Would you like to become a cyborg?

Cyborgization versus Disability

Geektimes, blog of ASUS Russia

Progress in the development of modern neural interfaces, electronics, precision mechanics, and even 3D printing will allow in the future to make cyborgization not a fad of techno-geeks and cyberpunk fans, but almost an ordinary tool for returning people "into service". A striking example of this is Hugh Herr.

Probably, some of you have already heard about this head of the Biomechatronics research group from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He became famous for his developments in the field of bionic prostheses. Herr himself once lost both legs, so the subject of his research is more than close to him. A team of scientists under his leadership managed to create several breakthrough samples of prostheses. Thanks to his own inventions, Herr still continues to engage in his long—standing hobby - rock climbing.

Herr's life and achievements can be called an ideal illustration of the phrase "the best way to predict the future is to create it." At the age of 17, he was already an experienced climber, but during a blizzard he strayed from the group and spent three days on the slope. When he was found, both legs were so frostbitten that they had to be amputated just below the knees. At that age, it would break anyone. And for more mature people, such a misfortune often completely distorts life. However, the young man adequately withstood the blow of fate: as soon as the stitches healed, he began to try on various models of prostheses in order to return to the mountains again. However, nothing that he tried was decidedly suitable for this task.

And Herr decided to create his own prostheses. All his further education turned out to be subordinated to the main goal. And today, 33 years later, Herr walks, runs and climbs mountains on high-tech prostheses developed by him. Moreover, today it is one of the most advanced designs among bionic artificial limbs.

It is quite logical that Herr is one of the most authoritative apologists for the use of electromechanical solutions for people who have lost a particular part of the body. And here it is difficult for supporters of the biological (read, transplant) approach to object to something.
 Today, scientists and engineers around the world are developing electronic systems and structures capable of somehow receiving signals from the human body sent to lost organs and limbs. Neuroimplants are one of the most promising areas. Connecting directly to the nervous system will bring cyborgization to a whole new level, give an unprecedented impetus to its development. If Herr's research group focused on managing artificial limbs, then a number of other teams are working on... managing emotions. For example, experiments are underway to treat depression (real clinical depression, not melancholy) with deep brain stimulation using implanted electrodes. We can also mention the work on implanting memory chips to patients who have problems with their own memory.

Bodily electricityAt the forefront of modern bionics is the postulate that it is much more effective to correct a very wide range of ailments and physical disabilities using the "language" of electrical signals sent by the brain.

We will be able to control body movement, mood and memory. It is possible that in 50 years progress in neural interfaces will allow the creation of implants and prostheses that will fully take over the functions of damaged and lost organs and limbs.

The role of electricity in the transmission of control impulses in the nervous system became known in the 18th century. Their source is the brain. Modern medicine is almost entirely based on the use of chemicals that can affect the behavior of neurons and body cells. However, in the coming 21st century, a new, electrical medicine may arise, which will be based on the direct impact of control impulses on the nervous system.

Let's go back to Herr again. His group managed to achieve a very high naturalness of the movements of the prostheses. The key to this lies in recording and decoding the impulses sent from the brain to the muscles. Below is one of the early bionic prostheses developed under the direction of Herr.

Such a control scheme of the prosthesis, through intermediate reading of muscle signals, has its drawbacks. Ideally, it is best to receive control information directly from the nervous system and immediately transmit it to the prosthesis. This will greatly increase the accuracy of movements and the speed of reaction. In addition, there will be a possibility of feedback, that is, the transmission of data from the prosthesis itself to the nervous system. When a person is able to touch the surrounding world with a prosthesis, it will be the greatest breakthrough in bionics.

At the same time, a number of recent samples of bionic prostheses already demonstrate excellent accuracy and accuracy of movements:

Deep brain stimulationUnlike physical disabilities, when there is a "before/after" boundary, patients with depression cannot distinguish the moment when their illness began.

Often they don't even consider themselves sick. Depression is a state of mind in which you can stay for years without experiencing the slightest pleasure from life, without seeing hope.

As mentioned above, one of the experimental treatments for depression is DBS, deep brain stimulation. Electrodes are implanted into the areas responsible for the depressive state, to which certain electrical impulses are applied. This is an unexplored area of DBS application so far. In different countries, studies are being conducted on the possibility of treating DBS not only for depression, but for a whole range of neurological and psychiatric disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorders and post-traumatic syndromes. However, scientists still know little about which areas in our brain are "responsible" for such diseases.

The first results are encouraging: people who have had experimental samples implanted immediately notice an improvement in their emotional state as soon as the devices were turned on. And after the end of the experimental period, most wanted to leave the DBS implant working. And this cannot be attributed to the action of a placebo, because when the batteries ran out, there was a deterioration in the condition of the subjects.

Much further progress has been made in the field of motor function management. In particular, there are already about 100,000 patients with Parkinson's syndrome in the world, whom DBS helps to cope with tremor.

Memory and thinkingIt is quite possible that in the same 50 years cyborgization will become economically profitable.

With an increase in life expectancy and the extension of the working age, various age-related ailments will have an increasing impact on budget replenishment. Including the natural deterioration of memory and thinking abilities. And it is possible that it will be cheaper to implant "cognitive prostheses" than to take care of patients with senile dementia for 20 years.

Today, research is underway on the possibility of treating Alzheimer's disease with memory implants. In particular, Professor Theodor Berger conducted experiments on implanting electrodes into the hippocampus of the rat brain, the section that is responsible for memorizing information. Berger was able to distinguish two types of signals: from neurons processing the current experience, for example, which lever a rat needs to press to get a sweet treat; as well as signals from neurons sending information to the area of the brain responsible for memory. After mapping the relationships, it will be possible to record input signals and predict the corresponding memorization impulses. Moreover, Berger has already conducted experiments on recording fake memories in the rat's brain about which lever activates the issuance of treats. Fake not in the sense of "erroneous", just memories were implanted in a rat that had not yet participated in the experiment with levers.

Moreover, Berger's research group has already conducted similar experiments with primates (Hampson et al., Facilitation of Memory Encoding in Primate Hippocampus by a Neuroprosthesis that Promotes Task Specific Neural Firing // J Neural Eng. 2013), and in the next few years they hope to do the same in humans. The professor is sure that in 50 years old people will simply turn on the implanted memory module to remember where they put the keys or what their grandchildren's names are. After such a forecast, numerous fantastic books and films immediately come to mind, in which fake memories of the main characters are played out.

Existential concernsIt is quite natural that the enthusiasm of scientists like Herr and Berger regarding our cyborgized future does not always arouse enthusiasm among ordinary people, to whom this very future is predicted.

Many are afraid of the idea that some kind of hardware with microchips will be implanted in their body. Moreover, a prosthesis is one thing, and it's quite another when they promise to implant something in the brain en masse. Such philosophical questions as whether a cyborg will remain a human being if more than half of his body is replaced with artificial components are based on these fears?

Supporters of cyborgization are sure that such reflection will disappear by itself as technology develops and society gets used to it. Especially when more and more satisfied patients will appear, to whom various bionic devices have returned the joy of being and the fullness of existence.

In response to this, there are concerns of a different plan: as soon as the technology reaches a sufficiently high level, there will be a wide demand for bionic implants and prostheses not only from the disabled and sick. There are many perfectly healthy people who wish to become cyborgs for the sake of expanding the physical capabilities of their body. This trend may be especially strong among those who are already approaching old age. Imagine that by the age of 50 you no longer have the former flexibility and freedom in joints and ligaments, and your friend has replaced his arm with an artificial one, upgrades it every few years and feels like a boy. Anyone will think about it here.

There is nothing to say about bionic memory implants, the demand for them will clearly go through the roof. We are prepared for this element of cyborgization, perhaps even more than for prosthetics, thanks to the same fiction. One of the most striking examples is the character Simon Illyan from the book cycle of the writer Lois McMaster Bujold about Miles Vorkosigan. Illyan had an eidetic memory chip implanted in his youth, thanks to which he could recall every second of his life with cinematic accuracy. In reality, the free distribution of bionic chips can lead to the emergence of a kind of caste of people with higher cognitive abilities. They will be more capable in their studies and career advancement, which may result in the emergence of a new social class of cyborgs who will compete with the traditional upper class for world governance. The consequences will be unpredictable, from a complete ban on bionics to the formation of a supreme caste of people who have been given the opportunity to improve their body and mind with the help of high technology.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru11.03.2015