Talk:Brain implant

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[edit] Related Mental Conditions

I have read a lot of stories about people that actually believe that they have such an implant (although they have not of course) and are being controlled by other people. But what they really are experiencing is a form of Paranoid Schizophrenia. If anyone have more insight into this topic it might be worth mentioning in this context.

Re: I have interesting insight into this with online research to back it up. Contact me by email from skewsme.com if you want to write it.

[edit] CIA Activity

Please cite relevant sources for the supposed "details" of the CIA's implantation of brain implants. Making unsubstantiated claims and then making a snide comment that "editors" should check with someone in the field before deleting them is not sufficient. Ha-reed 02:34, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Cyborgs

"...see brain implants as part of a next step for humans in progress and evolution, whereas others fear humankind losing essential human qualities and being changed into cyborgs."

I think bioconservatives aren't apprehensive about mechanical or artificial parts mixed in with their organic parts (the definition of cyborg), but rather they're apprehensive about the implications, such as that it is unnatural (in this view). Mechanical hearts, corrective lens and artificial bone components are not seen apprehensively, though they do technically change people into cybernetic organisms (cyborgs).--Nectarflowed T 05:42, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Sorry, I just found your comment concerning "cyborgs". Let me reply to that. I think the fears are somehow connected though it is right, as you state, that the brain implants that are mostly used don't scare people that much. There are other implants, some of which discussed in the article, which are for mind control, etc. and are feared much the same way as people fear cyborgs. But maybe the paragraph is too blatant. I will try to make it more serious with a copyedit from your comment. Ben T/C 02:40, Jun 2, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Research

In the third paragraph there is a link to an article:

"electronic-based neuron transistors for leeches ([5]), control of the movements of rats, etc."

How relevant is that article referred to by [5] to the discussion? It is a long text and the relevant part is quite close to the end, which makes me suspect most people would probably quit reading it after the first few paragraphs. I'm also not too sure about placing that link right behind the leeches thing. -Luuknam

[edit] Sabotage

Someone deleted the reference that credited my illustrated essay as the basis for this article that mirror sites still report: "Brain Implants" by SkewsMe.com at www.skewsme.com/implants.html . Who deleted it and why?

[edit] Neuroprosthetics

Should this article be moved to neuroprosthetics? Neuroprosthetics is listed as one of the areas of neuroscience on the neuroscience page. --Nectarflowed T 20:47, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Seems reasonable. I do it and have a redirect from here. Ben T/C
Done. Thanks for the suggestion.
This will require some changes in the article. Ben T/C

However, prosthesis only refers to the replacement of a *missing* body part, whereas brain implants can refer to either corrective replacements or replacements meant for improvement of a healthy part of the brain. I'm aware that science hasn't quite gotten to that point yet, but still... In the fiction part there's plenty of non-prosthetic brain implants. "Neural prosthesis" is a more popular term than neuroprosthesis anyway. I suggest keeping "Brain Implant" as a page on its own and either linking "Neuroprosthesis" to it or making a separate page for it dealing with just neuro*prosthetics*. -Luuknam

I've seen prosthesis used to refer to any device used to augment human abilities. Usage for replacement limbs is the usage most widely known, but, when prosthetics is under discussion, I've seen even a notepad be referred to as a memory prosthesis. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language defines prosthetics as "The branch of medicine or surgery that deals with the production and application of artificial body parts [not replacement-Nectarflowed]."[1] So it does seem like this term can be used for both therapeutic applications as well as future enhancement applications.
I used Merriam Websters, and that one said prostheses were replacements for missing body parts. That's also the context I've always heard it used in.Luuknam
A google test of Neuroprosthetics returns 2300 results, and "Neural prosthetics" returns 1100 results (searching in quotes searchs for the words as a phrase). It should, though, be mentioned that "Neural prosthesis" returns more results than Neuroprosthesis, so there is variance between the different word forms, and both are in professional use (for example here. Another term is 'neural interface,' but, in conclusion, I think 'neuroprosthetics' emphasizes that the field is within neuroscience and medicine. (type ~ 4 times in a row to sign your name at the end of your post :) --Nectarflowed T 21:32, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Oops, sorry, I'd googled for neuroprostheses instead of prosthetics. I guess the popularity is ambiguous indeed. The article "Neural interface" seems already to have been linked to an article that's relevant anyway. Luuknam 22:22, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)
I think brain implant, as well as Brain-computer_interface and cyberware should be merged into neuroprosthetics, an area of neuroscience.--Nectarflowed T 28 June 2005 10:14 (UTC)
I don't think a merge is warranted. The brain is only a part of the nervous system. Neuroprosthetics is the more general term, merge brain implant into there if anywhere. I see nothing wrong with seperate articles; indepth discussion of brain implants(sci-fi, research, futurists) would likely become so large as to drown out the more practical tone of neuroprosthetics(sensory prosthetics, field overview). Also, a brain-computer interface is a non-trivial(ie long article) component of any of these prosthetics. Merging all of these articles together would create a monstrously large page. Intangir 20:52, 7 November 2005 (UTC)
I think - as suggested by Nectarflowed - brain implant and neuroprosthetics should be merged. To say neuro- is much clearer than brain. Cyberware and brain-computer inferface concern slightly different (maybe sub- maybe not sub-) topics. Ben T/C 13:54, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
Neuro is not clearer than "brain". C. Elegans neurons can be described by the word "neuro", but "brain" implies a higher evolutionary state. Telencephelon implants would be even better! Brain implants are also not a subset of neural prosthetics. Deep brain stimulation, for example, uses brain implants, but has no prosthetic role. With respect to brain-computer interfaces, all the limiting work currently is having brain implants that work well enough, and understanding the brain well enough to couple it to an external device. The external device, in this case a computer, is the "solved" part of the problem. Also, brain-computer interfaces may be done non-invasively using EEG or MEG technology. It may not work so well, but it is a clear demonstration that brain implants are a distinct entity from brain-computer interfaces. --Animalresearcher 17:02, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Please note: there is overlap between Brain-computer interface and Brain implant articles

I think there is some overlap between these two articles. It might be useful if we define the scope of these two articles more clearly and move around some of the information. It is my opinion, and correct me here if I am wrong, that a brain-computer interface is about establishing a communication interface (incoming, outgoing or both) while a brain implant refers to more to a specific type of technology that is inserted into the brain (be it communicating or not, for example, it could be a specific piece of biological tissue that is inserted such as fetal tissue to treat a degenerative disease.) If this distinction is accepted then we could rearrange both articles in this fashion. --Ben Houston 02:21, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Clarifications, fixed broken links, improved material on Jose Delgado, too much focus on the CIA

Hi, I've attempted to clarify the difference between brain implants and BCI (I'd say brain implants are a subset of BCI research). I've also repaired some broken links and attempted to improve the material concerning Jose Delgado after reading a well-researched Scientific American article on the topic. I also wonder that there's too much focus on the CIA's 'contribution' to the brain implants and neuro-prosthetics pages, especially in light of recent advances that have been carried out for therapeutic reasons. Thanks, Saganaki-.Ello Ello, 6 September 2006.

[edit] Suggest merging Brain implant page into Brain-computer interface page

I suggest we merge this page with the brain computer interface (BCI) page because brain implants are a subset of this research. Brain implants and non-invasive imaging/EEG type techniques seem to be the two main thrusts of BCI research so there's plenty of scope for duplication between this and the BCI page. The BCI page also has a far larger amount of up-to-date content although I'd say there's scope to make the language more user friendly and improve the formatting. There's also plenty of material in this page that's of dubious provenance. Thanks, Saganaki-. Ello Ello, 6 September 2006.

[edit] Brain implants in fiction and philosophy

Both Cube and its sequal Cube Zero deal heavily in brain implant.-- Jreferee 23:34, 3 November 2006 (UTC)