And then hackers will find a way to hijack our brains and make us do stuff just like hobbyists are able to do with cockroaches using the smart phones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63qwg7EBxbM
:) Miguel ________________________________________ From: Mike Palij [[email protected]] Sent: Friday, July 03, 2015 1:13 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Cc: Michael Palij Subject: [tips] Are Your Ready For Your Cyborg Brain? New research shows that an organic electronic "biomimetic" neuron (i.e., an artificial neuron that takes neurochemicals as inputs, generates an action potential which releases other neurochemicals to connection "real" neurons) is possible to construct and, with refinements and reduction in size, may be implantable in living brains to supplement their function or, in the case of neurodegenerative disorders, take over for dead or dying neurons. That day, however, is years away. The popular/mass media has picked up on the article and one version is provided on the Popular Science website; see: http://www.popsci.com/these-artificial-neurons-work-organic-ones and the Science Daily website (which provides references): http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150624080038.htm The article is available via the ScienceDirect Database: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956566315300610 If this research pans out, it may provide treatments for neurological disorders that so far have no effective treatments. However, one possibility that is not raised is whether such artificial neurons in an alternate form would be able to detect, say, electromagnetic radiation and convert them into a neural code that the brain can readily interpret. For example, if cells can be created that can detect WiFi signals and convert them into either verbal, visual, and/or auditory form, then a person can be "online" all of the time. One problem I see with this is that an executive control mechanism would have to also be in place in order to select which WiFi signals to take and process. The complement of this these "WiFi receptive" neurons or networks would WiFi transmission" neurons or networks which would allow one to mentally send out message to WiFi networks. One key problem here, I think, is that such a process would require much more energy to generate an electromagnetic signal, but this might be solved by having a device like a cochlear implant-in-reverse, that is, a same device attached to head takes the weak signal from the brain and boosts it to transmit to a WiFi receiver. I have a feeling if such a device were possible/inevitable, Mark Zuckerberg would be so happy: see: http://www.informationweek.com/it-life/why-facebook-telepathy-dont-mix/a/d-id/1321150 :-) -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=1632838.7e62b84813297f170a6fc240dab8c12d&n=T&l=tips&o=45677 or send a blank email to leave-45677-1632838.7e62b84813297f170a6fc240dab8c...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=45678 or send a blank email to leave-45678-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
