the helmet and its implications

We might be looking at an amazing revolution. It starts with a device-- a helmet-- that emits infrared light directed at the wearer's brain. The result, according to initial trials, appears to be the stimulation of cell growth in patients afflicted with Alzheimer's, and a concomitant lessening of Alzheimer's symptoms. I was fascinated by this line in the article I just read:

"But what if there was a technology that told the cells to repair themselves and that technology was something as simple as a specific wavelength of light?"

Think of the possibilities: a vest that helps repair the damaged and dying tissue of someone's heart, a girdle that pumps up atrophied kidneys...

...a jock strap that puts the fortitude back in your testicles?

I look forward to a host of techno-comforts in my old age. This infrared therapy had better be one of them.


UPDATE: A bit of a tangent, but since the subject of Alzheimer's touches on philosophy of mind, readers might be interested in this article about a chimp that has beaten a human world champion at a memory test. The human champ in question can memorize the order of the cards in a shuffled deck within 30 seconds. That ought to give you some idea of what the chimp was capable of.


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