Scientists propose 'cortical modem' implant...

pedrw

Scientists propose 'cortical modem' implant to give you Terminator vision
US military research agency DARPA forsees a tiny implant that could restore sight loss or give you a heads-up display without a helmet or glasses.

Forget HoloLens, forget smart glasses and forget augmented reality -- scientists have proposed a "cortical modem" that plugs into your DNA and your visual cortex to cure sight loss and show a heads-up display in front of your very eyes.

The cortical modem concept is the brainchild of DARPA, the US Defense Research Projects Agency. Originally founded in 1958 in response to the launch of Sputnik, DARPA is the US military's research and development agency. It's perhaps best known outside of military circles for the development of ARPANET, an early packet switching network that formed a precursor to the Internet.

The cortical modem concept was presented by DARPA's Phillip Alvelda at a recent pow-wow in Silicon Valley, at which innovators, investors and other big brains were introduced to the agency's Biological Technologies Office (BTO), a blue-sky-thinking initiative announced last year.

During the event, transhumanist publication H+ reports that DARPA was described onstage as a "friendly, but somewhat crazy, rich uncle".

That crazy, rich -- or crazy rich -- uncle foresees the device providing a heads-up display or augmented reality projection appearing in your natural vision with no helmet or smart glasses or anything at all in front of your eyes. Like the Terminator. Or Robocop. Or something less shoot-y.

The short-term plan is for a tiny device about the size of two coins that would give you a heads-up display somewhere around the level of an LED alarm clock. It could cost just $10.

The cortical modem is rooted in the field of optogenetics, which involves studying and even controlling specified cells within living tissue by shining light on them. Light-responsive proteins can be added to the brains of living beings, allowing scientists to turn neurons on or off with never-before-seen precision. They can then study neurological activity -- at the same event presenting real-time visual maps of mouse thoughts -- and potentially even control that activity, perhaps one day correcting neurological disorders.

The cortical modem could do just that, restoring sight to someone with sight loss. Optogenetics is still a relatively young field of study, however, and has yet to be tested in humans -- it would require fiddling around with the DNA in a subject's neurons, which, let's face it, isn't the sort of project you dive into on a Friday afternoon.

http://www.cnet.com/news/scientists-pro ... or-vision/

jngdwe

Shut up and take my money.

This is what I've been expecting for years.



OOOO 420 BLAZE IT EVERYDAY.

VizionVR

This won't be publicly embraced for a very long time because of the implied scary health scenarios. I mean, some folks around here are afraid of Vive technology because they might stub their toe!

Wireline

What's reassuring is that we know this technology will only be used for good

Tim74UK

VizionVR wrote:

This won't be publicly embraced for a very long time because of the implied scary health scenarios. I mean, some folks around here are afraid of Vive technology because they might stub their toe!

Trip hazards are a real concern..... if you are stupid enough to play vive in a cluttered room

Me? I'm setting up a chair in the middle of my room..... I intend to get our my bi-plane and start the prop up manually... before climbing back into the cockpit and taking off!

Skelator

Tim74UK wrote:

VizionVR wrote:

This won't be publicly embraced for a very long time because of the implied scary health scenarios. I mean, some folks around here are afraid of Vive technology because they might stub their toe!

Trip hazards are a real concern..... if you are stupid enough to play vive in a cluttered room

Me? I'm setting up a chair in the middle of my room..... I intend to get our my bi-plane and start the prop up manually... before climbing back into the cockpit and taking off!

VIVE + Spaghetti = Cluttered. >;{}

Tim74UK

Skelator wrote:

Tim74UK wrote:

VizionVR wrote:

This won't be publicly embraced for a very long time because of the implied scary health scenarios. I mean, some folks around here are afraid of Vive technology because they might stub their toe!

Trip hazards are a real concern..... if you are stupid enough to play vive in a cluttered room

Me? I'm setting up a chair in the middle of my room..... I intend to get our my bi-plane and start the prop up manually... before climbing back into the cockpit and taking off!

VIVE + Spaghetti = Cluttered. >;{}

Jesus... eating Spagbol while in VR should be written in the warning text on screen... can cause serious messesnesses

geekmaster

Wireline wrote:

What's reassuring is that we know this technology will only be used for good

<Mitchell and Webb The Death Ray>

Video blocked in 'Merika where zombie corporations own the future, so see it on Vimeo instead:
https://vimeo.com/64522190

VizionVR

Skelator wrote:

VIVE + Spaghetti = Cluttered. >;{}

VIVE + Spaghetti = Virtually delicious!

raidx

VizionVR wrote:

Skelator wrote:

VIVE + Spaghetti = Cluttered. >;{}

VIVE + Spaghetti = Virtually delicious!

Just make sure you dont start chewing the headset cables thinking they are spaghetti

Skelator

raidx wrote:

VizionVR wrote:

Skelator wrote:

VIVE + Spaghetti = Cluttered. >;{}

VIVE + Spaghetti = Virtually delicious!

Just make sure you dont start chewing the headset cables thinking they are spaghetti

Thats what I initially meant. But delicious all the same.........

Wireline

geekmaster wrote:

Wireline wrote:

What's reassuring is that we know this technology will only be used for good

<Mitchell and Webb The Death Ray>

Video blocked in 'Merika where zombie corporations own the future, so see it on Vimeo instead:
https://vimeo.com/64522190

Ha thanks :P

Skelator

The guy in video used to work for me, he created the "Angry Ray" then left for some reason.

saviornt

We must learn from the past if we are to blaze through to the future.

SCADA systems
Bluetooth connectivity to the car's onboard computer
Wifi/bluetooth enabled heart monitors

Should I go on?

geekmaster

saviornt wrote:

We must learn from the past if we are to blaze through to the future.

SCADA systems
Bluetooth connectivity to the car's onboard computer
Wifi/bluetooth enabled heart monitors

Should I go on? ...

You left out "Hackers hijack car computers and take the wheel":
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/hacke ... -1.1322678

It has been demonstrated that car radios with bluetooth DEFAULT pin codes (not used by many car owners) can be used as a gateway into the certain vehicles, to access the main data bus, allowing full control of critical systems. This is also thought to be the way hackers were stealing certain vehicles with a radio hack box that instantly unlocked the passenger car door (as seen in security videos).

A full car recall was recently done to fix software GUI issues. Yeah, we can trust our lives to mission critical software, for sure. If your car crashes, just do a power cycle and reboot, eh? How about rebooting our brains after an implant crashes it?

Darcanis

I'd really hate to have this upgraded to the new better version every year. lol
Plus I'm pretty sure while the device might be about $10 the installation and configuration will not be fun or cheap.

Still really cool though! I'll wait a few versions till they work out the bugs though. Like the early days of laser vision correction done by hand (one eye at a time, needle into the eye to freeze it while awake, long recovery time of couple to few weeks with eye patch before doing second eye, degraded night vision, halos, occasional "Oops" by doctor leaving you in worse condition than you started, etc..) compared to current tech which is fully automated, eye drops instead of needle, both eyes in one sitting in just a few min, 3d scanning of eye, robot preformed with more than 400 corrections per second to laser, improved night vision, instant results with almost no side-effects (some still get halos), super fast recovery time.

VR tech I'll jump on instantly... Anything that involves implants into my eyes and brain... I can wait a bit... I'll let them work out the bugs. lol