Nerve Repair and Augmentation.

Nerve Repair and Augmentation .
Andre Willers
16 Feb 2012

Synopsis:
A simple , fast way to repair , graft , split , multiply-rejoin and add interfaces to nerves .
Essential for the Post-Human .

Discussion :
The source:
Work done by Bittner and Thayer of the University of Texas , Austin .
See :
1.”Journal of Neuroscience Research” DOI:10.1002/jnr.23022 and DOI:10.1002/jnr.23023
2.”NewScientist” 11 Feb 2012 P8 “Nerve damage healed in weeks”

A brief description of how it works:

0.A nerve is severed

1.Block normal repair by stopping the vesicles forming which normally form to seal the severd nerve-ends .
This is done by bathing the nerve ends in a calcium-free salty solution which contains methylene blue . This stops oxidation and calcium presence , which are requirements for vesicle formation .

2.Graft and Glue .
The unsealed nerve-ends are glued together using polyethylene glycol (PEF) , which bonds the outer insulating nerve-sheaths .

3.Restart normal healing .
Inject a calcium rich salty solution without methylene blue . Natural nerve function resumes within weeks .

4.Use Growth factors to speed things up .

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Consequences :
Mind-boggling , to say the least .
I deliberately used the “graft” terminology above , to suggest that the whole toolbox of plant-grafting can be transposed and used as a template .

Eg , growing a nerve in vitro , splicing , bifurcations , etc .

Applications:
1.Nerve repair .The most immediate . Even long-damaged nerves can be repaired by splicing in a graft .
2.Interfaces can be spliced in .
The old mind-computer interface.
The easiest would be a Blue-tooth interface with an auditory nerve.
3.Amygdala repair via artificial synapses . Artificial amygdalas around artificially grown brains (on the chakra points)
4.Immune system enhancement . Programmable dentritic immune cells .
5.Reflex enhancement . Another quicky .A parallel effector-affector nervous system using wires or wireless for military or sports . A bit of training will be required , but well within human parameters
6.Vision . Another quicky . Most of the nerves are clearly delineated , and their function well understood . A really immersive game is then possible .
7.Alzheimer and Parkinson repairs are a snap .
8.Intelligence enhancement .A bit trickier .
See http://andreswhy.blogspot.com “The Skull Trap” 4 Feb 2012
Even intra-skull enhancement by various brain structures and layers work at sub-optimal levels .
Adding extra-skull layers and nodes amplifies the problems .
In other words , instead of increasing intelligence , the contraption fissions into various semi-autonomous units , each of lower intelligence . Then we have to use something like sleep to get them back into synch . A super-intelligent being that can only stay awake a few seconds seems less than optimal , especially since we would be subject to it's nightmares .

A possible resolution of the autonomy-hierarchy problem has been found by Ostrum .
See http://andreswhy.blogspot.com “The Ostrum Game” Oct 2011 : repeated in Appendix I for your convenience .
This is important . It is a way out of the Inner and Outer Skull traps .
A way out of the tyrannies of synaptic democracy and structural hierarchies .
Besides which , you won't become really smart without it , no matter how many dongles you add on

This is a truly world-changing technology .
The paralysed will walk , the blind see , the deaf hear .

What a nerve !

Andre


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Appendix I
The Ostrum Game
Andre Willers
30 Oct 2011

“One Game shall bind them all .” , ( with apologies to Tolkien)
“This time , we know for sure the grass is greener somewhere”
“A Revolution , any Revolution.”

Synopsis :
A Game for Grown-ups .
The Eight Ostrum Design Principles are Meta-rules that generate self-consistent sets of rules that encompasses competition , co-operation , catastrophe , hierarchies and other systems undreamt of , all between discrete , interacting , self-organising systems .
Your avatar can go from SecondLife to Simworld , to War Worlds , to any desired locale .
Reality becomes a subset .

Discussion :
1.An incredible amount of money can be made .While money still has some meaning .
Without too much work . See Para 8 in Appendix A
Each Game Company is a base nested institution .
They bind easily together , releasing a lot of energy and money .
Explosive Feedback Synergism .
A run-up to the Singularity .

2.Feedback between Games and Reality :
The Meta-rules make no differentiation between Game-characters and Real-characters .
Indeed , many Real-characters have been spun into Game-characters , and vice-versa .
Think Sherlock Holmes , MacGyver , Gauss , young Werther etc
See “mirror-neuron networks” , any soap opera , etc .

Real-life problems get treated the same way as Game problems . The more diverse and sophisticated the Game interactions become , the more effect on any real or Game system .
Eventually , they become undistinguishable as technology progresses .

3.The Grass is provably greener somewhere .
Long known as a wishful thinking fallacy , until Ostrum published the Design Principles in 1990 .
This was the trigger event of under-the-surface knowledge about Ostrum Rules building up .
Suddenly , it became possible .

A Phase-change in the noosphere occurred .

It meant that a Disaster of the Commons or an Empire was not inevitable . Grandchildren could survive .

WE CAN MAKE THE GRASS GREENER , EVEN IF WE HAVE TO PAINT IT ONE BLADE AT A TIME .

Enormous tensions began surfacing . These effects are still playing out now .
A really , really major Hysterical Focus started forming , and is still intensifying .

Now , are you surprised that 1990 was the year of huge revolutions , when the USSR collapsed ?

The Ostrum Game beat the Ring of Power .

And you have not seen anything yet .

The pace of Revolutions is intensifying .
A good thing , if Homo wishes to escape extinction .

4.Automating Ostrum Rules :
They might be Meta-rules , but they are still rules .
We can certainly write programs that can serve to guide past most of the pitfalls and suggest alternatives .

5.Multicellular Bodies as Commons :
We can certainly analyze bodies in terms of Commons . The Dear Reader will find many interesting things if he does that .
Note the emphasis on communication .
Talk to your body . Aloud . And listen in the silences in between .
Create a virtual body and note the interactions .
Use the Ostrum Design principles .

6.Singularity :
It is immediately obvious that humans are then not limited to Real biochemical definitions of personality . The emphasis on communication means that personalities are distributed across Real and Game spaces . The Game space personality segments are only limited by internal non-contradictory rules . That can be done via Ostrum Design principles .

Not exactly instantaneous , but I can intuit that the time can be calculated . It would be less than real time .
The putative developing system would have ethical constraints on abandoning Real-part personalities under Ostrum Rules .
Told you it would be kindler , gentler .

7.Phase Change :
The system has already undergone an irrevocable phase change in 1990 .
You can fast-forward the rest .

8.Did Ostrum know what she was unleashing ?
The Revolutionary aspects , nearly certainly .
In her quiet way , she is one of the greatest Revolutionaries in Homo Sapiens history . Worthy of being called a Matriarch .

The Singularity aspect is more uncertain . She certainly knew that she unleashed major fairness , but the phase-change in the Noosphere I do not know .
Still , a tour-de-force .

How do feel like being a pet of your avatar ?

Andre .

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Appendix A
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elinor_Ostrom
To quote from Wiki : (comments in brackets are my own ).

“ Ostrom identifies eight "design principles" of stable local common pool resource management:[10]
1. Clearly defined boundaries (effective exclusion of external un-entitled parties;
2. Rules regarding the appropriation and provision of common resources that are adapted to local conditions; (Equal sharing of debts and rewards)
3. Collective-choice arrangements that allow most resource appropriators to participate in the decision-making process; (Consensus decisions-no leveraged hierarchies)
4. Effective monitoring by monitors who are part of or accountable to the appropriators; (Policing)
5. A scale of graduated sanctions for resource appropriators who violate community rules; (Opportunity to learn from mistakes )
6. Mechanisms of conflict resolution that are cheap and of easy access; (Fair and Fast Justice . See how Inquisitorial Justice systems like Chinese , French or Sharia does it.)
7. Self-determination of the community recognized by higher-level authorities; (Autonomy within clearly defined levels . Something like a Federation.)
8. In the case of larger common-pool resources,organization in the form of multiple layers of nested enterprises, with small local CPRs at the base level. (Clear and quick relations with others. A potential sticky point with states.)
Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action Ostrom, Elinor, Cambridge University Press, 1990 “

The most important book in the Twentieth Century .
Try to read it .

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