E.J. Chichilnisky | Restoring Sight to the Blind

Source: After on podcast with Rob Reid: Episode 39: E.J. Chichilnisky | Restoring Sight to the Blind.

This was mind-blowing.

The conversation starts with a basic overview of how the eye works, which is fascinating in itself, but then they start talking about how they’ve figured out how to insert an external (digital) process into the interface between the eye and brain, and that’s when things get crazy.

It’s not always easy to see the implications of converting physical processes into software but this is one of those conversations that really makes it simple to see. When we use software to mediate the information that the brain receives, we’re able to manipulate that information in many different ways. For example, with this system in place, you could see wavelengths of light that are invisible to the unaided eye. Imagine being able to see in the infrared or ultraviolet spectrum. But it gets even crazier.

It turns out we have cells in the interface between the brain and eye that are capable of processing different kinds of visual information (for example, reading text and evaluating movement). When both types of cell receives information meant for the other at once, we find it really hard to process both simultaneously. But, if software could divert the different kinds of information directly to the cells responsible for processing it, we could do things like read text while driving. The brain wouldn’t be confused because the information isn’t coming via the eyes at all and so the different streams are processed as two separate channels.

Like I said, mind-blowing stuff.

Additional reading

• Bavor, S. (2017). Is the Cure for Blindness Hiding in Video Goggles and an Implant?
• Collins, N. (2017). Stanford scientists seek to speak the brain’s language to heal its disease.
• Johnston, T. How video goggles and a tiny implant could cure blindness.
• NIH: Making artificial vision look more natural
• Ossola, A. (2017). A Stanford Neuroscientist is Working to Create Wireless Cyborg Eyes for the Blind.