Its here- the beginning of the end

[nemaroller]

Sure we all thought about controlling our environment via thought...

and this research devices demonstrates the beginning of that reality.

You wouldn't have to be disabled.. all you need to be is lazy!

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/10/20/explorers.braingate/

[StevenHickerson]

Wow, thats like straight out of a science fiction novel. The possabilities that little chip open up are endless. Not only for lazy people but with a chip like that they could theoretically enable a completely paralyzed person to have full control over their body again. Of course it would take hundred or thousands of chips across the entire body to stimulate teh muscles and cause them to work.

Also communicating without speech just thought is probably within reach soon with this kind of technological breakthrough.

I can only associate all this with one thing, "We are the borg, resistance is futile" hehehe

Really though, that is an astonishing discovery. I always thought it would be possible some day since we all know the brain is nothing but a bunch of electircal impulses and all that needed to be done was to figure out how to intercept and read those impulses. I just never imagined it would be realized in my lifetime.

[mendhak]

I'm going to get myself a chip #666.

[BodwadUK]

Cool

How long till they reverse it and can make us see things via a chip for the blind???

[wossname]

The end of the world is nigh.

People with a genetic predisposition to quadroplegia will be able to move and walk around and even reproduce as normal people. This means that the next generation of children will be quadroplegic and will require these chips.

Gradually, all forms of physical impairment will be cured leaving the human race completely dependant upon synthetic drugs and devices to do even the simplest thing.

All you need to disable an entire country would be a strong solar flare or an EMP detonation. All the electronic gizmos present inthe body will be destroyed or damaged, rendering the person helpless in some circumstances.

Humans stopped evolving when they realised how to cure illnesses and fix broken bones. It could be argued that we stopped evolving when we became sentient, because we were able to not only change our environment but to DESIGN IT!!!

Stop curing AIDS, cancer, TB, typhoid etc and let a few die off now and then. Thats life baby! The survivors will be better adapted to the Earth and their offspring will be less dependant on the technology thrust upon their ancestors. For evolution to take place, people need to be allowed to die! This is solid fact.

Paradoxically, medicine is a step towards pestilence.

$0.02

[wossname]

Originally posted by BodwadUK
Cool

How long till they reverse it and can make us see things via a chip for the blind???

That has already been done actually. I think it was on Equinox or Horizon or one of those science shows.

Some bloke lost his sight when he was 4 and had an implant in his brain 40 years later. The vision it provided was very low resolution (equivalent to 100x100 pixels I think it was).

He kept getting freaked out and closing his eyes whenever something moved, he had to be taught how to see. Apparently, interpretation of visual data is dependant on where the implant is installed.

[BodwadUK]

Weird

[visualAd]

Originally posted by wossname
Humans stopped evolving...

I don't think that is correct. Evolution manifests its self in many different ways. I think evolution in humans at present is more survival of the smartest rather than the fittest, especially in Western countries.

With regards to bacteria, diseases and illnesses they are evolving super fast as we are working super fast to elminate them from our environment. So I don't really think we are getting healthier, we are getting more vunerable. Children now are born with weaker immune systems than those of the past and need injections like the MMR to protect them, thier waek immune systems are also protected too much from the outside world and as a result their own defences often start attacking themselves (i.e: diabetes, hepatitis, bowel disease).

All this doesn't mean we have stopped evolution, it means we have changed is course (probably for the worst). The very idea of controlling evolution is bullsh*t, we are nature and in nature all that counts is survival, so one way or another we will evolve to survive.

[crptcblade]

Let's blow up the Earth!

Who's with me?




Anyone?




Or do I have to get Ming the Merciless again?

[wossname]

Originally posted by visualAd
The very idea of controlling evolution is bullsh*t

I didn't say that. I said we control (some aspects of) the environment.

But your are right that "something" will survive. Whether it is an improvement on current humanity or not is open to debate. It is quite possible for one bad genetic mutation (say smaller brains) to get a free piggyback ride on the back of a good mutation (say larger lung capacity).

"...[a creature] could spontaneously evolve into something with far longer arms, but which is quite incapable of drinking the coffee." - DNA (ironically )

[Sgt-Peppa]

Originally posted by crptcblade
Let's blow up the Earth!

Who's with me?




Anyone?




Or do I have to get Ming the Merciless again?

I hit the red button if you do!

[crptcblade]

Good, because Ming and his cronies are part of the union, and you know how expensive that can get.

[BodwadUK]

I thiink we should attach a planet destroying bomb to a pogo stick. You have to bounce 50 times without falling off to set it off.

That way it can be a challenge

[crptcblade]

These cliche outbursts are getting kind of old.

[BodwadUK]

Arent we all

[nemaroller]

I think you guys take this survival of the fittest evolution argument too far...

You could let all the diseased people die off... and still be faced with new or stronger diseases even in the so-called 'fit' control group. They being the supposedly stronger of the species will still be susceptible to disease since virii mutate so often. Then you will have a new crop of once 'healthy' people to eliminate.

With that theory, you would end up with 1 person in the end, and that guy is working extra hard to stay alive, gets over exhausted, and then next flu season comes along and wipes the bloke off.

[nemaroller]

In fact, I have gotten sick once in the last 20 years... no fevers, sore throats, etc.. until May 2000 when a virus kicked my ass for about 3 months.

If we were still living in the primitive world and I was left to fend for my own food, I probably wouldn't have made it. But then I probably would have impregnated about 20 women by age 15.

[crptcblade]

Originally posted by nemaroller
If we were still living in the primitive world and I was left to fend for my own food, I probably wouldn't have made it. But then I probably would have impregnated about 20 women by age 15.

Hmmm...tough call

[Ecniv]

Cockroaches

[Shaggy Hiker]

Originally posted by nemaroller
In fact, I have gotten sick once in the last 20 years... no fevers, sore throats, etc.. until May 2000 when a virus kicked my ass for about 3 months.

If we were still living in the primitive world and I was left to fend for my own food, I probably wouldn't have made it. But then I probably would have impregnated about 20 women by age 15.

Hmmm, sounds like NoteMe...though in his case, a virus didn't kick his ass, he GOT a virus from kissing ass.

[BodwadUK]

[mendhak]

Would you consider the modification of the environment we live in as part of our progressive evolution? We make progresses in the medical field to fight ailments, and indeed, our immune system probably goes weaker. But that'd be part of the whole deal, wouldn't it? We make this sacrifice for the sake of an easier life.

Some like to refer to it as a modification of the environment, but this wouldn't have happened if we didn't exist, so it's just natural. Some also refer to it as a change in the direction, but if you think about it, what is supposed to be the right direction? And how do they know what direction is the right direction?

It's au naturel yo!

[BodwadUK]

The natural environment is changed by animals men and the weather. That IS natural progression. Therefore our changes are no different just because we manipulate the environment more efficiently or drastically. No rules exist because there is no goal

Doesnt mean we should damage the world, evolution has always been about making life easier and makeing ourselves stronger. That will not change just because we do things differently.

As to viruses, if an ancient Virus came back now we would not be immune and we may not be able to create a cure before millions die (if at all). We gain immunity to viruses just as quick as we probably loose it

[wossname]

If we all use Sandpaper, humanity will be saved. This is true.

On the first day god created the heavens and the stars, on the second day he invented beer and women with large breasts.

Day 3 he invented me and mendhak and told us to invent sandpaper.

Then he pottered around for a bit creating planets and stuff.

And lo, upon Mt Sinai Moses nicked the source code to Sandpaper and thus a religion was born.

Bloody plagiarist!

[dsheller]

Originally posted by BodwadUK
The natural environment is changed by animals men and the weather. That IS natural progression. Therefore our changes are no different just because we manipulate the environment more efficiently or drastically. No rules exist because there is no goal

Doesnt mean we should damage the world, evolution has always been about making life easier and makeing ourselves stronger. That will not change just because we do things differently.

As to viruses, if an ancient Virus came back now we would not be immune and we may not be able to create a cure before millions die (if at all). We gain immunity to viruses just as quick as we probably loose it

Last time I checked evolution didn't have a goal, just weeding out those not suited to the environment =)

[BodwadUK]

AKA what I said. As to wossy I think you may be struck down for such a unholy statement