DAYTON, TENN. - Jesse Sullivan has two prosthetic arms, but he can climb a ladder at his house and roll on a fresh coat of paint. He’s also good with a weed-whacker, bending his elbow and rotating his forearm to guide the machine. He’s even mastered a more sensitive maneuver — hugging his grandchildren.
The motions are coordinated and smooth because his left arm is a bionic device controlled by his brain. He thinks, “Close hand,” and electrical signals sent through surgically re-routed nerves make it happen.
Doctors describe Sullivan as the first amputee with a thought-controlled artificial arm.
Something about Libertarianism always bothered me. Then one day, I realized what it was:
Libertarian philosophy can be boiled down to the phrase, "Work Will Make You Free."
In Libertarianism, there is no Government, so the Bosses are free to exploit the Workers.
In Communism, there is no Government, so the Workers are free to exploit the Bosses.
So in Libertarianism, man exploits man, but in Communism, its the other way around! If all you want to do is have some harmless, mindless fun, go H3RE INST3ADZ0RZ!! Grrr! Fight my Brute, you pansy!
One thing I had been wondering about is powering a prosthetic arm. As a layman I believe they are all powered by batteries or some other external source. This inhibits the freedom of the user. If it were possible for a prosthetic arm to gather its energy from the body as a biological arm would do it would be a lot better.
I have to tell you something everything I wrote above is a lie.
That's cool, I am happy for the man that he is able to control his prosthetics. Thought-control already went a very long way (there was a special on in the in August Popular Mechanics).
I'm a proponent of cyberization as means to help injured or disabled, perhaps even (when prosthetics get advanced enough) to enhance the human being.
Lì ci sono chiese, macerie, moschee e questure, lì frontiere, prezzi inaccessibile e freddure
Lì paludi, minacce, cecchini coi fucili, documenti, file notturne e clandestini
Qui incontri, lotte, passi sincronizzati, colori, capannelli non autorizzati,
Uccelli migratori, reti, informazioni, piazze di Tutti i like pazze di passioni...
...La tranquillità è importante ma la libertà è tutto!
CNN wrote:Sullivan to appear with first 'bionic' woman
He and Kuiken attended a Washington, D.C., news conference Thursday with Claudia Mitchell, the first woman to receive the bionic arm. (Watch Mitchell with her new bionic arm -- 2:57)
The 26-year-old Mitchell was injured in a motorcycle accident after she left the Marines in 2004. (Watch how prosthetics can improve the life of amputees -- :41)
Trying his new arm at increasingly challenging tasks, Sullivan acknowledges he has good days and bad ones.
"At first, I couldn't watch when he tried doing this stuff," said Sullivan's wife of 22 years, Carolyn.
She said she first thought after the accident that he was going to die. She gave up her catering business to tend to him around the clock.
But eventually he forced her to occasionally run errands and leave him alone.
"He finally got mad and yelled at me and told me to go to the store," she said, laughing.
Enormous lifestyle adjustments that the injuries and rehabilitation required were not as hard as might be expected, she said.
"For some reason, we just sort of rolled into it. I just knew he wasn't going to let anything keep him down," she said.
She said medication helps control his pain, and sometimes he resorts to self hypnosis. "They taught him how to do that," she said, adding she doesn't consider herself to be a caretaker.
"I do all the yard work," Jesse Sullivan said. "I take out the garbage."
He can even hold a fork to eat.
And there's another task the bionic grandfather of 10 looks forward to mastering: casting a fishing line.
I saw a segment on CNN about her this afternoon.
Not an armored Jigglypuff
"I salute your genetic superiority, now Get off my planet!!" -- Adam Stiener, 1st Somerset Strikers
If I recall, there's actually 5 people with this arm right now. Two candidates could not be fitted - too much nerve damage to allow the repositioning of the arm/hand nerves that allow this system to work.
If this is powered anything like the C-leg it uses rechargable batteries. It's a challenge to make them both light enough and powerful enough to do the job. I believe the standard practice is for the person to have two batteries, so one is recharging while the other is being used. In theory, they could have more than that and it wouldn't surprise me if some of them do.
DARPA has gotten on the bandwagon with a mandate to make a prosthetic arm/hand with at least the same functionality as the current high-end leg prosthetics. I would really like to see some major, major progress made because losing a hand is far more disabling than losing a leg (not that losing a leg is trifling)
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
Man, I hope that inhibitor chip doesn't burn out....
"Brian, if I parked a supertanker in Central Park, painted it neon orange, and set it on fire, it would be less obvious than your stupidity." --RedImperator
Molyneux wrote:Any progress made on actually restoring sensory function, even as far as pressure sensors go?
Some, but not much.
These limbs are still quite rudimentary compared to a living arm or leg. The first priority is to give the person something to restore motion and ability. Sensory capability would be nice, but it's not necessary in order to restore the ability to walk or to pick up a cup.
The only arm sensory capability I've heard about involves re-routing sensory nerves to the pectoral muscle, the using something like a series of solenoids to press against those nerves. It's tricky, though. It also means more mechanical bits, more weight, more power needed to run them, computer capacity... I think it will happen, but not quickly.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
The first I had heard of anything like a bionic limb was about ten years ago. Scientific American Frontiers had a couple of people on the show who were paralized, and couldn't walk. So they had given them implants to send signals to their legs. They walked like robots, jerkey and imprecise, but they could get around.
So really, I've just been waiting for this anouncement. Not to downplay it, its awesome. Very cool indeed. I have high hopes for this technology.
Commander of the MFS Darwinian Selection Method (sexual)
