October 4, 2021
"Doctors have successfully treated a woman with severe depression using a groundbreaking 'neural pacemaker' device that detects and resets negative brain activity."
"The device can recognise the pattern of electrical activity in the brain that gives rise to depressive thoughts. It then intervenes by delivering a tiny targeted electrical pulse via an implant.... The treatment involves placing an implant under the skull with electrodes travelling deep into the brain.... The system was tailored to Sarah with the researchers first monitoring her brain activity for a week while asking her to describe her mood regularly. An algorithm was used to identify a pattern of activity in the amygdala region of the brain that corresponded with her worst depressive symptoms.
The researchers then located another area of her brain, the ventral striatum, where a very small, six-second pulse of electricity produces a near-instantaneous result. The device intervenes like this about 300 times each day. The only sensation, Sarah said, was a slight feeling of alertness."
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25 comments:
This has been used for years for OCD.
So The Terminal Man by Michael Crichton becomes reality.
People read a science fiction story written decades ago and decide, "hey, that's a great idea, let's make it a reality."
Hmm, the research may someday have applications for detecting and erasing revolutionary feelings as well. Big Brother, AI, now mind control, too? Why do I feel at 69 that I am living in some of the SciFi books I read in 1969? How about a chronically implanted electrode in an unhappy person's brain's pleasure center like in Ringworld? Keep 'em happy with only minimal electric energy expenditure. There is always a way advancing technology can be used for evil. Except for getting me a freaking flying car, of course.
I have some misgivings about this technology. It brings to mind that old episode of Ren and Stimpy where Stimpy invents a "Happy Helmet" for Ren. I never thought I would see real life imitate a Ren and Stimpy episode, but it's 2021, so of course it would...
And thus are a thousand dystopian mind control stories spawned. (“I’m sorry but you can’t enter our store without proof that you’ve had the anti-theft brain vaccine”. (BIPOCs excepted, of course.))
It’s scary sounding- would one be able to express natural sadness or anger that might be recognized as depressive?
I’ve listened to Mikayla Peterson interview Dr Amen- so interesting!
Wow. The good and the bad so wrapped up together in one development.
"And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains."
"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
"And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains."
"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Maybe Gary Shteyngart should look into this.
Good Ren and Stimpy reference too.
"You know, Steempy, thees is the life!"
Next up, a two-fer. Buy one AICD (Automatic Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator) and get an Automatic Implantable Brain Stimulator at half price.
Buy Today!
"Brave New World" is slowly replacing "1984" as the script for the days of Woke America.
It only becomes scary when they do it remotely via magnetic fields.
Six hundred years ago, bloodletting was the primary European cure for most ailments. It worked for a very small percentage of people, but it worked. As we advanced in our understanding of illness, disease and sepsis, bloodletting was largely abandoned.
Pavlov's dogs?
How long until one of these become a "right"?
How much longer after that do they become mandatory?
From "'The first time I smiled in years': brain implant offers hope to millions with severe depression/'Neural pacemaker' resets negative thoughts" (London Times).
It requires a week from a team of specialists. no, it's not going to help "millions". It might help hundreds a year.
Now, if they could turn that into "you wear a headset for a week, we feed it to a machine learning algorithm, and then go ahead with the surgery", then you're up to "thousands" a year,
But exactly how many brain surgeons dod they think there are who can do this surgery?
Can a smile be achieved with muscle stimulation without tweeting the brain?
What was her feeling / emotion when she smiled?
These could be quite useful at election time.
Can a "You will Be Happy" court order be imposed?
Progressives everywhere should be fitted immediately.
While an overload of negative brain activity is a problem, would not a lack of negative brain activity also be a problem? Negative thoughts and feeling are intended to protect one from danger. An inability to think or feel them strips away a key aspect of personal protection.
AS I learned watching the movie Spinal Tap, this will be modified to turn up to 11.
Larry Niven's "wireheads" must also be given a nod of acknowledgement, event though they just wouldn't care at all what anyone else did.
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