Do-It-Yourself Brain Stimulation Has Scientists Worried 311
Freshly Exhumed writes "Dave Siever always fancied himself as something of a musician, but also realized he did not necessarily sing or play in perfect key. Then he strapped on the electrodes of a device made by his Edmonton company, and zapped his brain's auditory cortex with a mild dose of electricity. The result, he claims, was a dramatic improvement in his ability to hear pitch, including the sour notes he produced himself. 'Now I tune everything and I practise my singing over and over and over again, because I'm more sensitive to it.' Mr. Siever was not under the supervision of a doctor or psychologist, and nor is he one himself. He is part of an extraordinary trend that has amateur enthusiasts excited, and some scientists deeply nervous: do-it-yourself brain stimulation." With studies suggesting that small doses of electricity can: increase your memory, help you learn new tasks, make you better at math, turn you into a sniper in minutes, and most importantly make the ugly seem attractive, we can expect a lot of brain zapping in the next few years.
Which part of the brain do you need to zap to (Score:5, Insightful)
experience an orgasm?
-Luis Wu
Re:Which part of the brain do you need to zap to (Score:5, Funny)
Thread done in two. Everyone can go home now.
--
BMO
Re:Which part of the brain do you need to zap to (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Which part of the brain do you need to zap to (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.google.co.uk/patents/US6169924 [google.co.uk]
0.4v, 250ms pulses.
Re:Which part of the brain do you need to zap to (Score:4, Funny)
"stimulating electrodes are placed in the spinal canal via a needle inserted between the appropriate vertebrae in parallel with the spinal cord. The electrodes are connected to a power source"
I'll wait for strap-on version.
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Had you paid attention, Leslie Winkle has already told you where to put the electrode:
Leslie: You stick electrodes in a rat's brain, give him an orgasm button, he'll push that thing until he starves to death.
Leonard: Well, who wouldn't?
Leslie: Well, the only difference between us and the rat is that you can't stick an electrode in our hypothalamus. That's where you come in.
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Which part of the brain do you need to zap to (Score:5, Insightful)
Probably safer than the pharmacological approaches to achieving the same goal...
Re:Which part of the brain do you need to zap to (Score:5, Interesting)
Cheaper, too. This was a significant point in Niven's fictional universe: those people who were inclined to try some recreational pleasure-stimulation would become wireheads rather than buying drugs. Pay once for the operation to install the wire; after that, all you need to pay for is a trickle of electric power. None of the crime associated with drugs: there's not enough money in it to interest dealers, and the addicts don't need to turn to crime to pay for their fix.
Since wireheads tended not to breed (how can sex compare to wireheading?), a bit of rapid evolution went on: a few centuries later, the sort of pleasure-seeking that leads to drug use was a very rare trait in humanity.
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That sounds a lot like Michael Crichton's 1972 novel, "The Terminal Man." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terminal_Man [wikipedia.org]
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Indeed, and the scary thing is that there's actually evidence to support the notion that ones neurobiology can cause uncontrollable rage when not treated.
I've personally got a few brain injuries that have caused me trouble over the years. I would strongly advise people to take care of their heads as even a small amount of damage to the wrong place can cause long term problems. And at this stage, there's still a ton of research that needs doing just to understand how the brain works.
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All the furry sex was a lot creepier than the wire-head garbage. Those books were terrible.
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This isn't the first time the concept of electro- brain- pleasure-stimulation has turned up here, and I still can't recall the title, author or particulars of a short story I read somewhen back in late '60s, maybe early '70s. "Victims" plugged the something-something into a socket 'twixt back of ear and base of skull; the tech was bootleg of legit-use stuff. The setting was on Earth, circa roughly the turn of century - the date might've not been given, but one scene was at a run-down rooming house, anothe
Shatner's Tek and/or Niven's Drouds? (Score:2)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TekWar [wikipedia.org] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droud [wikipedia.org]
But there are probably other stories, as this technology has been used in various ways for decades. Although this is interesting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleasure_center [wikipedia.org]
"More recent research has shown that the so-called pleasure electrodes lead only a form of wanting or motivation to obtain the stimulation, rather than pleasure."
See also my comment below:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3862853&cid=44004193 [slashdot.org]
In a book reference t
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I don't imagine that most people would use it much like most people aren't opiate euphoria seekers.
Re:Which part of the brain do you need to zap to (Score:5, Insightful)
...make you think it's a really good idea to zap vague areas of your brain with electricity based on the hilariously incomplete field of neuroscience?
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Precisely. The research is coming along, but unless a person is under medical supervision and has to have this done, I'd strongly recommend against it. And even then, I'd strongly recommend doing a real analysis of where one is and where one needs to be and think about it hard.
Mainstream neurologists still don't consider sudden uncontrollable rage to be a neurological symptom, even though it often times is a sign that there's something going wrong in the brain. Especially if it starts well after one is born
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...make you think it's a really good idea to zap vague areas of your brain with electricity based on the hilariously incomplete field of neuroscience?
Any part, apparently.
Re:Which part of the brain do you need to zap to (Score:4, Interesting)
...make you think it's a really good idea to zap vague areas of your brain with electricity based on the hilariously incomplete field of neuroscience?
Yeah, it's really dumb, but so is sniffing glue, or using meth, or cocaine, or smoking cigarettes, or any of several dozen other unhealthy habits you could name.
There are plenty of people out their who are willing to ignore any amount of long-term consequences in return for a short-term reward.
Re:Which part of the brain do you need to zap to (Score:5, Interesting)
Absolutely. Hell, I will confess right now. If it would cause a euphoric/high state then I'd certainly try it. I've tried all sorts of other things (many of them bad for me) and I still even happily pursue some of those substances to this day. It is a trade off though. Why would I want to live forever if I'm not having a good time? My brain is wired so that I'm generally not having a good time so I self-medicate and enjoy life, my time here, and I accept that it may well kill me at some point.
My personal preferences, should you care, are opiates. I am a big fan. I also smoke weed but that's probably not all that harmful. I am also no longer in a position where I need to be responsible, I avoid operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, and I'm not needing to commit any criminal offenses (other than acquisition and use of said narcotics) to maintain my lifestyle. So, yeah, it is a choice in my case and it is better than the variety of prescribed things that were supposed to make me happy. As near as I can tell the side effects and health risks are actually less and lower than they were with the prescribed stuff.
You remember that commercial back in the early 1980s about how nobody wants to be a junky when they grow up? They were lying. Lots of people want to be. Lots of people choose to be. There's a pretty sizable percentage of the population who uses but you only notice the ones who can't do so and remain functional. You only see or hear about the ones on the street corner or living in a box. They're actually a pretty small subset of users. They probably also have other issues than abuse or addiction issues. They get the spotlight because, well, frankly it's illegal and there's a social stigma attached which means we're not exactly going to go out and interview for television shows and newspapers. Many of us function just fine with families, friends, careers, and lives.
Is it dumb? I don't think I would go that far and make that accusation. I'd say it is a choice. Some of us have no desire to live for as long as we physically can. We see no point in it. Some of us would rather worry more about quality than quantity. You can drive your Honda Accord life (it's nice enough, it's reliable, it is safe, and it makes you happy) while there are others who want to have our BMW 740ils (we have style, live fast, cost a lot more, pick up the cute chicks, are fun, and it makes us happy). The idea that we should try to prolong our lives for as long as we can is foolish, selfish, and ignorant in my opinion. Quality over quantity, any day. So long as we're not causing harm to others then I fail to see where the idea that it is dumb (or wrong, or unethical) comes into play.
I don't blame people for thinking that way though. They've been brainwashed into that line of thought for their entire lives. We're taught that we should live healthy and long lives. We're taught that we should eschew mind altering substances. We're told that we should OBEY THE LAW! We're taught that thinking for ourselves is wrong. So, yeah, I understand people who would follow society's rules. I understand that but I don't personally subscribe to such. I'd rather experience what I can today more than I'd rather wonder about life could have been while sitting damned near useless in a nursing home bed. And yeah, I'm old. These aren't the sentiments of youthful ideology. They're the expressions of someone who's experienced it, given it great thought, made his own choices, lived according to those choices, and has had great success with his method.
What you, personally, do or believe is entirely up to you but I'd hardly call it dumb just because you don't understand it. That seems a little lacking if you ask me. I suppose it is instinct to call it dumb if you don't understand it or have been taught to think a different way so, really, I don't blame you. I'd think the same thing too if I hadn't dared look on the other side of the curtain and think it through for myself.
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The THC itsself probably isn't harmful, but the smoke inhalation will ruin your lungs. Fortunately there are other ways to get at the THC than burning.
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I have a couple of different vaporizers though I think that's reaching a bit far into off-topic territory. I do prefer them. Another interesting thing is Marinol. Google will tell you more about it if you're curious.
Several answers (Score:5, Insightful)
"Which part of the brain do you need to zap to" ...
...make you think it's a really good idea to zap vague areas of your brain with electricity based on the hilariously incomplete field of neuroscience?
Several answers:
* The part that makes someone an experimental neuroscientist of the type which are currently conducting this research?
* The part that allow Marie Curie to kill herself with radiation poisoning before it was known radiation was dangerous?
* The part that caused Thomas Edison to do shotgun testing of materials for a lightbulb filament?
* The part that caused Johnny Knoxville to make the Jackass series?
* The part that caused Geoffrey Robson to kill himself while working to improve wingsuits?
* The part that caused Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White, and Roger B. Chaffee to allow themselves to be bolted into Apollo 1?
* The part that caused Vijay Pande to believe crowd-sourcing science was a good idea?
* etc.
Pick your part.
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There are lots of untreatable conditions that this might help with. It's risky but when your brain doesn't work the risk starts looking more acceptable.
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But this wroks! Befor I zap my bairn, I could'nt spel, or wrote grammatical corect sentuns. Now, evrythin I wrote look like was wrote by cool-age prfessor!
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No part. Simply indoctrinating people into thinking that life is competition and success is extremely important is more than enough.
You shouldn't be amazed that people stuck on a red queen's race would use desperate tactics.
Re:Which part of the brain do you need to zap to (Score:5, Funny)
experience an orgasm?
With my 'previous' girlfriend? The visual cortex. Man was she ugly.
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Not the brain. That was figured out years ago - the optimal place to zap isn't the brain, but a certain branch off the spinal cord.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=235788&page=1#.Ubq0U5wavRg [go.com]
He patented it too. For once patents are actually acting as they should, so you get to see exact instructions on how to build your own:
http://www.google.co.uk/patents/US6169924 [google.co.uk]
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we can also expect... (Score:5, Funny)
An increase in vegetables in the next few years as well.
Re:we can also expect... (Score:4, Funny)
"An increase in vegetables in the next few years as well."
"What a load of BS. Look, all you have to do is stick these things to your forehead and flip this little chromium sw... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZTTT. Huh? Wut?"
Re:we can also expect... (Score:4, Informative)
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Since when does something have to be a plant to be a vegetable?
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There are vegetables that aren't plants? Name Five distinct things that aren't in the same family or genus.
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Vegetable is a culinary term that includes mushrooms (which are fungi), tomatoes (which are classified scientifically as fruits), and olives (likewise technically fruits).
Not sure I could come up with any others.
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Tell me you did that on purpose... Please?
Open Research... (Score:5, Interesting)
This is great so long as everything is published as they go. Waveforms, Impulse frequency or duration, Pulse train frequency, electrode placements, signal voltage and current. Don't let this get taken over by the industrialists. :)
Also, publish your data BEFORE you use the signal. If you die, we need to know what did it.
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One problem with your idea... everyones brain is completely different. When actual scientists do this they do multiple high resolution MRIs of the patients brain and study them for months before trying anything. Then they apply very tightly controlled current to tiny areas of the brain. What these people are doing is just as likely to turn on the "homicidal rage" part of their brains as it is anything else.
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And we'll get their results in 20 to 80 years.
This approach has killed the space program.
I see the benefits of caution but exploration is done by bold people who die (madame curie for example and a lot of american pioneers).
Re:Open Research... (Score:5, Interesting)
This approach has killed the space program.
exploration is done by bold people who die
Sir, I politely call your attention to the 30 astronauts and cosmonauts who lost their lives in spaceflight and training, and to whom we owe the space program's continued successes around the globe. These men and women gladly risked their lives to advance science and technology and they are heroes, every one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_space_disasters [wikipedia.org]
Re:Open Research... (Score:4, Insightful)
And the result of that was that we got *so* cautious that we essentially stopped going to space entirely.
I politely call your attention to all the astronauts who trained and will never be able to go to space.
Going to space is dangerous. People will die.
Look at the numbers willing to go to Mars, one way, and die before they would on earth.
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And the result of that was that we got *so* cautious that we essentially stopped going to space entirely.
I don't know if we can blame that on astronauts dying. The same over cautiousness can be seen everywhere in American society now. It's what people are talking about when they complain about the "nanny state".
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I think it has more to do with the expense and long-term commitment required for large projects, such as the Moon missions. You don't require astronauts to deploy weather satellites or unmanned probes, so why pay for sending them? Especially when NASA already has a shoestring budget.
Lots of people loudly talk about t
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He said "killed" which means it was alive before hand. He didn't say "prevented it."
Re:Open Research... (Score:4, Interesting)
By the way... how many people do you think died settling the eastern colonies of the america (not counting the native americans who they killed sooner or later)?
How many settling the midwest? The west?
Entire groups died to the last person.
If sending up a rocket with 98% safety vs 99% safety safety costs 1x, 10x, -- think how many you could send to space by accepting 2 failures per hundred launches instead of 1 failure per hundred launches.
Over 100 people died in the construction of the Hoover Dam.
Five workers died constructing the empire state building.
We had 3 people die on our SAP software project plus multiple heart attacks and divorces.
At least space means something compared to implementing a software package that won't probably be used in 30 years.
We don't need extremely expensive heroes- we need construction workers to throw stuff up into space cheap. We need a moon base extracting materials before the legal and financial hurdles get so great we end up stuck here.
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Sort of, there's already doctors using this sort of information to help people. It's just that we haven't hit the point where implants are safe or effective for many of these conditions.
But, some doctors do use the imaging to inform their decisions about what medications to use and to double check that the brain is responding as intended. It's not a common practice, and probably overkill for most folks, but it does seem to work.
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Sort of, there is a ton of variability, but MRIs are pretty much worthless for this type of work. They'll show you where the neurons are, but they give very little information about how they're actually connected together.
There's stuff like SPECT and fMRIs that will do that. And ultimately, even the highest resolution imaging is still going to be insufficient with regards to implanting things where they belong, due to the density of the brain.
I've been reading up a lot on it lately, and I believe that in th
Re:Open Research... (Score:4, Interesting)
I concur with your caution that peoples' brains differ, so we might expect that YMMV regarding the results of TCDS. I disagree that "When actual scientists do this they do multiple high resolution MRIs...". That's the exception, not the rule.
In my collection of 108 papers on TCDS, use of advanced imaging methods as a study enrollment screener happened in 7 of them. The technology seems (so far, anyway) pretty benign. For example, in one study of 815 TCDS sessions in 100 migraine patients, there were no observed adverse events ("Safety of the transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS): evaluation of 815 tDCS sessions in 100 chronic- pain patients"). Not to say that it's free of risk, nor that longer-term adverse effects won't crop up, but for those who stay within the generally used current density limits, etc., there probably isn't a lot to worry about.
I'm much more concerned about people deciding that a 9v battery is just so inconvenient, they'll run it off that 9v wall wart. The one with the failed ground isolation. The really cheap one that fails in a way that puts line voltage on the scalp electrodes just when the user happens to touch a grounded thing. etc. Some think that because they can buy a case and motherboard at Fry's and boot Windows, they're a biomedical EE. These folks may get selected out, or become somewhat dimmer bulbs.
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"his is great so long as everything is published as they go. Waveforms, Impulse frequency or duration..."
This is known as The First Principle of Exploration. Also known as "Make sure everybody knows what killed you."
also, you will go blind. (Score:3, Funny)
not to mention growing hairy palms.
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Oh, so you're a titch more hirsute. That's an acceptable tradeoff for becoming a multi-tasking number crunching crack shot with perfect pitch who doesn't forget anything. And let's throw in some beer goggles while we're at it.
How do you go blind and become a crack shot, anyway?
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...and tin whiskers [slashdot.org]...
Sounds like Edmonton, alright. (Score:2)
Next step for an Edmontonian would generally be, "Is there a way I can program myself to only see white people?"
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Yes, program yourself to live in rural Wisconsin, I can guarantee you won't see any non-white people for months on end.
The only question I have is: (Score:4, Interesting)
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Here (Score:4, Informative)
Here [mindalive.com] is the company referenced in the article.
About $200 - $300, depending on the product and functionality. And best of all - it's completely [medical device] unregulated!
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I'm gonna try it with 220v so that I can get smarter faster!
Placebo effect? (Score:5, Insightful)
zapped his brain's auditory cortex with a mild dose of electricity. The result, he claims, was a dramatic improvement in his ability to hear pitch, including the sour notes he produced himself.
How the hell would he know if it didn't? Can we get testimonials of his friends? Otherwise, I'm claiming placebo effect.
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How the hell would he know if it didn't? Can we get testimonials of his friends? Otherwise, I'm claiming placebo effect.
"he strapped on the electrodes of a device made by his Edmonton company"
I claim greed effect. (Emphasis mine)
Larry Niven's wireheads (Score:2)
Wireheads? (Score:3)
It is by now an old trope in science fiction: the idea that people will have electrodes installed to directly stimulate the pleasure center of their brains. It's kind of a frightening idea: on the one hand, it would be a "high" that shouldn't damage you, but on the other hand it is likely to be so intensely pleasurable that it's fiendishly addictive. Larry Niven wrote stories where "wireheads" routinely would starve to death, feeling such intense pleasure that they forgot to do anything else including eat. He furthermore imagined that the "dealers" who sold wirehead gear had an "induction" helmet that could provide a taste of the experience without implanting the electrodes, and his protagonist narrator commented that this really wasn't fair.
This seems like a possible technology, and possible things tend to happen eventually. But I haven't heard of it happening in the real world yet. I'm wondering if it's coming.
Scientists HATE Him! (Score:4, Funny)
No thanks (Score:2)
It's hard enough to keep those damn mind control waves away from my skull, and they want me to trust some device made by a megacorp hooked up to my *brain*? Riiight. Listen: you keep your military-industrial-complex-approved reptilian gizmo and I'll "do" my own noggin' with the open-sauce tech from cousin Moe whom I trust. For now.
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I take it that you have a large supply of tin foil at home?
I remember (Score:5, Interesting)
I worked for a company the built medical diagnostic (EEG & ECG) and treatment (TENS) equipment. We had a few prototype stimulation units that one salesman had the bright idea of connecting up to his brain. It's output was really limited (on the order of a few micro amps) using electrodes attached to his ear-lobes. Turn it on with a low frequency sine wave (1 - 2 Hz) and watch the fun. It was interesting to watch his eyes scan back and forth like a Cylon. The sign wave was super-imposed on the normal impulses, so he could still direct his eyes, but really funny if he was trying to keep his eyes focused on one thing.
I have no doubt that he was doing damage along the way (but hell, he was only a salesman). He claimed that it made him feel high. The stupid bastard was even driving his car with the thing hooked up.
However, you can have all manor of fun with a good TENS unit.
Wow.
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I'd like to get invited to that manor.
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That would be a great name for a boutique hotel, "Manor of Fun!"
Wikipedia article (Score:2)
The wikipedia entry explains tDCS a lot better than TFA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcranial_direct-current_stimulation [wikipedia.org]
Acupuncture for the XXI century (Score:2)
Brain stim versus nudie scan (Score:2)
The amount of stimulation is over two orders of magnitude [wikipedia.org] lower than the amount needed to cause damage, as interpolated from studies in rats. This has scientists and medical professionals worried about potential dangers, as the effects of low-level stimulation have not been adequately studied.
Backscatter X-ray machines [wikipedia.org] are estimated to cause 1 death by cancer every 200 million scans. The government has repeatedly assured us that these are safe, and were deployed with no regulation, no testing, and no qualit
I know they must be nervous (Score:2)
What could go wrong? (Score:2)
I mean, people altering their brains with drugs has never had any adverse medical or legal consequences, right?
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if people were allowed to control their own minds, it would be anarchy - dogs and cats living together...
Everything that helps natural selection. (Score:3)
Medicine helped AGAINST natural selection (a little bit - mostly through helping babies survive, no need to overvalue its contribution though since its relevant mostly during lower ages (though not exclusively due to indirect effects when grandparents help raise children).
Such movements may help increasing natural selection.
So I'm all for it, since I'll sit at the sidelines at let other people be the lab rats to find the 0.0001% of stuff that actually works and is useful (longterm).
Firsthand experience with surface stimulation (Score:5, Interesting)
About 80% of the electrodes were actually kind of boring. They would produce a characteristic speckling somewhere in the leftward field of view at a certain radius and angle. Other electrodes made very weird stuff appear. One caused everything on the left side of the room to suddenly look extremely brightly hued. It looked like a grocery aisle with cheap fruit drinks. The colors got more intense with additional current.
There was a problem near the end with a bunch of uncomfortable hallucinations. Every tiny little point from the pulse generator had this upsetting weird look to it, like a kitten with its head crushed. They somehow weren't going away, and I started bitching about something seeming to accumulate in my field of vision.
They told me at this point that my brain wasn't correctly grounded to the bed frame. I wasn't able to ground it myself since all I could reach on the bed was plastic. As soon as they regrounded it, for a split second I saw some sort of bright thunderbolt approach from the left and sweep all the stuff away. It felt like a relief somehow but I'm not sure WTF I was seeing.
I'm gonna become rich! (Score:2)
When I was younger I would take the Carbon rod out of a size C battery and sharpen one end.
Cut an extension cord and put a rod on both ends; put the Carbon points close and plug it in: tada an arc furnace.
I see a potential of this being much more productive now by keeping the points farther apart. :}
of course a small warning will be included.
The Acceleration of Addictiveness (Score:2)
http://paulgraham.com/addiction.html [paulgraham.com]
" Already someone trying to live well would seem eccentrically abstemious in most of the US. That phenomenon is only going to become more pronounced. You can probably take it as a rule of thumb from now on that if people don't think you're weird, you're living badly."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirehead_(science_fiction) [wikipedia.org]
"In Larry Niven's Known Space stories, a wirehead is someone who has been fitted with an electronic brain implant (called a "droud" in the stories) to st
Re:Will it also (Score:5, Funny)
Doesn't look like it.
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The GOP is an opt in grouping of individuals based upon having similar views. These views include disbelief in climate change and skepticism science in general, so comparing it with the Chinese, Japanese or Blacks doesn't make any meaningful sense. These are not groups that you get to join later on because you like the cultural values.
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Don't forget their irrational loathing of homosexuality.
Re:Republicans should "go for it" (Score:5, Funny)
Don't forget their irrational loathing of homosexuality.
But the GOP fear of homosexuals is demonstrably NOT irrational. If homosexuals had their way, no GOP would ever get elected.
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Way to stereotype homosexuals.
Re:Republicans should "go for it" (Score:5, Informative)
The GOP is an opt in grouping of individuals based upon having similar views. These views include disbelief in climate change and skepticism science in general[...]
Citation needed - their platform is here, and contains none of the things you claim it contains:
http://www.gop.com/2012-republican-platform_home/ [gop.com]
No, I'm not a Republican, I'm just sick of seeing shit slung at political groups without supporting evidence.
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Given that you once again provided no citations (assuming you are the same person, and not a new one who also fails to provide citations for your attack posts), I guess you are talking about David Duke, who first tried to run as a presidential candidate as a Democrat in 1988, and then as a Republican in 1992, and failed to get traction in either case because neither party would have him?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Duke [wikipedia.org]
So your reasoned and well thought out political argument is the same one used by ch
Re:Republicans should "go for it" (Score:5, Insightful)
These views include disbelief in climate change
News to me.
skepticism science in general
Do tell!
Really, please do keep telling me what I believe. Here I thought I just had socially and fiscally conservative leanings; who knows what else you can tell me about my views!
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Actually, their views are that as long as AGW proponents merely concoct pecuniary schemes that would do jack all to solve the actual problem according to their own fucking computer modelsd while greatly reducing quality of life, one should treat their demands accordingly. Which is to say ignore them. As for science skepticism, well, there's a damned good reason for that.
http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/04/20/220201/studies-suggest-massive-increase-in-scientific-fraud [slashdot.org]
Re:Republicans should "go for it" (Score:5, Informative)
I always wondered how stupid a person would have to be to think that one side of the government loves them more than the other.
Can you please post your IQ?
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That was a very quick escalation from a little joke to playing the racism card.
There must be a record for that.
"WHOOSH" in all caps maybe?
Re: Republicans should "go for it" (Score:5, Insightful)
Because you get to choose whether or not you're a member of the party.
I'm not responsible for the actions of other white men, unless I permit their behavior, but I am partially responsible for the behavior of any group I join.
As for discriminating against the GOP, they're main reason for existing is to discriminate against anybody that isn't in their shrinking clique. Sexual minorities, Muslims, the poor, children et al., are groups that they regularly act to marginalize.
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Re: Republicans should "go for it" (Score:4, Insightful)
Somehow this is being translated into "GOP hates children", which is laughable.
At least until they're born. After that, fuck 'em, they're on their own, right?
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So you think discriminating a political party and stereotyping everyone within it is ok?
Some people very clearly do believe that, yes. Im surprised you havent picked that up already from being on slashdot.
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So you think discriminating a political party and stereotyping everyone within it is ok?
What about the Nazi party?
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Re:The old is new again (Score:4, Interesting)
That being said, no amount of money would get me to stick it anywhere near my head. Shudder. The machine I got is capable of making your muscles rip themselves apart. If you overestimate when you increase the power, you effectively taze yourself. The only good thing is you know there's a rest period in a few seconds so you can stop it. It hurts. A LOT. I know.
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Beer only helps with the last one. It only makes you think it helps with the first examples. It really doesn't, trust me on this one - I love beer.