DARPA develops tiny implants that treat diseases and depression without medication

by
in science on (#2SFB)
story imageSo, how y'all feeling? We can fix that.

DARPA, on the back of the US government's BRAIN program, has begun the development of tiny electronic implants that interface directly with your nervous system and can directly control and regulate many different diseases and chronic conditions, such as arthritis, PTSD, inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn's disease), and depression. The program, called ElectRx (pronounced 'electrics'), ultimately aims to replace medication with "closed-loop" neural implants, which constantly assess the state of your health, and then provide the necessary nerve stimulation to keep your various organs and biological systems functioning properly.

The old joke is that there's no need to study biology since eventually it's all just chemistry anyway. But maybe behind the chemistry it's actually all just electrical? If that's the case, I'd like a USB port wired in, please.

Re: Electrical (Score: 1)

by nightsky30@pipedot.org on 2014-09-17 11:25 (#2SGK)

While the thought of totalitarian society is scary and deplorable, some people who do terrible things compulsively actually realize they are terrible things, don't want to do said things, but can't fight the urge. They may welcome a device which helps them alleviate the desire to commit those acts. IF these things were developed and used without abuse, they might not be so bad.
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