Wednesday, May 1 2013, 10:29 AM Monday, April 8 2013, 04:07 PM Friday, April 5 2013, 05:15 PM Friday, February 22 2013, 09:41 AM Sunday, February 17 2013, 04:41 PM Friday, February 15 2013, 09:17 PM Friday, February 8 2013, 11:06 AM Thursday, February 7 2013, 12:22 AM Sunday, January 27 2013, 06:38 PM Wednesday, January 23 2013, 09:44 PM
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Grim indeed, yet eloquent and utterly compelling."
The End: NECESSARY EVIL Is Out! - 5/1/2013, 10:29 AM Because I Haven't Posted About tDCS In A While - 4/8/2013, 04:07 PM Announcing the NECESSARY EVIL Signing Tour - 4/5/2013, 05:15 PM Nuclear Deterrence in a Blood Magic World - 2/22/2013, 09:41 AM Guest Post #2 at Charlie Stross's Blog - 2/17/2013, 04:41 PM Guest Post at Charlie Stross's Blog - 2/15/2013, 09:17 PM A Conversation with Charlie Stross - 2/8/2013, 11:06 AM NOW OUT in the UK: THE COLDEST WAR - 2/7/2013, 12:22 AM Clarion Is Accepting Applications for the Class of 2013 - 1/27/2013, 06:38 PM Holy Smokes! Cover Art for Something More Than Night - 1/23/2013, 09:44 PM
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In the past, I've posted about current (heh) research into tDCS: transcranial Direct Current Stimulation. This is the practice of using electrical stimulation of the brain to improve one's ability at certain tasks (and possibly to achieve the transcendence from Man to Overman through the total elimination of pain.) Note that this is direct current stimulation—effectively equivalent to connecting somebody's brain to a battery.
It sounds crazy—like something out of a science fiction novel. I mean, what kind of weirdo would imagine that wiring a battery directly into somebody's brain would give them heightened abilities? Well, DARPA does, for one.
Thoughtful reader Bill Pearson forwarded this link to a story that recently appeared on Boing Boing. (Thanks, Bill!) The Boing Boing article quotes a recent somewhat lengthy piece in New Scientist.
I find it quite interesting (and, yes, validating...) that there may be a solid neuological basis for the supposition that tDCS may improve one's abilities at particular tasks. Much of the current (heh) discussion hinges on what neurologists and neuroscientists refer to as the "flow" state, which was a completely new term to me. (As far as I can tell, it sounds like a gussied-up and science-ified way of saying that somebody is"in the zone", in more common parlance. Still, though, regardless of the terminology, I think it's pretty neat that there's a demonstrable neurological basis for this.)
Right now, of course, the testing is confined to fairly basic tasks. The current research is all about improving peoples' performace at tasks they can already perform. Sadly, at least so far, nobody has successfully used tDCS to violate the laws of physics.
Yet.
Close PermalinkVery interesting stuff although I'm a tad leery of the DIY brain stimulation discussed at the end. That might be taking hacking a step too far.
Yeah, I'm not so sure how keen I would be to tinker with my own brain using instructions I found on the internet.
But it's better than trepanation, which has a small but shockingly non-zero number of DIY proponents.
Unwalkers interview [English | French ]
Interview with Speculate! Podcast Interview with Adventures in SciFi Publishing
Ian Tregillis on the Sword and Laser Podcast
Ian Tregillis on John Scalzi's The Big Idea
Interview with Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Interview with SFRevu
Interview with Mad Hatter Book Review
Interview with Apex Books
Interview at Literary Musings Interview with Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
An interview with the authors of Busted Flush at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Interview with Travis Heermann at The Write Line
9-way interview with the contributors to the Wild Cards novel Inside Straight at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Interview in the February, 2008 newsletter of the Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
An extended interview with Ian Tregillis by Ty Franck, on www.wildcardsbooks.com.