"Save the cheerleader, save the world!" Heroes, TV series (2006-2010)
Necessity is the mother of invention, but often the catalyst to technological and medical advances occur by accident. Accidents, these seemingly entropic collision of molecules, of people being drawn together by chemistry, of a succession of events that lead to an inevitable outcome- discovery. Throughout history, we have learned that human error can oftentimes be fortuitous. If Professor Alexander Fleming had not forgotten to clear away glass plates filled with bacteria he had been studying, he would not have discovered the mould of penicillin that had grown overnight and found on the morning of September 3, 1928.
If Larry Page and Marissa Mayer had never met and dated in the early days of Google, perhaps the company would not have been so heavily invested in Artificial Intelligence. Both Google and Intel, perhaps surreptitiously, have been developing direct brain implants for the last decade. Intel announced in 2009, they have developed an Intel brain chip to implant into humans to remotely control electronic devices. Just a year later, Google announced that is has also developed a Google brain chip to help humans rid of electronic devices:
"This is a chip that users can implant in their brain that will search the internet the moment you think of something. The chip has the power to find information even before a user knows he or she wants the information...The introduction of the Google Brain Chip means that individuals will no longer need PCs, Macs or tablets. “These devices are primarily used to access the internet and download content,” said Google CEO Eric Schmidt. “With the Google Brain Chip, you don’t need to buy any hardware at all. The human brain is the hardware, we provide the chip and you are… a genius.”"
But how does one test out these brain chips on people without crossing the boundaries of ethical practice? This is where accidents come in play. So often, we do not realise that sometimes spectacular advances in technology transpire out of unfortunate events. Before Google and Intel announced their consumer version of the brain chip; in 2006, Cybernetics Neurotechnology Systems (CYKN) had already implanted a chip the size of an aspirin on a 26 year-old quadriplegic patient who was able to control remote devices by his thought patterns alone. The year before, in 2005, Sony had patented a sensory device able to transfer images, sounds, touch and even smells to the brain without an implantation device in order to enhance the video game experience.
But what about rebuilding the entire human brain? We now possessed the technology to do this, but we did not have a viable test subject.
The subject of these initial brain implant experiments date back to the 1950s but are often never known by the public. These people, often the victims of circumstance, come from all walks of life. Some suffered from epilepsy, some came from extreme poverty, some were the victims of accidents.
Two weeks ago, a beautiful young girl in Southern California was travelling in a car with other girls when they were struck by a drunk driver. Although alive, she was pronounced brain-dead and put on life support. She was a popular teenager who was also a cheerleader at her high school. A memorial service was given for her today to give closure to the people who had loved her and known her.
