Did you know that there is technology being studied and manufactured to implant a chip into your brain which would allow anyone who had it to interact with computers/phones/tablets with only a thought.
Primary Motor Cortex of Brain
I was recently shown a series of videos which depicted a new microchip that can be implanted into the brain which allows for a computer-brain connection. The end goal of this research is to connect these chips with wires that allow a connection from the brain’s motor cortex to the spinal cord which would allow for signals to muscle tissue which in turn would allow disabled people to regain the use of their limbs. When I was watching the video, I was thinking of how the brain is often likened to a supercomputer, full of electrical impulses that send signals to the different parts of our brain to do different tasks. So, when you think about it simplistically like that it makes sense that someone would be able to connect a couple of wires and allow broken connections to function again. But the brain is delicate and complex, and these wires must be placed very particularly in order for the connections to function properly. While the video showed that there was success with animal trials (pigs and monkeys) scientists also must think about how human bodies are good at maintaining themselves and therefore adding foreign bodies/technology into it runs the risk of rejection as well as degradation depending on the materials used to manufacture the chips/wires. This new technology is revolutionary and when fully functional will change lives.