

Bionic Bodies: Why the Future for Quadriplegics Looks So Bright - danso
http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/11/bionic-bodies-why-the-future-for-quadriplegics-looks-so-bright/247362/

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127
Reminds me of the quote: "The future is already here — it's just not very
evenly distributed."

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kevinalexbrown
This method is awesome, but the biggest problem isn't batteries, or whatnot.
It's that the electrodes don't always last as long as we want. Often it's on
the order of 6 months to a year in humans. No one wants to have their head cut
open repeatedly.

If a doctor said "you can walk for 1 year only" would you take it? I would,
but not for the personal benefit. The loss of walking so soon after gaining it
would be hard. I'd really only be doing it for the scientific advancement.

I've worked in labs that do similar things, I'm not trying to knock it, I'm
just saying there are still a lot of hurdles to be overcome to make it a
realistic solution. And we've been working on these hurdles (electrodes
lasting longer) for 10 years.

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kiba
They only talk about healthcare and functional replacement? People seems to
not talk much beyond that. The implication could be staggering.

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sunsu
Hopefully battery tech will progress fast enough to power these devices. Right
now it definitely isn't there as evidenced by Darpa's exoskeleton which is
still powered via a cable.

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mietek
Are there any companies which work in this field and need programmers? In
Europe?

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Mz
Nerve damage can be healed. I wish there was more focus -- or at least equal
focus -- on that fact. I've healed minor nerve damage in myself. This would be
a matter of scale. A lot of the information already exists and even main
stream medicine is working on regenerative medicine. It would just need to be
ramped up, basically. And it would give better quality of life and be cheaper
in the long run to just repair the body.

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thebooktocome
Why bother healing nerve damage if the replacement limb is better than the
original would ever be?

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Mz
This article mentions an exoskeleton, not a replacement limb. In other words,
you keep the non-functional part and add something on top of it. (I've met a
couple of quadriplegics. They are, in some sense, slowly rotting hunks of
meat. I know this in part because I have a compromised immune system and it
makes me very ill to be around one of them.)

If you lose a limb and they replace it with a prosthesis and are working on
improving those, great! Seriously. But if you have your original equipment and
it just doesn't work, that's a different situation. For example, with organ
transplants, you take anti-rejection drugs the rest of your life. I see no
reason to believe that a replacement really is as good as getting the original
part to work properly. Everything I have seen seems to put a great deal of
emphasis on gee-golly-whiz (headline grabbing) solutions (organ transplants,
exoskeletons, etc) and not nearly enough on keeping people healthy to begin
with or healing what is still there.

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thebooktocome
> I see no reason to believe that a replacement really is as good as getting
> the original part to work properly.

It's certainly possible:

[http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/17/prosthetic-limbed-
runner-...](http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/17/prosthetic-limbed-runner-
disqualified-from-olympics/)

These legs allow him to run more efficiently than his original legs would
have.

[http://www.npr.org/2011/06/13/137029208/heart-with-no-
beat-o...](http://www.npr.org/2011/06/13/137029208/heart-with-no-beat-offers-
hope-of-new-lease-on-life)

The relevant quote is: "'These pumps don't wear out,' he says. 'We haven't
pumped one to failure to date.'" The same can not be said of the human heart.

The rest of your argument is from lack of imagination.

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Mz
_The rest of your argument is from lack of imagination._

My opinions on this topic are mostly rooted in having "atypical cystic
fibrosis" and getting the hole in my left lung to close (tissue regeneration)
when doctors say that is not possible.

Peace.

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egypturnash
Fuck. Yeah.

