Cyber Punkdom

Artificial Sight

In my life I’ve given thought to what I would do, how I might feel, if I lost my eyes and my eyesight. Of all my senses I would say that the sense of sight is perhaps the one I believe to be the most important. Without sight my entire life would change and beyond that the possibilities from that point forward would differ as well – many of my dreams would be destroyed.

It appears, however, that there is research being done to make certain this doesn’t happen. Bio-Eye implants take the place of the eye and are connected to the nervous system to allow for natural movement and appearance. These eyes are often made from a plastic and silicon base and give the appearance of a natural human eye.

Beyond the physical implant there is advancement into silicon retinas. “Already, Dr. Mark S. Humayun, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University Medical Institutions in Baltimore, has implanted light-sensitive chips in the eyes of some 15 patients. These tiny silicon retinas provide a very crude, 15-pixel image. A somewhat better, 64-pixel image is provided by an artificial-vision system that relays scenes from a miniature video camera to a small electronic-circuit card inside the skull.” Now this is still far from perfect vision and can’t even provide the clarity of your grandmother’s ancient B&W television but it is only a matter of time before this limitation is overcome.

“Image quality will keep getting better as semiconductor technology continues to pack silicon chips with more power. In 10 years it might be good enough that users will blend into the crowd. In 20 years, the acuity of artificial vision might rival that of a biological eye, says Dr. William J. Heetderks, head of a National Institutes of Health program focused on developing electronic implants.” This leads to an interesting idea. In 20 years, perhaps sooner, when this technology is rivaling the human eye what other possibilities will become apparent?

Is it possible that we can use this technology to give us unnatural abilities like night vision? Infra-red vision? X-Ray vision? It almost sounds laughable now but we’ve seen that science fiction is often the blueprints for the technology of our future.

http://www.artificialeye.net/

As for VR technology there appears to be an endless supply here.

http://www.vrealities.com/

One of the curiosities about this that appeals to me is the VR therapy material. I often wondered what the use of VR could be beyond that of entertainment and video games but here we can see a very practical application of the technology. VR therapy is used to place a person’s mind at ease and help them overcome anxiety and much more.

It’s odd that Hayles mentions Neuromancer in her article because, as it is mentions, this began the cyber-punk genre and from it there was an entire world fanaticized about from that time forward. It was from this world that we see the creation of other cyberpunk fandom like The Matrix and others. Curiously we see these fantasies becoming reality and soon we’ll see how the human experience adapts.

For the showing of Gattaca I would only be available in the afternoons of Mon, Wed and Fri.