22nd Century - an exciting new PBS pilot
Aired: 01/17/2007

"22nd Century takes you to the forefront of technology and hears from people
on the cusp of a scientific revolution"

Highlights:

Telepathic Thought
Meet a young man who became "locked in" due to a devastating automobile
accident.  

Having suffered a major brain stem stroke, Eric Ramsey was completely aware
of everything going on in the outside world, but was unable to communicate
at all. Surgeons implanted an electrode in his brain and he learned to
communicate just by thinking about what he wants to say.  

The implications of Eric's story are profound... In the near future, we may
be able to restore speech (and other abilities) to those who have lost them.
In the long term, we might be able to extend our 'natural' abilities to do
such things as adding additional memory or thinking capacity. 


A Computer in His Skull
Michael Chorost is living with a computer inside his head; having lost his
hearing entirely, he picks up an audio signal via a cochlear implant. 

Rather than amplifying sounds like a hearing aid, cochlear implants create
signals that the brain can interpret as sounds. They stimulate the auditory
nerve directly, bypassing all damaged parts of the ear. These in-brain
hearing devices offer a completely different auditory experience, and people
with implants literally need to relearn how to hear. 

In the show, Michael talks about life with this 'cyborg' technology. He has
also written a book about his experience. 


A Computer for the Eyes
Steve Mann has been referred to as the first cyborg. He researches and
invents new forms of human interaction and creates wearable computers that
interpret the world around you. 

In the show, he talks about one of his inventions - the eyetap. Though they
look like regular sunglasses, eyetap could completely change how we see the
world.  

Eyetap are glasses that continuously record what you see and have the ability
to interject new information into what you are watching. As a practical
example, you might watch a sporting event with Eyetap and have the experience
supplemented by relevant statistics.  


Wires in the Brain
Rodolfo Llinas tells the story of how he has developed bundles of nanowires
thinner than spider webs that can be inserted into the blood vessels of human
brains.  

While these wires have so far only been tested in animals, they prove that
direct communication with the deep recesses of the brain may not be so far
off. To understand just how big of a breakthrough this is - US agents from
the National Security Agency quickly showed up at the MIT laboratory when the
wires were being developed. 

What does this mean for the future? It might be possible to stimulate the
senses directly - creating visual perceptions, auditory perceptions,
movements, and feelings. Deep brain stimulation could create the ultimate
virtual reality.  Not to mention, direct communication between man and
machine or human brain to human brain could become a real possibility.  

Llinas poses compelling questions about the potentials and ethics of his
technology. 


Read more about the show and watch the video at:
http://www.pbs.org/22ndcentury/