Worldwide there are at least three million people living with artificial implants. In particular, research on the cochlear implant and retinal vision have furthered the development of interfaces between neural tissues and silicon substrate micro probes. There have been many researches in order to enable the technology of implanting chips in the brain to develop. Some of them are mentioned below.

The Study of the Brain

The study of the human brain is, obviously, the most complicated area of research. When we enter a discussion on this topic, the works of JOSE DELGADO need to be mentioned. Much of the work taking place at the NIH, Stanford and elsewhere is built on research done in the 1950s, notably that of Yale physiologist Jose Delgado, who implanted electrodes in animal brains and attached them to a "stimoceiver" under the skull. This device transmitted radio signals through the electrodes in a technique called electronic stimulation of the brain, or ESB, and culminated in a now-legendary photograph, in the early 1960s, of Delgado controlling a live bull with an electronic monitor

According to Delgado, "One of the possibilities with brain transmitters is to influence people so that they conform to the political system. Autonomic and somatic functions, individual and social behavior, emotional and mental reactions may be invoked, maintained, modified, or inhibited, both in animals and in man, by stimulation of specific cerebral structures. Physical control of many brain functions is a demonstrated fact. It is even possible to follow intentions, the development of thought and visual experiences."

Brain Cells and Silicon Chips Linked Electronically:

One of the toughest problems in neural prosthetics is how to connect chips and real neurons. Today, many researchers are working on tiny electrode arrays that link the two. However, once a device is implanted the body develops so-called glial cells, defenses that surround the foreign object and prevent neurons and electrodes from making contact.

In Munich, the Max Planck team is taking a revolutionary approach: interfacing the nerves and silicon directly. "I think we are the only group doing this," Fromherz said. Fromherz is at work on a six-month project to grow three or four neurons on a 180 x 180-transistor array supplied by Infineon, after having successfully grown a single neuron on the device. In a past experiment, the researcher placed a brain slice from the hippocampus of a monkey on a specially coated CMOS device in a Plexiglas container with electrolyte at 37 degrees C. In a few days dead tissue fell away and live nerve endings made contact with the chip.

Conclusion

Neuroscience," wrote author Tom Wolfe in Forbes magazine a couple years ago, "is on the threshold of a unified theory that will have an impact as powerful as that of Darwinism a hundred years ago."

Wolfe is wowed by the combination of powerful imaging and tracking technologies that now allow scientists not only to watch the brain "as it functions"-- not only to identify centers of sensation "lighting up" in response to stimuli, but to track a thought as it proceeds along neural pathways and traverses the brainscape on its way to the great cerebral memory bank, where it queues up for short- or long-term storage. Now that you know what condition your condition is in, you know that such devices are only a stopgap measure at best in the evolutionary story. The implants you get may enhance your capabilities, but they will expire when you do, leaving the next generation unchanged.

As we become more dependent on biotechnology, the standards of what is "alive" will be up for grabs. Take a look at The Tissue Culture and Art Project's semi living worry dolls, cultured in a bioreactor by growing living cells on artificial scaffolds, or the Pig Wings project, which explores if pigs could fly.

Deciding who or what, exactly, is human will be an incendiary issue in the years to come as our genetic engineering technologies progress and we go beyond implantables to actual germ-line genetic modification. We are already creating chimerical creatures by combining genes from different species. We will try to engineer improved human beings--not because we're so concerned about the intelligent machine life we are creating, but because we're human, and it's embedded in our nature to explore, tinker, and create. It will be several years before we see a practical application of the technology we’ve discussed. Let’s hope such technologies will be used for restoring the prosperity and peace of the world and not to give the world a devastating end.