Bionic Woman Tanks, Bionic Eye Succeeds!
Katherine Mangu-Ward | April 22, 2008, 12:43pm
The Bionic Woman television series failed fairly spectacularly, but the prospects for the bionic eye look good:
Bionic eyes that return sight to the blind might not be as far off as previously thought, with researchers in London carrying out the first treatment on a pair of patients in a study of a new technology.
The new bionic eyes are connected to a camera on a pair of glasses, so they aren't the all-in-one models you're envisioning. And if successful, they'll really only allow patients to see light and dark outlines rather than full sight. But still, to someone who has no vision at all, this is still pretty great news. And if they're working on it in this state now, you know that they'll have the camera in the eye itself and the vision improved as the years go on.
Via Gizmodo
James Anderson Merritt | April 22, 2008, 3:27pm | #
# Jozef | April 22, 2008, 2:22pm | #
## Nobody thought Battlestar Galactica
## would work, but when it did, everyone
## thought they understood what the "secret
## ingredient" was.
# The "secret ingredient" was the venue -
# a channel people tune into to see exactly
# that kind of programming.
Although it is worthwhile to note that the same venue has expanded into strange programming -- wrestling matches, sappy fantasy movies, metaphysical reality shows, and even pure horror. So if you flip there expecting to see "sci fi" or otherworldly fantasy, you are increasingly likely NOT to find what you want there.
# Just like Farscape wouldn't work on basic
# cable and Stargate already died there,
# both thrived on Sci-Fi Channel, and same
# goes for BSG.
Just for the record, Stargate started on Showtime, which was a premium (not basic cable) service on the cable systems to which I subscribed during the Showtime run of the series. SG-1 lasted there for five seasons. The Showtime run was extremely successful, building a loyal following that lobbied successfully for a transition to the Sci Fi Channel, which needed an "anchor" show to replace the departing Farscape. On Sci Fi, SG-1 lasted another five seasons, at which point it finally was cancelled, but only after spinning off the successful Stargate: Atlantis. SG-1 seems to have been as successful on premium cable as on the Sci Fi channel: in each case of cancellation, the show either found another berth or left its legacy behind in a spinoff. Last I checked, there are still TV movies and DVD releases based on as-yet un-aired SG-1 material in the works; additionally, SG-1 runs on over-the-air TV in syndication in many places around the world, so it isn't even properly "dead" yet. SG-1 and the Stargate franchise in general seem to transcend venue.
I note that the 4400 -- recently cancelled -- "thrived" on the USA Network for several years and that, despite "thriving" on the sibling SciFi network, BSG will also be bowing out after its current season. It's odd that some people think that SG1 "died" at Showtime after five years (after which it perhaps "faded away" at Sci Fi for another five), but maintain that BSG "thrived" on Sci Fi channel even though it will almost certainly never see a fifth season.
All the above being said, I am still a great fan of the Stargates, 4400, and BSG. Not so much BW, though. Hot chicks, notwithstanding.
James Anderson Merritt | April 22, 2008, 8:19pm | #
Episiarch wrote, "I miss First Wave :-(."
Me too. Note, however, that the "Cade Foster" actor (Sebastian Spence) now shows up in the fighter-pilot crowd scenes in BSG. Maybe he is the 12th Cylon "skin job" model (though it would be a real bummer if #12 wasn't one of the major characters that we have already come to love).
ChrisO wrote, "...the primary writer/producer of BSG is Ronald G. Moore."
Moore was also a big wheel on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and was one of the guys who did the most to develop Klingon participation in Next Generation and DS9. Recall that the last seasons of DS9 happened during the first Gulf War; much of the criticism of martial law and the State of War that we have seen in BSG was foreshadowed in some excellent DS9 episodes (I think immediately of "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges," which Moore himself wrote). As much as I miss First Wave, I miss DS9 all the more and still carry a grudge against Paramount for not working DS9 into ST movies before abandoning the TNG/DS9 future for the Pre-TOS past. The DS9 characters and actors deserved much better than being relegated to conventions and fan-fic/vid. It was one of the best shows ever broadcast, imho.
JW wrote, "Just finding out now that she [BW star Michelle Ryan] was a Brit is a surprise."
Were you aware that "Apollo," the younger Adama on BSG, is also played by someone whose "native" accent is British, Jamie Bamber? He nailed the "American" accent so well that I about fell off my chair when I first saw an interview with him "out of character." I mean, this guy is so good, he can slur drunkenly, cry, and swear under his breath with an American accent. I read somewhere that his Dad was American but that he was raised in the UK, so perhaps this explains his truly amazing facility to switch between accents. (I say this as someone who spent many years in radio and worked hard to do the few accents I can perform passably well. I haven't heard this guy utter a false vowel or stress yet, even in the most apparently "unguarded" onscreen moments, of the type that have tripped up nearly all other "faux" Americans I've seen in movies or on TV.)
James Anderson Merritt | April 22, 2008, 8:57pm | #
ChrisO wrote, "Besides the question of the adult brain being able to process information it has never received before, the other interesting question would/will be *how* it processes it. I wonder how a person who has never seen before would adjust to the flood of new and disorienting sensory information?"
Research by Numenta (http://www.numenta.com/) may help answer that question. Their primary activity is using software to model and simulate the operation of cerebral (neo-)cortex. Visual recognition problems have been among the first projects tackled.
The basic theory of hierarchical temporal memory (HTM), on which Numenta's models and simulations are based, is described for the general public in Jeff Hawkins' book, "On Intelligence" (http://www.onintelligence.com/).
In that book, there is some speculation about how it is that people with brain injuries or brain-related birth defects manage to retain or regain capabilities that they shouldn't have, due to the appropriate part of the brain being absent or damaged; also, how it is that people who lose or lack certain senses compensate through enhancement of their other senses. The basic adaptability of the brain, which Hawkins seems to believe is a basic feature of cortex, augurs well for the eventual success of artificial eyes. Incidentally, in his discussion of the visual system, Hawkins points out that, for all that the human eye is an amazing device, it is still very crude, relative to the rich visual detail we perceive. Most of the work of vision is actually done in the brain, says Hawkins, which both maintains our detailed visual model of the world, and directs the eye to dart around methodically, in order to update that model continuously using the far-from-perfect visual impulses that the eye and optic nerve provide.
I've been following this research for several years, now. I think you'll start hearing a lot about it and its repercussions in the 2010s.
