The iPlant or the iPlant?

[antropos]

Funny shit I ran into yesterday. Searching the web for the term iPLant
I arrived at a website proclaiming an iPlant together with an entire i-
family.
You can read about it here: http://iplant.cf.huffingtonpost.com/

Where you guys aware of this? Is there any relation in terms of ideas
or other comparisons?

I've been looking for discussions on this but can't seem to find any..
Notice the iSolutions for the enterprise. Talking about ethical
concerns... lol.

Qoute: "Turn up the dial on the iControl to create more anxiety. Turn
the dial down to relieve anxiety. Used in conjunction, the "motivate"
and "modify" functions give you powerful tools that can quickly and
efficiently train your perfect workforce."

[psique]

yeah, that's pretty funky stuff. it's an art installation that came
out before 'our' iPlant took shape. so the two things are completely
unrelated but it's strange because the iPlant that's being talked
about on the site and 'our' iPlant are remarkably similar in some
ways. except their iPlant doesn't seem to have any scientific
grounding, so the statements are purely artistic as far as i
understand.

[antropos]

It is indeed funky stuff. They even use wireless nanotechnology lol.
Curious to see what that might be.
Still, the idea isn't that bad at all if you ask me. Its a nice
concept to build upon. Imagine 'our' iPLant, or any DBS wire being
reduced to a node which can then be placed anywhere within the brain
controlled by a computer wirelessly.
Saves us allot of wires... I only wonder what the effect of a constant
bluetooth receiver on the brain tissue might be.

But hey, at least my doubts have been taking away whether these two
had something involved or totally not.

[Christopher Harris]

the idea of a pinhead-sized wireless brain implant isn't far-fetched actually, Delgado was (is..? the man's 96 or so) using a 'Stimoceiver' in many of his famous stimulation experiments (like the charging bull). the stimoceiver was/is an electrode with a small battery and a radioreceiver, all encased in a cone with a small opening. it seems to have worked pretty well but I think the problem was that it eventually dislocated. if I remember right he even tried spraying growth factors on and inside the cone to make tissue grow into it.

 

what I think we really need is a thin, really biofriendly meshwork of wires. something like little a little pinhead sized thing that elongates and spreads out and almost becomes part of the local tissue, moves when it moves. then connect a power-wire to the nearest exit, which, if we're talking about the midbrain, might be the roof of the roof of the mouth or the nasal cavity. transnasal surgery is a weird one but it's certainly possible.

 

this needs the careful attention of a biomedical engineer, a neurosurgeon and the international neruomodulation society. i'm hoping the more public we are the liklier we are to get it.