The Forgotten Era of Brain Chips
From: Scientific American - 10/2005 - Vol. 293, No. 4, P. 66
By: John Horgan

Brain-stimulation research pioneer Jose Delgado's work has faded into
obscurity despite the enormous debt modern brain-implant technology owes him.
Delgado invented and implanted radio-equipped electrode arrays or
"stimoceivers" into animals and humans, and demonstrated that the devices
could be used to modify - and even control - the subjects' physical and
mental behavior with electrical stimulation. Tests showed that the
stimoceivers could change a patient's emotional state by stimulating
different areas of the limbic system, while specific physical responses could
be triggered via stimulation of the motor cortex. But other researchers cast
Delgado's work in an ominous light, raising the issue that brain-stimulation
technology could be used to control people's minds and eliminate undesirable
behavior. Delgado later focused on less invasive approaches to brain
stimulation, and his research in this area led to the invention of headgear
that could send electromagnetic pulses to specific regions of the brain. The
waning attention paid to Delgado's research, along with lingering ethical
questions, discouraged brain-stimulation studies in the US, but the past 10
years have seen a resurgence in brain-implant research. Delgado's
expectations for the technology are modest compared to those of modern
researchers, who envision such mind-bending applications as instantaneous
knowledge "downloading," telepathic communication, and thought-controlled
machines. He still strongly believes the technology will be most helpful as a
tool to control mankind's inherent aggression and help people suffering from
psychiatric and neurological disorders.

Read the abstract of this article at:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=000876CF-CC6F-1331-841D83414B7FFE9F

Read the entire article in pdf format at:
The Neurobiology of the Self
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=00046268-5C71-1359-9B5C83414B7F0119

Links:
'Matador' with a Radio Stops Wired Bull Modified Behaviour in Animals the
  Subject of Brain Study
http://www.wireheading.com/matador.html

Jose Delgado's "Physical Control of the Mind"
http://www.angelfire.com/or/mctrl/delgado.htm