

Mixed Feelings  - geuis
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.04/esp_pr.html?

======
whatusername
Thankyou for this article.. One of the better ones I've read on HN in a while.

Something I'd never considered before about how our senses work.. And the fact
that you would use the tongue to "see" even partially is incredible.

~~~
geuis
This has actually had my brain buzzing for a while today. I think there are
some interesting business ideas in here to make n-sense products for disabled
and non-disabled people. I say "n-sense" as in "n-number of extra senses".

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davidbnewquist
The "visual tongue radar" (allows psuedo vision via an electrical impulse grid
on the tongue) interface is intriguing. The reporter describes:

"Thinking back on it, I don't remember the feeling of the electrodes on my
tongue at all during my walkabout. What I remember are pictures: high-contrast
images of cubicle walls and office doors, as though I'd seen them with my
eyes."

This article reminds me of a 2003 story (that made the cover of Wired) about a
prototype brain implant artificial vision system and its hopeful Canadian
patient, Jens Naumann. Here's a link:
<http://www.cbc.ca/sunday/sight/story3.html>.

Does anyone know the eventual outcome of Jen's story? I can't find any follow-
up stories about him.

The tongue interface seems like a less invasive alternative to Jen's system;
although, you probably can't speak while it's active.

~~~
geuis
Dobelle died a few years ago. The FDA would never give approval for the
experimental surgeries so he ended up moving his operations to Portugal. There
were only a handful of patients that ever had this procedure done, Jens and
Cheri Robertson that I know of. Dobelle's company was supposed to provide
life-long support for Jens and Robertson but that has ended. The company ran
out of funding within the last 2 years. Cheri's equipment no longer works, and
she had to send it to one of the technicians who helped design it personally
to try and have it fixed. I'm not sure if that has ever happened.

Cheri has had continuous problems with the implants since they were done.
Her's never healed correctly and she has constantly been leaking blood and
brain fluids from one of the cortical shunts.

In a recent interview where Cheri met Jans in person, he has been having many
problems with his implants over the years and is thinking about having another
surgery to have it removed. His equipment had stopped working several years
ago and was never repaired. Overall, he ultimately said he was disappointed
with the entire thing and probably would not do it again. Cheri remain(ed|s)
more optimistic, but currently there is no long-term plan for continued
improvement or support for the patients that underwent this experiment.

~~~
davidbnewquist
Thanks for responding. Based on the lack of follow up press, I had suspected
less than hoped for results. Jens and Cheri were courageous for volunteering,
and hopefully their data can be used to someday improve the technology.

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stratomorph
The airplane system intrigued me. Most aircraft these days (save light
aircraft that really only get flown in day VFR) already have a digital notion
of pitch and bank, which is trivially repeated around the cockpit to the
indicators and flight management system, among others. It would be simple
(compared to most avionics upgrades) to add a pitch and bank port that you
could plug something like that into. Two signal channels plus a few watts of
28 VDC aircraft power in some kind of standard interface.

I think wearing that would make it much easier to trust your instruments, the
first and hardest challenge of instrument flying. Once disoriented, it takes
an awful lot of discipline to ignore what your inner ear is telling you and
steer by the needles. Even on a bright clear day with a beautiful horizon,
looking to the side when you roll out of a turn a little too fast, maybe with
a slight sub-1G pushover, and straight-and-level flight feels like a weird
turn. At night, you end up with unfortunate accidents (like John Kennedy Jr's)
that claim an awful lot of lives just because the horizon isn't visible and
you don't trust the instrument that is proven to be wrong much less often than
you are.

The FAA would be suspicious of such instruments, and rightfully so, but I
think in time it would be an invaluable addition to a pilot's awareness. There
would of course have to be a constant low-level stimulation, to make it
immediately obvious that the device is powered, and an instant indication that
the device is not receiving reliable information from the aircraft's attitude
system (such as maybe "blinking" the pilot's wrists) as well as visible
indicators on the instrument panel. With normal aviation precautions, and an
injunction not to rely solely on such "newfangled contraptions", I think this
would be a very valuable system. There would be less cockpit voice recordings
of pilots who couldn't quite figure out why their instruments were "all
screwed up."

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DLWormwood
[http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/death_by_chocolate/the_ls...](http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/death_by_chocolate/the_lsbumble_bee-
lyrics-1250850.html) (Yes, I know it's only a cover...)

    
    
        I fly to the land
        Where my hands can see
        And my eyes can walk
        And the mountains talk
    
        I hear with my knees
        Run with my nose
        Smell with my feet
        My mouth is a rose
    

Just as much modern tech is attributed to pop culture sci-fi (id est Star
Trek), stuff like this make me wonder if the drug culture was also an
influence...

EDIT: I'm surprised this discussion hasn't mentioned synesthesia yet, which is
the "natural" precedent of senses misdirecting themselves in the brain.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia>

