The Memory Hacker

Researchers at USC have recently been working on a chip that emits electrical signals to communicate with the brain. These signals that serve as an interface between natural brain cells and essentially a mini computer, that is the chip, lead the prospect of restoring damaged areas of the brain through artificial brain cell-like chips. Although there is still a vast vacuum in our understanding of the brain, this chip not only serves as a means for treating damaged cells, but it could potentially help in the research to better understand the nature and function of our brain. Such knowledge could simultaneously take away and add to the mystique of our brain being able to use chemistry and electrical impulses to have the emergent properties of cognition among other abilities. Unfortunately the device is still a ways off from human use and it faces problems such as being able to communicate bidirectionally and avoid harming brain cells. Furthermore, the chip is small in scope, with it modeling neurons on the scale of thousands to tens of thousands of cells which is small compared to the hundred billion cells in the brain.

In addition to the question of the affect that the chip has on the life of the neurons on the brain, the device also raises the question of its implications and accuracy in recreating memory. Could it recreate a false memory or change the personality to some extent through the associations and fundamentally the wiring of the neurons in the brain? The answer to this question is important to determine before it is used to treat neurological diseases or disorders such as alzheimers, dementia, or in any way repair demage to the brain through such things as trauma or stroke. With further advancements in this topic, it also begs the question of the ethics and wisdom of creating unnatural human abilities. Experimenting with the brain and cognitive abilities is analogous to playing with fire. Unfortunately there are few consensus agreements to what is acceptable and desirable. Nevertheless, the mere prospect of being of able to create artificial devices that mimic neurons in some form or fashion is exciting for what the future may hold. The subject of neurology and more specifically neurophsychology is particularly interesting to me since it seems like an unexplored frontier in biomedical engineering and biology in general. It's impact is also underestimated in my opinion since it is harder to grasp the problem and see a solution than other areas such as the cardiovascular system where problems can usually be seen and ideally fixed with imaging and some form of surgery. Rarely are emergent properties more evident than in the neurons in the brain. Furthermore, the argument can be made that the well-being of any organism is directly related to the well-being of the nervous system. We are constantly improving our ability to address health problems, but although we may extend the lifespan of people, I believe that we in healthcare and in the nation are not addressing well enough the quality of life aspect. What better way is there to improve the quality of life than to focus on our brain and its connections to the rest of the body and the ability that it gives us to think, reason, and make decisions.

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2007-04/memory-hacker