Bionic Vision- Not just pipe dreams anymore

I grew up with Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner as the "The Bionic Man and Woman". Technology has grown leaps and bounds since then and what seemed fantastic or impossible is quickly becoming a reality. I what I like most about this current tech, is that it can be implemented with out surgery.


Bionic vision

Potential uses include virtual displays for pilots, video-game projections and telescopic vision for soldiers. A working prototype of a lens-embedded antenna that draws power for the device from radio frequencies has also been created. The next steps are to build a version that can display several pixels—and then to test it on a person.

Article here

Exciting and scary possibilities for the future, I believe within the next 100 years (if we make it that long) that we will be able to augment our five senses thus becoming a new breed as it were of super-hero's....or super-villains. Lets hope for the former. The humanitarian aspect is what I find really interesting. For example, Bionic or augmented eyesight, could help rescue workers find victims of disasters with night-vision or infra-red.

now that is cool!

when i was a kid i always fantasized about the future involving genetic modification as a means of enhancing our senses and abilities

darn ethics getting in the way of a little boys dreams!

lol

oh well at least we will soon be able to do it through technology

this isn't a prediction or anything but suppose these become popular among teens as a method by which to use video chat eventually.

let us all hope we have cars with GPS linked auto-pilot very soon

I've had the equivelent of bionic vision . . . Lasik eye surgery! Before you laugh, before I couldn't see without glasses but now I have four times better eyesight than 20/20. Being a driver it's pretty amazing to be able to read road signs when you're still hundreds of metres away from them.

reply to post by Mintwithahole.


That is amazing. Just think what these lense augmentations could do coupled with your lasik enhancement.

And try to remember, these are breakthroughs that are being revealed on the civilian level, which leads me to believe that the military counter-part or counter-product version is infinitely more adept on all levels.


I know the artical mentioned "military applications" like telescopic or zoom vision for soldiers, but we here all know the military industrial complex is possibly 40-100 years ahead of civilian research...so just do the math.



[edit on 16-10-2008 by Alter-Ego]

I've always wanted some kind of terminator heads up display instead of normal old eyes, this will be great

[edit on 16-10-2008 by Pockets]

I wonder if bionic hearing is far behind or closer than we think.

Hmm, gotta get me some of those.

Looking forward to it is all I can say!

I really look forward to the night-vision or infra-red + 20 optical zoom. Great for the outdoors man or hunter. Im sure fail safes would be installed to prevent blind flashes while driving or other "light sensitive" activities.

You can bet its gonna be pricey, but MAN..it would be worth it. I'm sure advances in this field are not limited to eye sight, hearing and other physical augmentations are surely in the works.