What capabilities do brain implants have While some people frighten others with chipping, which is secretly carried out by the evil world behind the-scenes government, others are waiting for the opportunity to acquire a chip in the brain in order to restore health and lost body functions. Conspiracy theories are being explored elsewhere, and we propose to find out with MedAboutMe more pressing things: what existing brain implants already know, and what they are still learning.
“Digital tablet” in the head: What capabilities do brain implants have?
On the one hand, the idea that something alien, not alive, but capable of influencing the functions of the body, may appear in your own head is quite unpleasant for many people. The very conspiracy theories and the control of behaviour by an outside (and certainly insidious) force immediately come to mind.
What capabilities do brain implants have Those who are older can also remember several films that were released at the end of the 20th century – about how hard it can be for those who, due to various disasters, only half survived, and the rest of the body had to be robotized. In Robocop, for example, a guy has already died, he died completely, and he was revived, robotized, and still forced to go to work. And nowhere to go – the body is no longer its own.
Wouldn’t it be the same with these digital pills? What about the ethical side of the issue?
I must say that initially they called “digital tablets” something completely different, and they still call them. This name was first applied to a new type of drug: a microdevice is embedded in the capsule with the active substance, capable of communicating with a smartphone and activated when it enters the body. In this way, it is possible to monitor the patient’s compliance with the doctor’s recommendations for taking the medicine and the degree of his adherence to treatment.
It was assumed that such pills could provide better control over the treatment of patients who are not particularly responsible for relying on: elderly people with dementia, psychiatric patients, HIV patients or drug addicts. However, even in this case, there is a lot of controversy regarding the ethics of such control. For example, Belgian scientists,
What can we say about an implant that can directly and directly affect the activity of the brain? How does this threaten humanity?
What capabilities do brain implants have in Implants and Behavior Management?
To begin with, it is necessary to determine what is considered a desirable intervention in behaviour and what is not. The use of implants for the treatment of depression with suicidal tendencies is an obvious boon. As well as in order to prevent the drug addict from “breaking loose” and returning to the use of psychoactive substances.
Brain implants: what are they capable of such an implantable device is really capable of influencing the behaviour of the creature in whose brain it is implanted, whether it be a laboratory rat or a person. How great the danger of losing the free will, in this case, is an open question. Perhaps such a risk exists, simply because there is always someone who wants to use any invention to achieve their own goals at the expense of other people.
But, as they say, “You should not throw out the baby with the water.” Because even today brain implants can greatly help people suffering from various ailments.
For example, the same microchips that can influence the behaviour of drug addicts have a number of other functions. These devices can continuously target drugs to help treat epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, certain types of brain cancer and stroke, and read important brain activity indicators and send the data to a doctor using a smartphone connection.
At the same time, the device has a small size, is made of biocompatible polymers and can be recharged wirelessly, that is, cause the wearer a minimum of inconvenience. The development of such implants is being carried out by a group of scientists from the United States and Korea, as reported in an article in Nature Biomedical Engineering in 2019 and 2021. Using the same chips, scientists can receive information,
Function restoration microchips
In 2023, information appeared about the successful clinical trial of a microchip implanted in the brain of a person with Parkinson’s disease. The device affects the damaged areas of the brain with weak electrical impulses. A patient named Tony Howells, with the help of a microchip, was able to get rid of the symptoms of the disease, which made his life very difficult: Tony could not only walk normally but also perform other actions, from tying shoelaces to ordinary household chores.
By the way, implants can be implanted not only in the brain but also in the spinal cord. This is done, in particular, in cases of paralysis of the lower extremities and spinal injuries. Implants take on the function of transmitting nerve impulses, the patency of which is impaired due to illness or damage to the spinal cord. The effectiveness of this treatment method is reported in an article published by a team of authors in Nature Medicine in 2023.
Brainstem implants help restore hearing to people with congenital malformations of the hearing organs and even in the absence of the auditory nerve, when cochlear implantation is not effective.
A microchip implanted in the brain of a 36-year-old man from San Francisco saved him from “imprisonment” in his own body. After a severe stroke, the guy was completely paralyzed and retained only the ability to move his eyes. What capabilities do brain implants have This condition is very close to “locked-in syndrome”, and very severe. Doctors managed to help the patient with a device that could read electrical impulses that would control speech in a healthy person. The computer converts the received impulses into letters and words and displays them on the screen.
Interestingly, the first words of the patient, once again able to communicate with the outside world, were words about how he hates the food he is fed in the clinic. This, of course, is not a full-fledged speech, but still, a real opportunity to communicate with people around you and report on your condition, desires and problems.
In January 2023, a microchip was implanted into the brain of the first patient, which acts with a series of weak electrical impulses on a certain area of ?? the brain, a dysfunction which leads to the development of depression.
The trial will last for a year, and it is planned to install similar devices in several more patients.
The well-known Ilan Musk is also testing (so far on monkeys) a Brain implants implant that can literally control a computer and smartphone with the power of thought. Theoretically, such a device will be able to perform a variety of tasks, ranging from sending an SMS from a smartphone and checking email to making purchases on the Internet. This can be a very big help for people with disabilities and special needs.
Russia is also not lagging behind in this area. Scientists from the Higher School of Economics, in collaboration with colleagues from the Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry, have developed a device that recognizes the words a person wants to say, which can help many people with speech impairments in communication.
And Skoltech has developed an innovative method for the rehabilitation of the lower extremities using implants based on the brain-computer interface (brain-computer).
These and other similar developments give hope to many people who suffer from hearing, speech, and vision impairments, and who are deprived of the ability to move and do many things that are not difficult for everyone else. Visit Our Site.
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