Brain implants give the paralyzed a voice
"Brain implants give the paralyzed a voice"
Such was the front-page headline of an article by Warren King on
pages A1 and A18 of the 7.oct.1998 edition of The Seattle Times.
Reporting on a meeting in Seattle (home of Project Mentifex q.v.)
of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, Mr. King described the
futuristic work of Emory University scientist Dr. Roy Bakay, who
implants two neurotrophic electrodes into the cortex of a human
subject slightly above the ear. Afterwards the skull is closed
and a "smart cap" induction coil on top of the head sends power
to a gold wire which records signals from when the human subject
thinks about moving an arm or a hand. By thinking about movement
and by hearing a faster and louder buzz from the brain implant,
the human patient learns to control the level of the firing of
the neurons and to make a cursor on a computer screen point to
speech icons which produce message phrases such as "I am thirsty."
http://www.***.com/ ~mentifex/ Project Mentifex designs new minds:
/!i!i!i!i!i!\ ________ /iiiiiiiiiii\
/visual memory\ / \ / auditory \
| | / syntax \--------------|------------\ |
| | \ node / ______ | memory | |
| | \________/----/ \ | channel | |
| | | /function\ | | |
| /--------|--------\ | \ cable / | | |
| | | | | \______/ | ____ | |
| | | _V__V_ | | / \ | |
| __|__ | / \ | | /stored\ | |
| /image\ | /logico- \---------|------|--\ stem / | |
| /percept\----|----/conceptual\ | | \____/ | |
| \_______/ | \ cable / _____V__ | | | |
| | \________/ / \---|-----'____ | |
| | /inflection\ | /in- \ | |
| | \ cable /--|----/flec- \| |
| | \________/ | \tion / |
| | | \____/ |
