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RE: science pilots rats, rats the new borg?

Reminds me of Spider Robinson's "Mind Killer".

Could you imagine wiring yourself to provide "positive"
feedback for any aspect of life?  Want better grades?
No problem - just give yourself a hit to the pleasure
area - you'll be studying and make the grades.

Of course, you may end up as a wirehead sitting in your
own refuse and drooling.

-Freeman

> -----Original Message-----
> From:  [mailto:]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2002 12:57 PM
> To: 
> Subject: science pilots rats, rats the new borg?
>=20
>=20
> from the news section of Compuserve(I gag myself everytime I see that=20
> word....)
> Welcome to the collective, people :)
> while this is very little to do with wearables or pervasive=20
> computing its=20
> application in both fields are quite possible
> __________________________________
> =AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=
=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF=AF
> Scientists Pilot Rats With Electrodes
> By RICK CALLAHAN=20
>=20
> By implanting electrodes in rats' brains, scientists have created=20
> remote-controlled rodents they can command to turn left or=20
> right, climb trees=20
> and navigate piles of rubble - and maybe someday, with the=20
> rats outfitted=20
> with tiny video cameras, use to search for disaster survivors.
>=20
> ``If you have a collapsed building and there are people under=20
> the rubble,=20
> there's no robot that exists now that would be capable of=20
> going down into=20
> such a difficult terrain and finding those people, but a rat=20
> would be able to=20
> do that,'' said John Chapin, a professor of physiology and=20
> pharmacology at=20
> the State University of New York in Brooklyn.
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> The lab animals aren't exactly robot rats. They had to be=20
> trained to carry=20
> out the commands.
>=20
> Chapin's team fitted five rats with electrodes and power-pack=20
> backpacks. When=20
> signaled by a laptop computer, the electrodes stimulated the=20
> rodents' brains=20
> and cued them to scurry in the desired direction, then=20
> rewarded them by=20
> stimulating a pleasure center in the brain.
>=20
> The rats' movements could be controlled up to 1,640 feet=20
> away, the length of=20
> more than five football fields.
>=20
> The findings appear in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.
>=20
> Other researchers said the work is interesting but is an=20
> engineering feat,=20
> not an advance in animal neuroscience.
>=20
> Randy Gallistel, a professor of psychology and cognitive=20
> science at Rutgers=20
> University, said it's basically the same thing, with a twist,=20
> that scientists=20
> found they could do almost 50 years ago by stimulating the=20
> reward-sensing=20
> area of a rat's brain.
>=20
> ``Without the gee-whizery, without the remote-control and so=20
> on, that this=20
> kind of thing was possible has been obvious for decades,'' he said.
>=20
> The experiments used three implanted electrodes - one in the=20
> brain region=20
> that senses reward or pleasure, and one each in areas that=20
> process signals=20
> from the rat's left and right whisker bundles.
>=20
> Chapin's team trained the rats in a maze by signaling the=20
> left and right=20
> whisker-sensing regions. When a rat turned in the correct=20
> direction, its=20
> reward-sensing region was stimulated.
>=20
> Activating only the reward region caused the rodents to move=20
> forward, the=20
> team found.
>=20
> After training, the rats were tested in a variety of environments and=20
> remotely guided through pipes and across elevated runways. They were=20
> compelled to climb trees and ladders and to jump from varying heights.
>=20
> The rodents could even be commanded to venture into brightly=20
> lit, open areas=20
> - environments they normally would avoid.
>=20
> Howard Eichenbaum, a professor of psychology at Boston=20
> University, said the=20
> research, while not a major advance, is ``clever'' and holds=20
> the promise of=20
> using animals as humans' ``eyes'' or as couriers to reach=20
> trapped victims.
>=20
> Aside from the technological challenges, he said there may be ethical=20
> concerns about turning animals into ``intelligent robots''=20
> serving humans.
>=20
> ``It's one thing to see a rat running around like this,=20
> people don't get too=20
> emotional about that, but as soon as you get into dogs or=20
> work animals,=20
> people start getting real excited,'' he said.
>=20
> The potential of using such implantable electrodes to control=20
> humans - which=20
> a Tulane University researcher tried during the 1960s, with=20
> unclear results -=20
> is something Chapin said he opposes so strongly he believes=20
> it should be=20
> illegal.
>=20
> Kate Rears, a policy analyst at the Electronic Privacy=20
> Information Center in=20
> Washington, said technological advances mean human-control=20
> technology can no=20
> longer be dismissed as far-fetched.
>=20
> ``I think that a lot of people are very wary of that sort of=20
> thing and=20
> understandably so,'' Rears said. ``I don't think it's a sign=20
> of paranoia to=20
> react against this because it is very odd. It's Brave New Worldish.''
>=20
> On the Net:
>=20
> Nature: http://nature.com
>=20
> John Chapin's lab: http://www.rybak-et-al.net/chapin.html
>=20
> --
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>=20

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