CORTICAL CYBERNETICS FOR ALZHEIMER'S TO ZIKA VIRUS

摘要

There are many diseases and situations where a person's full cognitive function is impaired or absent. What if there was a way to improve (or at least mimic) sensory-motor and higher operations of the brain, such as memory, personality and executive functioning? The author first presented cybernetic solutions for cognitive dysfunction in Astronauts to NASA scientists and engineers in 2006. These rely upon behavioral monitoring, situational identification, alarm triggering and activity override. Military and civilian situations are also of interest. The original plan was developed as an extension to the author's computerized nervous system emulator, ANNIE, customized to act as a personal "doppelgaenger". Subsequent versions were adapted to partially offset the mental deterioration seen in Alzheimer's dementia and other non-spaceflight conditions. The author's cybernetic coprocessor now is further extended to simulate better neurological function in severely challenged patients from Zika virus microcephaly to PVS syndrome. The ethics of such mental supplementations are not settled yet.