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First FDA-approved bionic eye implant could cure blindness
The idea of fusing humans with robotic parts was once in the domans of sci-fi novels and movies but it could well turn out to be the future of science. Surgeons at the University of Michigan have sucessfully implanted FDA-approved bionic eyes into patients suffering from eye disorder.
Researchers at the Michigan University have managed to develop a DNA chip known as a microarray. This particular chip is highly customizable, and will be able to help doctors diagnose eye disorders in the near future. More importantly, the doctors have managed to successfully perform their first artificial eye implant surgery into patients suffering from retinitis pigmentosa.
Retinitis pigmentosa is an eye disease that eventually leads to blindness if drastic measures are not taken quickly enough to combat it.
"We wanted to offer this to our patients because we see a lot of patients with advanced pigmentosa," said Thiran Jayasundera, professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the University's Kellogg Eye Center. "We wanted our patients in Michigan to be able to have access to this technology."
The bionic eye was developed by Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. in California. Ever since the Food and Drug Administration had approved the bionic eye last year, the first doctors to perform the procedure on a human are Thiran Jayasundera and David N. Zacks.
The device itself is quite interesting, since it is a wireless bionic eye that works via a camera connected to electrodes. Apparently, the electrodes stimulate nerve fibers, which cause for the brain to pick up the perception of light.
"You're wearing a video camera on your glasses," Jayasundera said. "That video camera basically sends the information into a video processing unit that you wear on a belt. The image is converted into signals that wirelessly transmit it to this device that we implant on the retina."
Patients are required to undergo up to three months of training to allow their brain to adapt to the bionic eye and the vision it gives. Bear in mind that the bionic eye does not provide 20/20 perfect vision at this time. However, it is indeed a step in the right direction for a full cure for blindness in the future to come.
Source: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/3260/20140207/first-fda-approved-bionic-eye-achieved-first-transplants.htm
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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