MIT Scientist Controls Your Brain With Fiber Optics - Polidicks

[quote=Gizmodo] MIT scientist Ed Boyden invented a way to implant optical fibers into your brain and activate them on command using light. As neurons are turned on and off, the researchers can see what the circuits do. The technology is being used to create detailed circuit maps of the brain that can be used in both medicine and brain research. Boyden has used the fiber optics to map cognition and emotional responses by the brain. He has also cured blindness and post-traumatic stress disorder in mice. In the future, the technology could be used to connect the brain to prosthetics in a way that would let amputees use a replacement limb like it was the original. [/quote] Source: [url]http://gizmodo.com/5802515/mit-scientist-lights-up-your-brain-with-fiber-optics[/url] :science:

I can see this having a bright future.

Isn't every brain connected in a completely different way? Because of life-experiences and whatnot? Means they'd have to pain-painstakingly calibrate it for any person.

[QUOTE=SweetSwifter;29903158]Isn't every brain connected in a completely different way? Because of life-experiences and whatnot? Means they'd have to pain-painstakingly calibrate it for any person.[/QUOTE] i think on the base level yes, but the brain does have certain parts for certain things. like if you wanted to direct images right into someones mind, you would use the part of the brain that handles the eyes (which is a large portion) there are some cases where 99% of people have a certain function for say, eating, in a part of the brain but theres that 1% that has it in some other part of the brain for no apparent reason. we aren't sure why this happens yet.

I can imagine this going nasty where you accidentally flash the wrong neuron and the person you're treating forgets how to breathe.

So, in the future if I lose a limb I could have an awesome robotic prosthetic limb and have fiber optics inside of me? Fuck, We're gonna be cyborgs by 2150. This is awesome stuff.

Well done, Gordon Freeman. You successfully kick-started the Combine race within the human race. :irony:

[B][I]Rise and, ssssshine, Mr. Boyden, rise and, ssssshine...[/I][/B]

I support the reverse engineering of the brain.

Damn science you rocketeering forward like a penis

"You need to perform in front of a huge audience for the first time? No problem! Let's turn off some neurons so you won't feel nervous at all!" Seriously that would have saved me quite a few times.

[QUOTE=SgtTupelo;29906991]"You need to perform in front of a huge audience for the first time? No problem! Let's turn off some neurons so you won't feel nervous at all!" Seriously that would have saved me quite a few times.[/QUOTE] Or given you a seizure :v:

[QUOTE=Nerts;29907015]Or given you a seizure :v:[/QUOTE] A breakdancing act would be quite entertaining.

If we could read and control an entire brain like this, we may just be able to let a brain live on in a computer.

[QUOTE=Overv;29908997]If we could read and control an entire brain like this, we may just be able to let a brain live on in a computer.[/QUOTE] It would still need food and oxygen, as well as an entire organ system to convert food into various chemicals and proteins. While nerve and brain cells can be stimulated by electricity, and use electricity to pass the signals inside themselves, they use chemicals to pass a signal from one cell to another.

They do? No wonder I've been building a particle accelerator in my backyard.

[QUOTE=Overv;29908997]If we could read and control an entire brain like this, we may just be able to let a brain live on in a computer.[/QUOTE] Cortex Command in real life. Nice.

Sounds like some awesome rave parties will happen because of this. I can imagine it now.

There was a creepypasta based off of this. Also, [url]http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-212[/url]

Can't wait till this happens. [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7a/Futurama_nixons_head.png[/img]

No one else wonders how rats got post traumatic stress in the first place?

[QUOTE=wingless;29905250]So, in the future if I lose a limb I could have an awesome robotic prosthetic limb and have fiber optics inside of me? Fuck, We're gonna be cyborgs by 2150. This is awesome stuff.[/QUOTE] I'd prefer 2050.

This thread is full of puns, it gives me a headache... :psyduck:

[QUOTE=DerryGoon;29922185]No one else wonders how rats got post traumatic stress in the first place?[/QUOTE] Their fathers got et by Charlie in 'Nam.

[QUOTE=Jo The Shmo;29914723]It would still need food and oxygen, as well as an entire organ system to convert food into various chemicals and proteins. While nerve and brain cells can be stimulated by electricity, and use electricity to pass the signals inside themselves, they use chemicals to pass a signal from one cell to another.[/QUOTE] We can already almost completely accurately simulate neurons, so I was thinking about replicating the brain in a computer by 'copying' it, not keeping the original brain alive.