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Message no. 1
From: Jim DiCamillo darien_7seas@*****.com
Subject: Visionary, or crazy?
Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 16:19:47 -0700 (PDT)
This was in my paper today, under "News of the Weird"

Britian's Bat-man

Reading ( England ) University professor Kevin Warwick
already has a forearm implant of a transponder to
allow his whereabouts to be monitored remotely.
Warwick's next implant will give him the same "sonar"
system that bats and porpises use for navigation by
sending signals from the air to a microchip, which
will be "tapped into" a nerve bundle that runs from
Warwick's arm to his brain. Warwick believes he can
train himself to detect what's in front of him even if
his eyes are closed.

Ah, to be a pioneer into SR tech.

~Tenkilian

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Message no. 2
From: Simon and Fiona sfuller@******.com.au
Subject: Visionary, or crazy?
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 10:03:24 +1000
-----Original Message-----
From: Jim DiCamillo <darien_7seas@*****.com>
To: shadowRN@*********.com <shadowRN@*********.com>
Date: Tuesday, June 20, 2000 9:19 AM
Subject: Visionary, or crazy?


>This was in my paper today, under "News of the Weird"
>
>Britian's Bat-man
>
>Reading ( England ) University professor Kevin Warwick
>already has a forearm implant of a transponder to
>allow his whereabouts to be monitored remotely.
>Warwick's next implant will give him the same "sonar"
>system that bats and porpises use for navigation by
>sending signals from the air to a microchip, which
>will be "tapped into" a nerve bundle that runs from
>Warwick's arm to his brain. Warwick believes he can
>train himself to detect what's in front of him even if
>his eyes are closed.
>
>Ah, to be a pioneer into SR tech.
>
>~Tenkilian


My vote is for crazy. I can't see sonar really working on a human, we lack
the brain functions to interpret the signals in any usable way. But hey,
more power to him (prbably 12 volts), he's in the papers again. It is good
to know that with all the quadroplegics, epileptics, diabetics, cancer
victims, and so on, that this professor is still able to spend time,
resources and equipment on this.
Message no. 3
From: Allen Versfeld moe@*******.com
Subject: Visionary, or crazy?
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 09:18:44 +0200
Simon and Fiona wrote:
>
>
> My vote is for crazy. I can't see sonar really working on a human, we lack
> the brain functions to interpret the signals in any usable way. But hey,
> more power to him (prbably 12 volts), he's in the papers again. It is good
> to know that with all the quadroplegics, epileptics, diabetics, cancer
> victims, and so on, that this professor is still able to spend time,
> resources and equipment on this.

You sound as if you disapprove, and rightly so. It's disgraceful the
way people spend time and money on pure research, putting probes out in
space, and experimenting with implants, when there are so much more
important things to learn. I suggest that our british batman rather try
and learn how the nervous system works, so that we can build better
prostheses for amputees. Something that could be controlled in a
natural manner, as if it was a real arm. Something that will interface
with the nervous system. Rather than wasting his time on silly projects
that... attempt... to... interface... with.. the... oh.

Sarcasm aside, my point is that while this particular project does sound
farfetched, it's not a waste of time and resources. He's been doing
similar experiments on himself for a long time, controlling machinery
with his nervous impulses. Perhaps he'll never be able to see through
his new sonar eyes, but he is gathering valuable experimental data on
how the human nervous system can be integrated with, or altered by
electronics. And this *does* have value.
--
Allen Versfeld
moe@*******.com

"As a computer, I find your faith in technology to be quite amusing"
Message no. 4
From: Sommers sommers@*****.umich.edu
Subject: Visionary, or crazy?
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 10:22:01 -0400
>Simon and Fiona wrote:
>
> My vote is for crazy. I can't see sonar really working on a human, we lack
>the brain functions to interpret the signals in any usable way. But hey,
>more power to him (prbably 12 volts), he's in the papers again. It is good
>to know that with all the quadroplegics, epileptics, diabetics, cancer
>victims, and so on, that this professor is still able to spend time,
>resources and equipment on this.

Not to mention the fact that the professor is trying to add a sense to his
nervous system to give him sonar. He wants to use it to be able to move
around in the dark. How about all of the people who are blind that have to
rely on seeing eye dogs to get around, or can't at all? Don't you think
that maybe they would find it useful to be able to walk around New York
City without fear of getting clipped by a cab (or at least no more than any
other person fears it)?

Directed research is fine for solving individual problems, but its also
very rarely successful at fixing anything more than (at most) one small
problem. All sorts of drug companies are working right now on ways to cure
all of those things you described above. But how many would work if the
pure research done on DNA 30-40 years ago never happened?

If I have to choose between a guy who wants to try something that sounds
crazy but just might revolutionize the way we live, and a sane guy who
wants to make an existing widget go 5% faster, I'll take the crazy guy.
Their the ones who change the world.

Sommers
Aerospace engineers build weapon systems. Civil engineers build targets.
Message no. 5
From: Scot Hayworth scoth@*********.com
Subject: Visionary, or crazy?
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 11:39:43 -0600
-----Original Message-----
From: Allen Versfeld [mailto:moe@*******.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2000 1:19 AM
To: shadowrn@*********.com
Subject: Re: Visionary, or crazy?


Simon and Fiona wrote:
>
>
> My vote is for crazy. I can't see sonar really working on a human, we lack
> the brain functions to interpret the signals in any usable way. But hey,
> more power to him (prbably 12 volts), he's in the papers again. It is good
> to know that with all the quadroplegics, epileptics, diabetics, cancer
> victims, and so on, that this professor is still able to spend time,
> resources and equipment on this.

You sound as if you disapprove, and rightly so. It's disgraceful the
way people spend time and money on pure research, putting probes out in
space, and experimenting with implants, when there are so much more
important things to learn. I suggest that our british batman rather try
and learn how the nervous system works, so that we can build better
prostheses for amputees. Something that could be controlled in a
natural manner, as if it was a real arm. Something that will interface
with the nervous system. Rather than wasting his time on silly projects
that... attempt... to... interface... with.. the... oh.

Sarcasm aside, my point is that while this particular project does sound
farfetched, it's not a waste of time and resources. He's been doing
similar experiments on himself for a long time, controlling machinery
with his nervous impulses. Perhaps he'll never be able to see through
his new sonar eyes, but he is gathering valuable experimental data on
how the human nervous system can be integrated with, or altered by
electronics. And this *does* have value.
--

also what if a sonar implant was placed in a blind person... coupled with
the transponder that tells someone where he is... that technology can be
integrated with a gps system and with some more advances could actually make
great leaps in helping the blind... I try not to discount pure science
research as frivolous because there are some really smart folks (definately
smarter than me) out there that end up taking random pure science findings
and creating very viable resources for the rest of us....
Message no. 6
From: Patrick Goodman remo@***.net
Subject: Visionary, or crazy?
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 20:14:52 -0500
From: Sommers
Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2000 9:22 AM

> Not to mention the fact that the professor is trying to add a
> sense to his nervous system to give him sonar. He wants to use
> it to be able to move around in the dark. How about all of the
> people who are blind that have to rely on seeing eye dogs to
> get around, or can't at all?

You make a good point. There are devices out there that are designed to let
the blind move about with greater independence, but since I haven't done any
research on the topic in, oh, seven or eight years, I don't know how far
they got marketing them. (I exchanged some mail with the designer of one
such device, that utilized GPS satellite transmissions, but I don't know if
he ever got backing to market the thing.)

> If I have to choose between a guy who wants to try something that
> sounds crazy but just might revolutionize the way we live, and a
> sane guy who wants to make an existing widget go 5% faster, I'll
> take the crazy guy. Their the ones who change the world.

Amen.

--
Patrick E. Goodman
remo@***.net
"I'm going to tell you something cool." -- Gene Wolfe

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