One feature humans lack that modern computers have is a USB port. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just pop in a new sense organ or other device and add it to our brain’s functioning via some port on our body?

University of Wisconsin scientist Dr. Paul Bach-y-Rita, now principle member of BrainPort Technologies, found that the tongue served quite well as a conduit for information between man and machine.

Now the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition has continued Dr. Bach-y-Rita’s work alongside the US Military to find ways to give our soldiers superhuman senses, including infrared vision, sonar, and many other potential extensions to the base-model human.

A less military application of the technology is to give sight to the blind:

In testing, blind people found doorways, noticed people walking in front of them and caught balls. A version of the device, expected to be commercially marketed soon, has restored balance to those whose vestibular systems in the inner ear were destroyed by antibiotics.

from news.yahoo.com

Perhaps if I got one of those vestibular system replacements I could ride a bike and not fall over all the time.

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