[LINK] Bionic eye 'on market in two years'

[Craig Sanders]

On Sun, Feb 18, 2007 at 11:26:05AM +1100, Stewart Fist wrote:
> The bionic eye claim surfaces every two years or so, and each time it gets
> better, and closer to being useful.  Maybe this one is usable .. it has to
> happen sometime soon.

when it is usable, that'll be great for people with serious eye problems.

but colour me seriously interested when bionic eyes are better than the
real thing - i'm sick of wearing glasses, contacts are a PITA, and a
zoom lens implant would be brilliant (high resolution digital recording
of everything i see would be pretty cool too). night-vision would be
useful too. as would brightness filters.

actually, i think i'd wait until at least 5 or 10 years after they'd
been released...let someone else be the guinea-pig.

> People with macular degeneration can detect motion very well, and they can
> often drive a car without too many problems (while still being legally
> blind). The peripheral vision is designed to detect movement, but in low
> resolution and that's what you need to drive.

a friend of mine is legally blind, has been for decades. she only has
peripheral vision...and has even taught herself to read (and use a
computer) by looking at things with her peripheral vision.

the human brain is pretty adaptable, can retrain to use whatever input is
avalable.

craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>

As the Catholic church becomes more and more tolerant, some day they will
have to consider the possibility of a gay pope.  Possibly the largest
issue will be having to decide whether he is "absolutely divine" or "just
simply marvelous."