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DARPA's fascinating self-healing body initiative – ElectRx
DARPA is examining health on a nano scale through its electrical prescriptions (ElectRx) program.
The human body obviously has an amazing capacity to correct problems in its own system. There’s a huge range of conditions that we have the built-in ability to cure ourselves of, and DARPA plans to tap into this ability with ElectRx.
To understand the ElectRx program, first imagine the cardiac pacemaker – a device which delivers targeted electric shocks to the muscles of the heart to stimulate it to beat at a normal rate.
Now, imagine a device far tinier, that could be delivered through a needle. This device could be designed to constantly monitor certain conditions in the body, and then directly stimulate certain nerve pathways to trigger the body’s correct response mechanism when it’s not working as it should be. Let's say blood sugar regulation isn't working properly in a diabetic – this technology could potentially detect a blood sugar level anomaly and trigger the pancreas to release glucagon or insulin to sort it out.
The technology is already showing great promise, although current neuromodulators tend to be much larger, about the size of a deck of cards, requiring surgery to implant them in the body. Also, their large size makes it difficult to target nerves precisely, which can lead to unwanted side effects. ElectrRx aims to ultra-miniaturize these kinds of devices and explore what can be done with extreme precision.
Here’s some examples the ElextRx program is funding research into:
- Investigating whether direct triggering of the spleen or other organs could help treat rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory conditions.
- Investigating whether inflammation control in the brain could help treat depression
- Investigating whether the management of neurochemicals that regulate learning and memory in the brain could offer new treatments for post-traumatic stress and other mental health disorders
- Investigating thermal activation of the adrenal gland
- Investigating the stimulation of the vagal nerve to induce neural plasticity for the treatment of post-traumatic stress
Of course, a military research organization wouldn’t be throwing some 78.9 million US dollars at something that didn’t have some tantalizing potential on the battlefield. Management of the inflammatory response could make a big difference to spinal injuries, in which frequently it’s the swelling and not the original trauma that does the worst damage. And while the above examples would surely be useful to military personnel and the broader public, there’s certainly some more sinister ideas that spring up as well.
For starters, if you put these things in people you like, you can do all sorts of positive things. But a targeted nerve stimulation device could also do all sorts of horrible things if implanted in somebody you’re less fond of, from straight out pain generation to emotional manipulation to all kinds of physical maladies.
Then there’s the super-soldier potential. Controlling hormones and brain chemistry could help put soldiers in an ideal emotional and physiological state for certain operations or training exercises. And while these things could clearly be useful, I’m not sure how comfortable I’d be letting anyone’s government put them in my body.
Still, it’s fascinating technology and the potential benefits are extraordinary. Let’s see where it leads!
Source: DARPA
Source: http://www.gizmag.com/darpa-self-healing-body-initiative-electrx/39719/
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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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