(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01442/moth-robot_1442947i.jpg)
QuoteThe head of a silkmoth, including brain and antennae, sits mounted on a wheeled machine, electrodes linking the brain and vehicle, during an experiment at a laboratory in Tokyo (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/picturesoftheday/5824979/Pictures-of-the-day-14-July-2009.html?image=1)
I for one welcome our new buggish-robotic overlords.
Was the moth able to move and navigate?
Quote from: Kai on July 14, 2009, 06:02:54 PM
Was the moth able to move and navigate?
No clue, linked to the page it was on in the quote.
We have an emoticon for "horror" and "mirth" combined.
To we have one for "Awesome" and "Terrible"?
Quote from: LMNO on July 14, 2009, 07:08:06 PM
We have an emoticon for "horror" and "mirth" combined.
To we have one for "Awesome" and "Terrible"?
:|:1fap:
The delayed reaction of the "fap" made me coffeemonitor.
Quote from: LMNO on July 14, 2009, 07:32:17 PM
The delayed reaction of the "fap" made me coffeemonitor.
:thanks:
Is this just a remake of the one with the cockroach? It seems like this one involves direct neural connections, to whatever kind of brain a silkworm has.
They need to install a .50 railgun.
Because scientists read comics, too.
[insert pic of attacking monkey from "The Filth" here]
More likely, that anyone trying to publish such an experiment wouldn't get published, because most scientists would see it as grotesque.
Quote from: Kai on July 14, 2009, 09:52:35 PM
More likely, that anyone trying to publish such an experiment wouldn't get published, because most scientists would see it as grotesque.
So giving a monkey state of the art prosthesis rates as sicker than giving a dog two heads?
Quote from: Enki-][ on July 14, 2009, 10:23:11 PM
Quote from: Kai on July 14, 2009, 09:52:35 PM
More likely, that anyone trying to publish such an experiment wouldn't get published, because most scientists would see it as grotesque.
So giving a monkey state of the art prosthesis rates as sicker than giving a dog two heads?
This isn't a prosthesis. This is sticking a head of an organism torn open onto a metal device with neural probes stuck in to run a short term experiment from which the subject won't survive. Insects, they don't have as much problem with, because they can pass them off as not feeling pain or whatever. I'm sure the monkey would be in a hell of a lot of fucking pain. Its vivisection, basically.
And apparently, if WWII is any meter, a hell of a lot of people have problems with vivisection on humans and other primates.
I was half-kidding. However, the monkey-head-on-a-robot would have some minimal level of mobility. I'm comparing that to the russian dude who transplanted and grafted dog's heads -- which of course ended up with the dogs being totally paralyzed since he couldn't reconnect the spine. The work is probably comparable in that where the transplant of dog's heads led to advances in life support systems, the transplanting of animal heads onto robots and the use of nerves in connecting these things would probably lead to advances in brain control of prostheses, perhaps allowing people who are fully paralyzed to eventually have some better level of mobility than those BCI wheelchairs that are state of the art right now. There have been experiments with monkeys and neurally controlled arms, so it's not as though it would be like doing it with absolutely no idea how to wire things up.
Your point stands, though, that transplanting a monkey head onto a robot is irreversible -- however, there are similar things that have been done that have been accepted, not because they weren't sick as hell, but because they were terribly useful. So I would argue that if someone successfully gave a monkey a prosthetic body, it would probably be published eventually.
That is a world away from giving a monkey head power over a wheelchair, but they have already given monkeys neurally controlled prosthetic arms and so on. I can't imagine there is much to do with a silk worm.
apart from the monkey in the filth Grant also did a really nice little story called WE3 were weaponised animals are used instead of riot police etc
(http://www.shockya.com/news/wp-content/uploads/we3_photo.jpg)
I'd also see a problem with a monkey (et al) head being used because there's a fuckton more neural paths to synch up. A bug? Not so many.
Quote from: LMNO on July 15, 2009, 01:41:24 PM
I'd also see a problem with a monkey (et al) head being used because there's a fuckton more neural paths to synch up. A bug? Not so many.
Plus, a insect brain doesn't have a cerebrum (they can't think, only react in "preprogramed" ways) and very limited memory. So, insect brains are in many ways analagous to computers in their neural pathway simplicity. Its all feedback loops, stimulus ----> brain ---->response. There is another difficulty though, you've got the brain (ie ganglia) scattered throughout the body, and not just localized in the head. Thats why I want to see how they hooked this up, to which particular neural pathways.
Insect heads can also survive without their bodies for long periods of time.
Quote from: BADGE OF HONOR on July 23, 2009, 02:33:28 AM
Insect heads can also survive without their bodies for long periods of time.
That's due to the neural localization factor. Plus, gas exchange is via air diffusion rather than a vascular system. No heart? No problem! at least temporarily. open circulatory system and respiration via spiracles and tracheoles.
Still has more posting ability and skill than i do.