Discovery Magazine just published its 100 greatest discoveries of the year, and as far as I'm concerned number #11 should have taken the cake.
A neuroscientist named John Donoghue of Brown University has managed to implant a tiny 100-electrode array into a paralyzed man's primary motor cortex. This is the part of the brain that controls voluntary movement. What this little implant does is interpret the brains electrical impulses, then convert and send them into a series of high-tech signal processors and computers. The computers then translate the mans thoughts into movement of external devices.
According to the article, after the first day of fiddling with this implant, the paralyzed man was able to master this technique. He could "...move a computer cursor, play a video game, open e-mails, draw a crude circle, operate a television remote control, and even move a prosthetic hand and arm....using nothing other than his will."
The potential for this technology is endless, perhaps someday a man with no legs could operate prosthetics just like they were his own. Then there is the way this tech could apply to operating equipment, robotics, with no external movement, driving, flying you name it. The time is coming, and I'm sure I'll see it in my lifetime.
The scary thing is neural pathways can be thought of like a two-way street, and if a computer can receive and translate your electrode impulses into motion, it could potentially send information in. If a computer can translate thoughts that means it can speak the language of the brain. Maybe the time will come (cue dramatic music) when implants prevent us from doing certain behaviors, filtering out impulse patterns that represent bad behavior, (rape murder). Or on a worse case scenario, controlling an individuals like a puppets. If this is part of the package that comes with this technology, I doubt you and I will ever read about it in any public print.
