We're getting there:

http://rdu.news14.com/content/top_stories/....asp?ArID=82612

And soon afterwards, we'll get rigging, too. We already have the control cyber, now we just need the sensory stuff.

This kinda startles me - I was just listening to an article on how this is being experimented on using rabbits. I'm stunned to see that it's being done in humans already.

Oh hell yeah. Once these become more like SR-style, with IR and rangefinder/targeting, I'm SO in the doc's office! (does monumentally bad Rocky impression: "Cut me, mick, cut me!")

Start saving, because you'll certainly live to see it (if current progress trends can be encouraged to continue, which requires luck and wisdom). Pushing associated R&D through consumer power will speed its development as well.

I figure in 20 years we could get an actual pair of cybereyes for $20,000.

With the way nanotech and regenerative medicine is going, cyber may go the way of the Dodo before it even gets here.

If you're talking about "cyberware" as merely medical answers to disabilities and the like, then possibly. But even then, I doubt it.

they're already here
scientists predict 10 years before usable resolution is achieved

Is there another source for this story to verify it?

There are numberous sources about the doctor (William Dobelle, who died in 2004) describing him working on 'artificial vision research' and a few sources mentioning partial restoration of sight in blind volunteers.

Err... What? The only thing I read that has relevance to the line quoted is that we should buy stuff based on similar R&D. Can you rephrase?

I have see photos of one of the volunteers o this project. The cables that go from the computer to the skull look just like they do in Shadowrun, but very ordinary. They really are like 2 or 3 cables strapped together. It looks very similar to a datajack... Exactly like one...

The Story appear in the cover (and inside) of a mexican magazine called Muy Interesante (Very Interesting). Sorry I can't scann it...

Just don't expect blind people to disappear, even if these were made available to everyone.

People born blind aren't comfortable with the concept of being able to see most of the time, they're used to being blind and they don't want to change it. There's quite some fear in the blind community that governments will force blind people to take these and cut off their benefits.

My personal fear is lack of understanding. I've been blind for a (very) few years now, due to messed up optic nerves (leber's optic atrophy to be exact). There would be nothing usable to connect eye replacements to in my case. I'm worried that if these things come about people won't accept why I can't have one. I already have enough trouble explaining why I don't have a guide dog (only a couple thousand here in the UK, probably similar numbers elsewhere. They seem more because they're so obvious, but they're not suitable for everyone by a long shot).

On the other hand, if I could use them I'd only go for them if they had thermo
I've got set in my ways... and I'm only 22 at that.

cx2, they don't interface with the optic nerve. As I understand it, they're directly stimulating the portions of the brain that interpret visual imput.

And would you take ones with an imagelink, if they lacked thermo?

...

If you're blind, how are you reading these forums?

Also, I'll point out that as long as the visual portion of your brain is intact, this stuff will work.

Wonder how it handles forums?

its also possible to be "legally blind" and still be able to see withthick ass glasses. Thanks to some harsh astigmatism, i feel like i am every morning i wake up before i put my contacts in.

What does the software read? It would suck if it read "Running Target Linebreak Group: members."

i think the fear would be to see shittily, and not get the payments... then again, i also think cx as talking about people born blind, and in that case, i can see it being a "scary" propisistion for them.

There were a few articles in journals from a year or so ago, where someone who lost his site, gained some of it back with an 81 pixel camera which fed into his cortex. there is a picture of him doing a burnout in a mustang. (and he was able to make out a few faces even with such a low resolution) I cannot find the link for the life of me. In order for this procedure to work, the patient must have been able to see before.

Okay...

First, lol, I wouldn't mind an imagelink if I could bring myself to use such a thing.

Second, I'm using Jaws for Windows 4.51. The main players are:
www.freedomscientific.com Jaws reader and Magic Magnifier
www.gwmicro.com Window Eyes reader
www.dolphinuk.co.uk Lunar/Lunar plus magnifier, Hal reader and Supernova reader/magnifier combo
www.aisquared.com Zoomtext magnifier

All readers can support braille displays (handy for the deaf-blind, yes they do use PCs). THere are also software and hardware solutions around for mobile phones (Symbion only in software) and PDAs (Windows Mobile only for software solutions). Narrator stinks, don't bother with it (the one in Windows that is). There are free demos of most software out there for this purpose, certainly all the companies above make demos of their PC software.

Third, I'm not sure even I would go for it if it camt out. The money from the government isn't exactly to live on, it's par tof the initiatives usually in place to help people with disabilities get back into work. It helps pay for things like my speech software and so on. As for the DLA (disability living allowance) that exists in the UK I get about £120 a month, and I need to use it for when costs are higher. If I want a usable microwave it costs £200 as opposed to £40, there are things like atlking kitchen scales and jugs (about £30-40), liquid level indicators (to tell when your cup's full, you can use a finger but not with hot coffee), my long cane (white stick, they don't last for ever) and so on and so forth. It's because living costs are higher.

It isn't that we sponge. I lost my sight from pretty much full to pretty much nothing in the space of about 3-4 years, I coped but because I had no choice. It can really play hell with your self identity, and whilst if it happened naturally I think I could cope I'm not sure I could bring myself to go through another big change like that of my own doing. It's a *lot* to expect. I'm just getting comfortable with myself (something I used to find hard at the best of times), and to turn it upside down again... I'm not sure I could handle it. Don't underestimate the psychological impact of a change like losing your sight.