As we enter the third millennium, much attention is focusing on the tremendous advances in the area of genetics. The new developments in cybertechnology, however, could usher in vastly expanded potentials for accessing information, for connecting and participating in virtual worlds of our own design, for redefining how we experience our world, and perhaps even for thinking itself.
Recent advances highlight the magnitude and rapidity of developments in the field of cybernetics.
In 1997, researchers at the University of Tokyo attached a microprocessor to the motor neurons of a cockroach enabling the researchers to control the movements of the insect against its will. In 1999, scientists at MCP Hahnemann School of Medicine and Duke University collaborated to produce a rat with electrodes implanted in its brain which allowed the rat to open a door merely by thinking about it. Also in 1999, members of the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California Berkeley were able to measure the neuronal activity of 177 cells in a portion of a cat s brain and, by processing these signals, to recreate images of what the cat was seeing at the moment. In January of 2000, the Dobelle Institute reported successfully using neural implants to help a blind man perceive images for the first time. It is speculated that brain chips or implants will soon be available for use by the non-disabled as well, providing direct access to the Internet and other electronic databases.