16 March 2014, 11:38 PM IST
The brain is often called the "Three Pound Enigma" for a reason. How does the newborn human brain that weighs about 350 to 400 grams (0.77 to 0.88 pounds) at birth evolve rapidly to become so complex at 1300 to 1400 grams (2.87 to 3.1 pounds) as to be able to design supercomputers and create languages with its own rules of grammar and create stories to name just a few miracles that the brain can perform. What happens to the human being when we supplement the brain with devices that restore or supplement the mind's capacities with electronics inserted directly into the nervous system? The science is called neuroprosthetics. <read more here>
Imagine someone who is completely paralyzed being able to drink a cup of coffee simply by moving a robot arm with only her brain and a neural implant that can read her mind. The transformative power of such technology can be incredible. It can change the quality of her life beyond imagination. One of the earliest examples of neuroprosthetics is a cochlear implant. Imagine being able to connect many other parts of the body to the brain instead.
We still do not understand the mysteries of the human brain. Take for example a condition called Synesthesia, a condition where a person visualizes numbers as colors. One in thirty people have synesthesia. It is a condition that affects artists and writers eight times more. The famous music composer Franz Liszt saw musical tomes as colors and often told his orchestra to play the note a little bluer or a deep violet. His orchestra players realized after a while that it was not a joke, Liszt actually saw the notes as colors.
The neurosurgeon VS Ramachandran writes about this condition in his book The Tell-Tale Brain. He sees this condition not just as a quirk but as a key to understanding how we develop our abilities to learn languages and use of metaphors. William Shakespeare, in his play "As You Like It", compares the world to a stage and that we humans must play our part. Or when Sylvia Plath, compares the blood flowing from her cut thumb to the running of a million soldiers, could it be that they were synesthates?
Remember the curious case of the double amputee Oscar Pistorius who competed with able bodied athletes in the summer Olympics in London in 2012. His able bodied competitors raised the question if "the Blade Runner" as Oscar was dubbed by the popular press had an advantage as he ran 400m in under 50 seconds. The Olympics wanted to put all athletes on a level playing field. So did the carbon fiber blades give him an advantage? <read more here>
"If this was such a technologically advanced prosthetic leg, then how come not everyone's qualifying, or coming close to the qualification time, then?"
Neuroprosthetics is already being used to give people with Parkinson's disease the ability to reduce the tremors that affect them. As science progresses, we know it will allow people who will use neuroprosthetics to gain perfect memory, the ability to see in the dark or even extraordinary focus. It is not hard to imagine that wealthy parents will be happy to pay for a minor surgery that gives their child the ability to recall everything he or she reads even once. Will progress then be the preserve of the rich? Will that deepen the digital divide?
Do you this technology could be misused? Leave your opinion in the comments.
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Read more about The Tell-Tale Brain <click here>
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