'Vegetative' patient speaks to scientists using his brainwaves
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'Vegetative' patient speaks to scientists using his brainwaves
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Re: 'Vegetative' patient speaks to scientists using his brainwaves
#2Reported earlier:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1099274
That sank without a trace - no comments, no upvotes - perhaps this report will get a better response. I think it's interesting, so I hope it does.
It's a fascinating idea, getting yes/no answers from brain scans. The potential is there for using text output devices similar to those that Hawking uses, except driven by the patient imagining playing tennis.
Re: 'Vegetative' patient speaks to scientists using his brainwaves
#3Reported earlier: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1099274 That sank without a trace - no comments, no upvotes - perhaps this report will get a better response. I think it's interesting, so I hope it does. It's a fascinating idea, getting yes/no answers from brain scans. The potential is there for using text output devices similar to those that Hawking uses, except driven by the patient imagining playing tennis.
> That sank without a trace - no comments, no upvotes -
That's because it didn't mention the Ipad.
Re: 'Vegetative' patient speaks to scientists using his brainwaves
#4Reported earlier: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1099274 That sank without a trace - no comments, no upvotes - perhaps this report will get a better response. I think it's interesting, so I hope it does. It's a fascinating idea, getting yes/no answers from brain scans. The potential is there for using text output devices similar to those that Hawking uses, except driven by the patient imagining playing tennis.
> That sank without a trace - no comments, no upvotes - That's because it didn't mention the Ipad.
Now it's appeared via a New Scientist link as well:
Re: 'Vegetative' patient speaks to scientists using his brainwaves
#5Reported earlier: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1099274 That sank without a trace - no comments, no upvotes - perhaps this report will get a better response. I think it's interesting, so I hope it does. It's a fascinating idea, getting yes/no answers from brain scans. The potential is there for using text output devices similar to those that Hawking uses, except driven by the patient imagining playing tennis.
Well, I would hope the first application is to determine if the patient is in physical pain and where that pain is. Reducing suffering should be priority one. The next part I would hope would be to see if the patients can recognize voices of loved ones. I would imagine these two milestones could help patients learn to "write" to such a device, which could be automated to flag down a nurse or turn on a radio for a while or something.
The real question from this though is about the patient's rights to choose. IANAL but if I understand it correctly this could cause difficult questions in consent, especially where minors are concerned.
Re: 'Vegetative' patient speaks to scientists using his brainwaves
#6If that patient is actually aware of his surroundings, then he has been trapped in a body with almost no sensory input for almost 6 years. Personally, that sounds like the worst hell imaginable.
I've told everyone close to me that if I am injured badly they are to ask for 'no extreme measures' for this exact reason...
Re: 'Vegetative' patient speaks to scientists using his brainwaves
#7This is a much more informative link, with actual science! http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=1550
Re: 'Vegetative' patient speaks to scientists using his brainwaves
#8Great news, comminucation is the most important thing.
Here is the story boy that was unable to speak or contact with world and was considered "vegetable" by doctors, till he picked up a language BLISS from a teacher that was teaching some other child in his hospital room.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvpGLxU6fVY
He is a poet now.
Re: 'Vegetative' patient speaks to scientists using his brainwaves
#9I can't even to begin to imagine the loneliness you have to feel trapped inside your own mind like that.
Re: 'Vegetative' patient speaks to scientists using his brainwaves
#10If that patient is actually aware of his surroundings, then he has been trapped in a body with almost no sensory input for almost 6 years. Personally, that sounds like the worst hell imaginable. I've told everyone close to me that if I am injured badly they are to ask for 'no extreme measures' for this exact reason...
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