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Last year, Kennedy, a 67-year-old neurologist and inventor, did something unprecedented in the annals of self-experimentation. He paid a surgeon in Central America $25,000 to implant electrodes into his brain in order to establish a connection between his motor cortex and a computer.
Along with a small group of pioneers, Kennedy, who was born in Ireland, had in the late 1980s developed "invasive" human brain-computer interfaces—literally wires inside the brain attached to a computer, and he is widely credited as the first to allow a severely paralyzed "locked-in" patient to move a computer cursor using her brain. "The father of cyborgs," one magazine called him.
Kennedy's scientific aim has been to build a speech decoder—software that can translate the neuronal signals produced by imagined speech into words coming out of a speech synthesizer. But this work, carried out by his small Georgia company Neural Signals, had stalled, Kennedy says. He could no longer find research subjects, had little funding, and had lost the support of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Freeman on Monday November 09 2015, @11:53PM
"Last year, Kennedy, a 67-year-old neurologist and inventor, did something unprecedented in the annals of self-experimentation. He paid a surgeon in Central America $25,000 to implant electrodes into his brain in order to establish a connection between his motor cortex and a computer." Now, that's what I call putting your money where your mouth is. Not just for the $25k which in reality isn't all that much money, but literally tinkering with your own brain . . .
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 10 2015, @12:35AM
the guy is 67. he has 0 fucks at this point.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 10 2015, @09:11AM
So much fuck that he's willing to risk fucking up his own brain and life.
(Score: 4, Touché) by Magic Oddball on Tuesday November 10 2015, @01:26PM
Either you must not know many 67-year-olds, or the ones in your area must be unwell couch potatoes... These days, most of the ones in my area are more active as they were in middle age: they hit the gym 2-3 nights/week, take high-energy dance classes, volunteer at all kinds of stuff, and generally live a fuller life than most of us do. Given at 67 they most likely have another 15-25 years left to live, most of which will be spent in good physical shape, it makes sense.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by goodie on Tuesday November 10 2015, @01:58AM
The part where he can't talk after one of the surgeries is pretty scary too, even though he says he understood everything that was going on and was not the least bit worried... Pretty crazy stuff. And it's not like he had (as far as we know) cancer or something incurable illness that meant he could toy with his own body without any regrets. Guy has at least one son... Anyway this is quite a leap from the comparison with the ulcer guys (to me).
(Score: 4, Insightful) by anubi on Tuesday November 10 2015, @02:01AM
Yes... the ultimate scientific investigator. I figure 95% of advances in science are done by men of his mindset.
They are few and far between, like you say, putting their money where their mouth is.... they know exactly what they are looking for and have the determination and dedication it takes.
Few men have this.
Most "inventors" I run across are snake-oil salesmen wearing suits and handshakers of investors... and I avoid them like the plague. Only people who will fund them is gullible businessmen or Congress. I have certainly seen more than my share of bad science passed off as energy research.
Now, Kennedy, I salute. I do not understand what he is doing, but the fact he's so dedicated to his research by his actions speaks far more than words can.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 10 2015, @03:05PM
This is surprisingly common among scientists. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoexperimentation [wikipedia.org]