UCLA scientists will soon test an artificial hippocampus for rats -- a chip attached to the brain that will be used to store memories.
If successful, the device will then be tested on monkeys, and could eventually be used for humans with damaged hippocampi. The Guardian article quotes Joel Anderson, a bioethics expert at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, as having an ethical issue with the chip. "If someone can't form new memories, then to what extent can they give consent to have this implant?" he asks.
As far as I know, I don't have any brain damage, but I still wouldn't mind getting an upgrade, like sticking some extra RAM in there. Maybe then I'd remember to pay my car insurance.
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The will they/won't they debate over Google's position regarding weblogs from their main index has swung back into the won't remove camp, following Dave Winer's post about a note he received from a Google spokesperson, in which he is assured that "there's been no consideration of removing weblogs from our index."
Comments
2 comments
False memories.. I think the researchers have those implants installed already, and succesfully forgot their humanity
Couldn't the problem of consent of brain damaged
(stroke or Alzheimer's) individuals be resolved with an advance medical directive or durable power of attorney?
In the same way that people make known their wishes about being sustained on life support (because a person in a comma also can't give consent) a person could also assert their will in advance regarding other medical procedures.