• Question: In practice, is it somehow possible to replace brain parts with computational devices?

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      Asked by MaximDis to Daniela ?, ☣ Danna, Jonny, Juan, Lindsay on 15 Jun 2016.
      • Photo: Jonathan Hunter

        Jonathan Hunter answered on 15 Jun 2016:

        This is not my field so I’m not sure. But I do remember reading somewhere that the first bionic eye implant had been done. I would hazard a guess that brain implants are being worked on but are along way away from being used in people yet.

      • Photo: Lindsay Robinson

        Lindsay Robinson answered on 15 Jun 2016:

        I think it will be practical someday but it’s probably not going to happen too soon.

      • Photo: Daniela Lobo

        Daniela Lobo answered on 16 Jun 2016:

        This is a hard question, and I guess we won’t know until we try it?

      • Photo: Danna Gifford

        Danna Gifford answered on 16 Jun 2016:

        These devices would be called bionic implants. I don’t think parts of the brain can yet be replaced with bionics, but there are some bionics that interface with the brain through the nervous system. One example is a cochlear implant, which transmits digitized sound directly into the cochlear nerve and into the brain, by-passing the ear. Some Deaf or hard of hearing people choose to have a cochlear implant to have a sense of sound.

      • Photo: Juan Ortiz

        Juan Ortiz answered on 17 Jun 2016:

        I am not an expert in brain but I have heard that Parkinson disease can be treated by introducing electrodes deep into the brain and giving soft electric discharges. This apparently improve the symptoms of people affected. However, to substitute whole brain parts by electronic devices is something that I have never heard about, but who know what the future will bring to us.

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