ExtremeTech reports:
DARPA, on the back of the US government’s BRAIN program, has begun the development of tiny electronic implants that interface directly with your nervous system and can directly control and regulate many different diseases and chronic conditions, such as arthritis, PTSD, inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn’s disease), and depression. The program, called ElectRx (pronounced ‘electrics’), ultimately aims to replace medication with “closed-loop” neural implants, which constantly assess the state of your health, and then provide the necessary nerve stimulation to keep your various organs and biological systems functioning properly.
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DARPA Develops Implants that Treat Diseases and Depression Without Medication
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(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday September 05 2014, @01:29AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3) by frojack on Friday September 05 2014, @01:42AM
Never mind that bullet hole young man, you feel great, Go get em.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday September 05 2014, @02:20AM
Veterans may also benefit of the ultimate treatment for any of their ailments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by EvilJim on Monday September 15 2014, @06:14AM
Sounds like methamphetamine / provigil to me.
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Friday September 05 2014, @02:19AM
I think it's more about intercepting and modifying signals sent between organs and the brain, in order to alleviate symptoms or achieve much more complex outcomes. In that context (if it works) pain management would be the easiest fix of all, but it wouldn't be likely to "cure" arthritis by relieving inflammation. If an implant can affect or replace the involuntary nervous system, that's where you could see bowel problems being fixed. As for depression and PTSD, rerouting electric impulses in the brain could certainly act as an effective treatment. It's not far off from current treatments [nih.gov] for epilepsy and depression, or deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's.
The end goal of something like ElectRx would be a system that is smaller, less invasive, can be tuned to treat multiple disorders simultaneously and continuously, and perhaps... mandatory...
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday September 05 2014, @02:27AM
Not to mention that it will make the wearing a tin-hat fashionable. You know, just in case (suitcase size EMP devices [soylentnews.org], hackers, etc)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by takyon on Friday September 05 2014, @03:51AM
Fun times ahead
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday September 05 2014, @04:36AM
Yeap. But I'm not laughin' (yet... at least not until they won't forcefully implant me with one and turn the knob to "stupid grin" position)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 05 2014, @09:23AM
A device that can manipulate your pain nerves? How long until someone uses it for a 1984-style pain machine?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Subsentient on Friday September 05 2014, @01:40AM
Reminds me of biblical stuff. That's how it will start, for health, then money, then Microsoft ThinkRight (TM) etc.
All seems well and good until you realize you are Borg, with the lack of free will to match.
Anyone who thinks this technology will not be abused by governments is kidding themselves.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Friday September 05 2014, @01:40AM
And, don't trust those chips. Stay away. *hiss*
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 1) by High Five on Friday September 05 2014, @07:56AM
Joss Whedon's 'Dollhouse' [wikipedia.org] is a good sci-fi exposition on the subject matter here.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by cafebabe on Friday September 05 2014, @12:05PM
It reminds me of a series of games and, in particular, Syndicate Wars [wikipedia.org] from 1996.
1702845791×2
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 05 2014, @06:12PM
Free will is an illusion anyway. If something like this reminds you of biblical stuff, you may be extremely superstitious. Maybe you were just raised with superstition and haven't completely recovered yet.
It's sad that you get modded up because you tacked on the anti-government paranoia so popular with geeks who have gone off the deep end. Not even your blatant primitive superstitions dissuaded their anti-government knee-jerk reactions.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by NoMaster on Friday September 05 2014, @01:47AM
Shouldn't the title really be "DARPA Wants to Develop Implants that Treat Diseases and Depression Without Medication"?
Live free or fuck off and take your naïve Libertarian fantasies with you...
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday September 05 2014, @02:53AM
Since they already started, "develops" is correct.
If they successfully finish the development, I guess we'll be reporting "DARPA developed etc". Just don't hold you breath until then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 05 2014, @07:05AM
The word "develops" implies that significant progress is currently being made.
(Score: 2) by tibman on Friday September 05 2014, @01:31PM
I tell my fellow developers this all they time but they still don't make much progress : )
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Appalbarry on Friday September 05 2014, @01:52AM
I'll just wait for the field trials to wrap up, plus about ten years to see what the long term side-effects turn out to be.....
And why do I assume that the NSA will have a back door.....
(Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Friday September 05 2014, @02:29AM
I suspect you already have one, why would NSA need another?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Friday September 05 2014, @03:58PM
You can fault the NSA for many things but they're belt-and-braces kinda guys. Remember when Mark Zuckerberg telephoned Barack Obama to complain about spying [theweek.co.uk]? That's probably because the NSA and Facebook had an agreement but the NSA was tapping Facebook's database replication anyhow.
1702845791×2
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday September 05 2014, @01:54AM
Implant linked to a mainframe, and you can accomplish that true Matrix experience. With a all your will r00ted by NZA.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 05 2014, @02:50PM
I'd rather be r00ted by RZA.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Snotnose on Friday September 05 2014, @01:59AM
Until Comcast has one. It's a sad day when I trust Comcast more than my government.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by tathra on Friday September 05 2014, @05:53PM
if there's one government agency you can trust, its DARPA - all they do is create and fund the creation of technology, most of which ends up benefiting civilians far more than the military or government. DARPA is responsible for the internet and GPS, and Tor came directly from DARPA-funded work. here's an article [pcpro.co.uk] on some technologies that DARPA had a hand in creating.
DARPA would be something like the scientists kidnapped by evil geniuses for their world domination plots; they aren't responsible for what others do with the technology they create.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Sunday September 07 2014, @12:14AM
Up until a few years ago people thought the NSA's input into cryptography and computer security showed they were the good guys. And I have no doubt that pre-9/11 they mostly were the good guys.
DARPA has done a lot of great things, I agree with you on that. But they are a US government agency, and one thing I've come to realize over the last 10 years is no US government agency can be trusted.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Friday September 05 2014, @03:00AM
This is how it starts.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 1) by nishi.b on Friday September 05 2014, @11:01PM
This seems to be the logical next step after current brain stimulation devices : making them smaller.
Closed-loop systems are tried since a number of years now; in my lab there is ongoing research on detecting the onset of an epileptic seizure and stopping the propagation of the signal to the rest of the brain using classical deep brain stimulation. This is called a closed-loop system as there is a constant monitoring of the signal to detect an event, then a response sent through the same electrode, not a continuous electrical stimulation such as in Parkinson's disease deep brain stimulation.
According to the article, this is more about miniaturization than real advances in the use of these systems. I am not sure where things are on nerve stimulation and signal decoding, but pain should be the obvious place to start (pain fibers are well known, and electrical stimulation could be used to stop the signal from getting to the brain).
The rest seems to be a lot of speculation (all diseases ?).
It leaves a lot of work to do : how can we detect that this signal is not good, where should we put the implant, what kind of stimulation should be applied and where... These are not solved questions !