Cyperpunk2019 is real, cyper implants cure blindness

lackblogger

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I think this deserves it's own thread beyond a science thread entry, what with it's timing so close to Cyberpunk hype and what with it being such a OMG thing:

Six blind people regain partial sight thanks to ‘bionic’ glasses
Jess Glass Saturday 13 Jul 2019 10:58 am

A new ‘bionic eye’ pair of glasses have helped to restore partial sight to six blind people by sending video images to their brains. Vision was partially returned to the six who took part in a university study by using a video camera attached to glasses linked to electrodes implanted in the brain’s visual cortex.

The Orion glasses work by bypassing the participants’ eyes and damaged optic nerves entirely and directly sending the footage to the brain. University College London lecturer and Optegra Eye Hospital surgeon Alex Shortt said the implants were a significant development.

https://metro.co.uk/2019/07/13/six-blind-people-regain-partial-sight-thanks-bionic-glasses-10249917/
 
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Coincidently, this story also tied in with a video that popped up on my YouTube recommendations last night. The video was more of a podcast about loads of different topics, but one segment stuck out to me where he was philosophising on cyberpunk and body choice. How, in the future the debate wont be about genders nor even multi-genders as all of this kind of stuff will be completely irrelevant to the prevailing debate of the day being what version of enhancement you are. In effect, things like bionic limbs for the disabled, plastic surgery, the trans phenomena, DNA coding to fight ailments, and the above are all merely the same topic, we just don't know it yet. In the future, character creation will be more a reality than it is in most fantasy cRPGs.

And another thing that I immediately thought of is, of course, that at some point we'll probably all be impelled to have these implants regardless of ailment due to insurance stipulation. If you refuse the recording device eye implant then you are automatically refused all forms of relevant insurance, lol. An inevitable escalation of the current trend towards car-video-recorders and CCTV.
 
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A few months ago I read an article about a serious firm in Germany employing blind people because of their superior tactile sense : They are employed to touch and feel patients to determine whether they have cancer in early stages or not.


By the way, the Cochlea Implantate enables people to listen to some degree, although that must be learned.
In TV I saw a documentary about a young girl who has that. For both ears. Without her outer devices she is totally deaf.
 
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@lackblogger;

Yes it's a very interesting topic, i always love to fantasize about this stuff..

You could argue that we are already part machines due to our mobile phones that (many of us) lives with and are almost inseparable from, it's more like a part of us that extends us beyond human form into part computer.

But I'm not entirely sure that in the long run tech and science will win over religious fanatism. Years ago i was sure of it, now not so much. The movie Idiocracy is more how I view the future (partially we are there, at least in some parts of the world) - only not so white and the dumbness is more due to religion and IQ drops than TV shows, or a mix of the two perhaps.
I don't think this is the peak before the drop though, that's most likely quite distant yet.
 
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A few months ago I read an article about a serious firm in Germany employing blind people because of their superior tactile sense : They are employed to touch and feel patients to determine whether they have cancer in early stages or not.
...
Got any references?

pibbur
 
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