A prosthetic hand restored my sense of touch (opens in new tab)

Apparently even simpler sensor arrays can trigger the brain's perception of physically connecting to another human being-- and the whole emotional cascade that goes with it. If the guy isn't an edge case or exaggerating, this could be an indication of a watershed moment for neural interfaces.

One interesting application is hooking Jason up to other robotic hands reaching into environments where human hands can't work.

Like a hot oven, space vacuum, or maybe micro surgery.

If the hands implement the same signal protocol, he should be able to switch them out.

For those interested in this area I recommend:

https://www.psyonic.io/

It’s cheap and I’ve watched it be developed since the beginning. There are multiple ways to restore a sense of touch, this appears to use the method which stretches in the skin.

There’s also a method of restoring the senses that uses electrical current. It was fun to watch all the undergrads in the lab electrocute themselves lol. The reality is skin stretching is consistent; where as how electricity flows through the body varies wildly between people.

The one linked in my comment uses vibration:

https://www.psyonic.io/ability-hand

Which has less of an impact long term (Aka drying out skin from twisting, etc)

Whereas in this story, they search for the nerves and insert wires, I worked at the Rehab Institute of Chicago in the Todd Kuiken lab and there was some great research going on this area around targeted muscle reinnervation. Absolutely amazing to see patients out of surgery begin to develop movement in the new muscle groups--I most frequently saw the pectoral: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddInW6sm7JE&t=36s

The more we learn about the brain the more amazing it seems to be.

It’s an extrapolation machine! From very little data the constructs and sensations we feel, the qualia are just incredible.

He mentions he’d want to feel temperature through this tech, and all I can think of is, what if it gets hacked.

Nonetheless, great accomplishment for humankind.

Thanks for a marvelous posting!

https://www.walgreenslistens.biz/

This is cool. I hope some day someone invents a reliable way to stimulate neurons without having to use physical wires.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution, love to see it.

Not a direct comment on the article, and I don't want to be a Debbie Downer here, but aren't neural interfaces like Neuralink and other things the absolute perfection of means for societal control? No doubt they are unimaginably useful, but they're also a dictatorship's wet dream. Is it not only a matter of time before they're installed in every baby's brain by government mandate in authoritarian regimes?