Usually when people get all four limbs cut off and then seconds later become a victim of a massive third degree burn from a volcano, they die. Unless your George Lucas, whose attitude of "screw logic" have made him a billionaire and sell out to the Disney Company. However, amputees can now access technology that look and operate in a similar function as the artificial limbs in Star Wars. Sith Lords, you will have to wait a little while before dangerous lightsaber fights on volcanoes can have you coming out alive after falling into the volcano.
An article recently posted on theweek.com discussed all of the applications of research into artificial limbs. It was interesting to note that many amputees from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were actually able to serve another tour of duty after losing a limb. Interesting enough, researchers are as of now looking into ways where an amputee can have complete control of an artificial limb. Using wiring within the device and nerves and brain waves to have complete control of the device. Coming out of the world of science fiction this is truly remarkable. However, there are still significant risks that need to be considered.
For one, we know technology loves to break, and often times for no bloody reason. Anyone whose ever had anything made by Apple knows exactly what I'm talking about. What would be any potential implications of a broken electrical limb? How would you fix the problem? I mean you don't go to the emergency room if your computer breaks, but you don't go to best buy when you break your arm. Your limb would obviously fall on middle ground. But then we still have to consider what are the implications of any possible accidents.
Stuff breaks, like all of the time. Let's say your out and about minding your own business. You cross the street, and the idiot driver adjacent to you doesn't look and drives through you. You look down and there's your robotic limb, impaled by something on the car. Now before you go "Jake, you just bloody fix it" we need to consider what might happen. It might be totaled and unrepairable, and you still have to pay off the limb that is now broken. Regardless of populist health care plans, that limb is still gonna cost a chunk of change, and someone will pay for it. Looking at the grand scheme of this scenario, we need to examine whether or not the luxury of having it will offset the potential cost for replacement or repair while considering how durable these things might be. Looking back at when brand new technologies from lateral thinking first came to market, they were not very economically friendly, and experienced many problems and durability issues. The same goes for products that are a result of vertical thinking. Bottom line: when this stuff hits market will it be worth having over the potential risk of breaking?
Electricity=good. Water=good. Electricity+Water=very very very bad. Even though the human body contains a great quantity of water, I don't see that as the problem. Pacemakers, artificial hearts, and other electrical devices have been around for a long time and we haven't seen any large scale problems working within the body. However water exists in just about every other place, and when mixed with an active circuit, the result is never favorable unless that result was your intention. I'm a firm believer in individual responsibility, meaning that its the individuals job, and not the doctor, to take care of themselves and the hypothetical electrical limb. But stuff happens, water can get in anywhere, and I fear when mixed with an electric current running to your brain, your brain might become well, toast. It's very similar when my grandparents installed a new line of electric fencing, I was dumb enough to put the metal gate against the active fence, and the electricity ran right through me. Luckily it wasn't a potent current, and I doubt that the limb will be a giant microwave of energy, but there still needs to be concerns aired before we go through with human testing.
I personally believe that the benefits outweigh the risks, and that eventually the price of electrical limbs will go down like every other cool new thing out there. However, keep informed on the health care law. With all of the money going to insurance companies, and not to research, we might have a problem with innovation. Innovation is what brings costs down. Research allows us to find new and better ways to treat problems. Older but still effective ways then go down in price. That works for everyone. It creates jobs, and most importantly allows humanity to advance with technology.
No comments:
Post a Comment