Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Digitizing the Brain

        I read an interesting article this morning about scientists from Tel Aviv University who created an artificial rat cerebellum. This part of the brain that controls many aspects of body movement, like timing and coordination. Researchers implanted a computer chip into an anesthetized rat whose cerebellum had been knocked out, and taught the rat how to blink in response to a specific tone. This is classical conditioning, to be sure, but it's a big step forward for both medicine and neuroscience research. Devices such as prosthetic limbs and cochlear implants are one-way communicators with the brain; either sending information to the brain or interpreting commands from it. This electronic cerebellum, however, is a two-way

        In the immediate future, a similar implant could be used on patients with damaged cerebellums (such as those with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, etc.) to correct movement impairments. In later years, this could lead to implants for stroke patients & people with genetic mental illnesses; schizophrenia, dementia, depression & ADHD. Circuitry supplementing neural tissue when necessary, or in healthy people, augmenting the memory span and cognitive capabilities of the brain.

      Cyborg humans? Bet your ass i'm signing up for that research study! In all seriousness, this is the kind of research that I'm going to be doing in the future, and it bears keeping track of. Mental problems, regardless of what caused them, are as bad as physical disabilities. I believe that funding for the cognitive sciences, especially neurobiology and neurochemistry, should be increased both from private and public institutions. The brain, not space, is the final frontier, and we've only just begun to map it.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Dear Mr. Mayor

Mr. Bloomberg,

         I know that public health has been one of your biggest pet causes throughout your political career, and that you firmly believe in the power of government to solve issues like heart disease, lung cancer, and diabetes. To that end, you have banned public smoking in bars and restaurants in New York City, and later extended that ban to public parks, plazas and walkways. You also introduced a ban on trans fats in restaurants, to help keep peoples' arteries clean. Most recently, you have introduced a law, without due process in city government, that bans the sale of sodas bigger than 16 ounces in bars, restaurants, street vendor carts and sports stadiums, and you claim that this is not an infringement on anyone's rights. After all, one can still buy 20-ounce sodas in the supermarket under this bill.

        Perhaps you and I have different points of view when it comes to infringement on someone's rights. I subscribe to the J.S. Mill school of philosophy, which says that one is free - or ought to be free - to do whatever he or she pleases so long as it does not harm others. To that end, I can see your justification for banning smoking in restaurants - secondhand smoke is harmful. To some extent, this also explains your ban on trans fats and your current battle against soda. Trans fats pose a significant health risk, as does the over-consumption of sugar. However, whereas Mill gives freedom the benefit of the doubt, you seem more than willing to squelch freedom whenever it doesn't fit your worldview. This is why you continually raise taxes on cigarettes and impose restriction upon restriction on the sale of alcohol; you believe that the citizens of New York City are incapable of taking care of themselves. That they are so unintelligent that you have to act as their mother and father.

     Freedom includes the ability to make decisions about what one will put into their bodies, be it food, drink, or drugs like alcohol and cigarettes. When you take that freedom away, however slightly or gradually, you are setting foot on the road to tyranny, as you have done. By not putting this bill through the proper legal process, you have declared "I don't care what the rest of the city thinks; my word is law." This tells me that the power you have enjoyed for so long has gotten to your head, and that because you have stopped responding to the will of the people, you are no longer fit to lead.

      Mr. Mayor, I urge you to think about this matter further, and to hold a town hall meeting about it if it matters so much to you. Even if this bill receives popular approval, you at least ought to fine-tune it such that it is neither too light nor overbearing.

Your fellow citizen,

Cameron Beaudreault

      

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Brilliant cut

And so it comes.
That moment when you find
your dreams quite different from what you expected.
pure bliss interposed with struggle,
grief and loneliness,
and you end up resenting them.
In truth, the object of your desire is a diamond in the rough;
tougher than steel, and, although uncut, it is perfect in its own way
as each element in the cosmos is a piece of perfection.
Use this diamond as needed, but never take it for granted,
or it shall leave you -
lost in the sands of our vast world.
Should you lose it, you will spend years
if not decades
searching for a replacement
before you realize it is irreplaceable.
What's gone is gone,
and this is why you must take care of your diamond;
it is the greatest possession you own.