Many here have expressed despair over hopes of rehabilitating far right wing extremists who appear to have lost the cognitive ability for rational functioning. However, Ker Than, of LiveScience reports a remarkable breakthrough in both brain and computer science today that may provide hope.
Brain Cells Fused with Computer Chip
The line between living organisms and machines has just become a whole lot blurrier. European researchers have developed "neuro-chips" in which living brain cells and silicon circuits are coupled together.
The achievement could one day enable the creation of sophisticated neural prostheses to treat neurological disorders or the development of organic computers that crunch numbers using living neurons.
Even Republicans have expressed concern about their dismal prospects based on serious strategic blunders and cognitive failures. As Iraq descends into civil war and threaten middles east stability and President Bush's unintended stimulation of global terrorist networks, even Republican loyalist are asking, what the heck was Bush thinking? What we were thinking?
Brain Science Scans Shows Political Extremists Think Differently About Politics Than Mainstream Voters
But the more interesting question may be how they were thinking. Other recent brain science research has demonstrated that both right wing and left wing extremists are different from other mainstream voters in that the sections of their brain involved in thinking and evaluating political thoughts is wired via brain circuitry directly to their pleasure centers.
Which means they have a much greater capacity than the mainstream to ignore reason and empirical data that contradict their political beliefs. And although Democratic extremists are prone to the same cognitive failures the different social structure mean left wing extremist are largely ignored by their parties, the right wing has an inordinate control over the GOP.
The Brain Cell - Computer Chips Details
To create the neuro-chip, researchers squeezed more than 16,000 electronic transistors and hundreds of capacitors onto a silicon chip just 1 millimeter square in size.
They used special proteins found in the brain to glue brain cells, called neurons, onto the chip. However, the proteins acted as more than just a simple adhesive.
"They also provided the link between ionic channels of the neurons and semiconductor material in a way that neural electrical signals could be passed to the silicon chip," said study team member Stefano Vassanelli from the University of Padua in Italy.
The proteins allowed the neuro-chip's electronic components and its living cells to communicate with each other. Electrical signals from neurons were recorded using the chip's transistors, while the chip's capacitors were used to stimulate the neurons.
Could Neuro-computer Prosthetic Devices Could Help Republicans Be More Rational?
This leads me to wonder whether one day we might have hope that this new ability to fuse brain cells and computer chips could lead to prosthetic devices that could help rehabilitate right wing extremists and help them become productive members of society.
It could still be decades before the technology is advanced enough to treat neurological disorders or create living computers, the researchers say, but in the nearer term, the chips could provide an advanced method of screening drugs for the pharmaceutical industry.
"Pharmaceutical companies could use the chip to test the effect of drugs on neurons, to quickly discover promising avenues of research," Vassanelli said.
The researchers are now working on ways to avoid damaging the neurons during stimulation. The team is also exploring the possibility of using a neuron's genetic instructions to control the neuro-chip.
This is truly encouraging news. Lets' hope this raises more support from the GOP for funding basic research and the National Science Foundation.