Geordi La Forge's eyes
Howdy fellow bioengineers! I'm a little late... I missed the memo that we were blogging again this semester.
Something I read a while back (I don't remember where, or I'd list the reference - you might be able to google it) has really boggled my mind. It's about work on "replacing" the eyes. Obviously what we see is the interpretation of signals from the eyes given to it by the optic nerve. The article I read was about how if prosthetic eyes bypass the optic nerve and go directly to the brain, it might provide some semblance of vision.
Here's where it gets weird. Cameras and sensing equipment can see more wavelengths of light than a natural human eye. So if your prosthetic eye picks up ultraviolet and feeds it into your brain, what will you see? Some speculate that you will "see" a new color - your brain being forced to create a new interpretation for information. You might be able to see WHOLE NEW COLORS that we can't even imagine!
There are numerous other questions about what that kind of sight might entail. Would you be constantly overwhelmed by massive input until you flipped the "off" switch for your eyes? If your eyes could pick up lower quantities of light, would that essentially make lights obsolete because everyone can see in the dark?
Prosthetic eyes- one of the many reasons I love being a biomedical engineer.
Something I read a while back (I don't remember where, or I'd list the reference - you might be able to google it) has really boggled my mind. It's about work on "replacing" the eyes. Obviously what we see is the interpretation of signals from the eyes given to it by the optic nerve. The article I read was about how if prosthetic eyes bypass the optic nerve and go directly to the brain, it might provide some semblance of vision.
Here's where it gets weird. Cameras and sensing equipment can see more wavelengths of light than a natural human eye. So if your prosthetic eye picks up ultraviolet and feeds it into your brain, what will you see? Some speculate that you will "see" a new color - your brain being forced to create a new interpretation for information. You might be able to see WHOLE NEW COLORS that we can't even imagine!
There are numerous other questions about what that kind of sight might entail. Would you be constantly overwhelmed by massive input until you flipped the "off" switch for your eyes? If your eyes could pick up lower quantities of light, would that essentially make lights obsolete because everyone can see in the dark?
Prosthetic eyes- one of the many reasons I love being a biomedical engineer.
posted by Anonymous at 12:11 AM
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