a NZ A & E
(26-05-2023, 09:51 AM)harm_less Wrote: [ -> ] (25-05-2023, 08:33 PM)Oh_hunnihunni Wrote: [ -> ]Brave people to let other people put things in their brains...
So you're not a starter for Neuralink then. Imagine being able to drive your mobility scooter by just thinking about it. What could possibly go wrong?
Knowing the sort of things circling in my mind when I'm out there burning up the foorpaths - probably just as well!
(26-05-2023, 07:52 AM)Kenj Wrote: [ -> ] (25-05-2023, 08:33 PM)Oh_hunnihunni Wrote: [ -> ]Brave people to let other people put things in their brains...
Brilliant! In 1978 I had an accident where I fractured and dislocated 3rd 4th and 5th Cervical verterbrae. I was totally paralyzed an was in hospital for several months, traction on a special bed. Slowly. I got a little feeling back and got to the stage where I could learn to walk again. A couple of operations on the spine since. Not very nice but necessary. Still have problems but at 80, I thank which ever deity was responsible for my surviving with all my heart.
Thing is, I was 36 with a wife, kids and mortgage and until that little first spark of feeling came back, I wanted to die so my family wouldn't be burdened by me the way I was.
This is why that announcement interested me, bloody marvelous!
Oh I empathise completely, having spent rather too many years rehabbing from one imaginative bit of orthopedic surgery after another. The optimism of some surgeons continues to amuse me.
I have asked mine if they had ever worn a plaster cast of any description for any length of time and was not surprised to find none of the five who have put me in the damned things ever has. I think it should be compulsory for that specialty. A nice full leg cast, with a few beans in the sole pad so they don't cheat. But, I wouldn't be walking at all if it wasn't for those clever people. One though I would like to see hung drawn and quartered, and that's why I hesitate to trust any of them. Masked men with power tools with drugged up victims? You have to be mad, or desperate, lol...
(26-05-2023, 10:02 AM)king1 Wrote: [ -> ]based on this you can imagine the day when you could have a life changing paralysing injury - A & E fit you with this WIFI capable device overnight and you could be walking out the hospital door the next day... OK maybe not a NZ A & E
All good until the hackers get control of said device, or it cops interference from one of the numerous remote controls in modern life...
Pros & cons really - something slightly scary as opposed to a possible life immobilised seems a risky but relatively easy choice.
The way of the future for our descendants perhaps - assuming we don't manage to annihilate ourselves first.
like most tech, they will develop the functionality first, then monetise it, and then only start thinking about security when bad things start happening...
Imagine getting hacked and unable to walk in the middle of the street, but honestly I would be more concerned if they introduced a subscription model or something where you had to keep paying some sort of licensing.
But the tech looks solid, they have been working on this for a while, seems this is not the first person to receive it as a treatment, it will only get better over time.
Elon musk is essentially working on the same thing with neuralink, there is also tech that uses headbands you wear to read your brainwaves, so brain surgery may not even be necessary eventually.
But the ultimate cure would be stem cell implants in the spine, this is the part where we have not quite figured out how to repair the spinal cord, but wont be far away I dont think.
(26-05-2023, 12:29 PM)king1 Wrote: [ -> ]like most tech, they will develop the functionality first, then monetise it, and then only start thinking about security when bad things start happening...
THAT sounds about right - & all too likely!
(26-05-2023, 01:39 PM)nzoomed Wrote: [ -> ]Imagine getting hacked and unable to walk in the middle of the street, but honestly I would be more concerned if they introduced a subscription model or something where you had to keep paying some sort of licensing.
But the tech looks solid, they have been working on this for a while, seems this is not the first person to receive it as a treatment, it will only get better over time.
Elon musk is essentially working on the same thing with neuralink, there is also tech that uses headbands you wear to read your brainwaves, so brain surgery may not even be necessary eventually.
But the ultimate cure would be stem cell implants in the spine, this is the part where we have not quite figured out how to repair the spinal cord, but wont be far away I dont think.
Yes it seems to be getting closer all the time, so perhaps within our kid's or grandkid's lifetimes.