Many previous science fiction story have come true, in which the combination of human body and machine has opened up broad prospects for the treatment and rehabilitation of patients. What is the greatest benefit of man-machine combination? Copy? And then what? Strengthen? Some functions of life have made great contributions to medical treatment and rehabilitation.
For example, the late physicist Stephen W Hawking suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and was paralyzed for many years, unable to speak. Imprisonment? Only three fingers and two eyes can move in a special wheelchair. But he can pass a special robot? Language synthesis computer? Convert his limited and tiny body movements into electric signal language and communicate with others. His combination with this robot gave Hawking the most basic human dignity.
The example of Hawking combining with a computer robot is just a person based on physics? Machine? Elementary project? . Nowadays, man-machine combination technology is becoming a subject based on molecular biology.
Professor rodney brooks, director of the artificial intelligence laboratory of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), admitted that they programmed the DNA sequences that were combined into genomes and cultivated bacterial robots, with the goal of precisely controlling the inheritance of life systems. Cultured muscle cells can be used as drivers in simple machines, such as artificial limbs that are seamlessly installed on disabled people.
At present, the integrated technology of silicon, steel and living cell robots has entered the human body. Clinicians engaged in these experiments earlier, and they tried to repair disabled and degraded bodies. We had a pacemaker a long time ago, and then we had an artificial heart.
Today, more complex nerve repair is becoming more and more popular. Thousands of deaf people have implanted permanent hearing AIDS in their cochlea. The device provides more than six frequency bands to directly stimulate the nerves in a certain position in the cochlea. Patients can listen by directly stimulating peripheral nerves with electric current. More specifically, sound is perceived through the combination of silicon and neural circuits.
Professor Brooks said that if similar visual transplantation is equally effective, patients with retinopathy will be the biggest beneficiaries. Researchers are testing implanting a silicon camera chip into the human retina, and then connecting the image elements directly to the retinal nerve, or sending the image to the visual process area at the back of the brain by wire or wireless. The implantation experiment of this kind of micro robot organ has made progress. From a technical point of view, successful visual transplantation is more difficult than cochlear transplantation. However, the research team believes that retinal transplantation will eventually be as common as cochlear transplantation.
Some disabled patients with quadriplegia even suffered from severe spinal injuries, unable to speak, having difficulty breathing and needing a ventilator. Now, through the neural transplantation of the brain, patients can command the computer mouse through thinking. In this way, they can communicate with the outside world again and have some control over communication. They can also choose what they want to see on the computer monitor, and perhaps give orders and send emails. In deep experiments, they can control robots that help them in their daily lives. Researchers are optimistic that with the development of these technologies, their application scope and adaptability will keep pace with the times.
MIT's artificial intelligence laboratory is still conducting many experiments. For example, the muscles of patients with spinal cord injury are systematically trained, and the neural signals of patients with Parkinson's disease and other similar diseases are reconnected. The doctor implanted silicon and steel into the patient. All these experiments bring hope for patients to regain the adaptability of key areas of the brain. For example, a quadriplegic woman can manipulate her arm to pick up a teacup after implanting a sensor in her brain.
An experiment aimed at enhancing our biological instinct is being carried out in the laboratory of MIT. Implanting an extra layer of nerve cells in the brain of mice at a critical growth stage will make them smarter than their peers without transplanted cells. We are more familiar with the hormonal balance that controls the growth of our brain in childhood. Maybe we can add some neurons to the brains of adults to improve some IQ and restore our childhood memories.
Scientists also predict that in the near future, the technology of man-machine combination can selectively apply clinical means. For example, people with healthy eyes can choose a device that is sensitive to infrared or ultraviolet radiation and install it in one of their eyes. Maybe we can also install a radio-connected internet directly in our brain? Of course, I don't know what kind of experience it will be to browse the web with it.
With the development of science and technology, we will have many new biological abilities. It is not surprising that medical experts can not only intervene and choose the baby's sex at the moment of fertilization, but also choose many physical, mental and personality characteristics. We have seen that just determining the sex of the fetus has led to a serious gender imbalance in some areas. It can be predicted that the new capabilities will have a far-reaching impact on the composition of the world population.
We will also be able to change existing institutions. At the end of the 20th century, plastic and biochemical cosmetology (such as using botulinum toxin) have become popular. Now biotechnology can change people's bodies through heredity. Of course, these changes are all aimed at prolonging life and improving health, but many of them are just for entertainment and lifestyle.
With the help of molecular biology and genetic engineering, the technology of man-machine combination is developing day by day, and we will face a bunch of puzzling questions: Is it moral to manipulate human life? What is the responsibility of scientists to manipulate life? Half-body, half-machine, the future of man-machine combination, are we still? People? Really?
In the past, we only changed our understanding of our own environment and our position in nature. Now, we are getting rid of our role as a passive observer of life and the order of all things, and want to be the manipulator of life and order. We don't want to see ourselves confined to Darwin's theory of evolution.
Now we can choose to participate in this new evolution as a species in a clear way. Man-machine combination and manipulation of people's lives in the name of science will inevitably lead to some problems and troubles, so where is the boundary between law and ethics?