Tag: tdcs

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/05/16/184544875/a-small-shock-to-the-system-may-help-brain-with-math

http://scienceblogs.com/developingintelligence/2011/11/21/from-simulated-to-actual-annea/

[Obligatory self promotion and reminder: I’ll be on the West Coast in a few weeks, signing copies of the final Milkweed novel, Necessary Evil.  Feel free to swing by if you happen to be in the area!  My schedule can be found here.]

Over the past weekend, I came across two articles pertaining to a subject of constant fascination for me: tDCS, or transcranial direct-current stimulation.  One new within the last week, the other almost exactly a year older.

In the past, I’ve posted about current (heh) research into tDCS: transcranial Direct Current Stimulation.  This is the practice of using electrical stimulation of the brain to improve one’s ability at certain tasks (and possibly to achieve the transcendence from Man to Overman through the total elimination of pain.) Note that this is direct current stimulation—effectively equivalent to connecting somebody’s brain to a battery.

It sounds crazy—like something out of a science fiction novel.  I mean, what kind of weirdo would imagine that wiring a battery directly into somebody’s brain would give them heightened abilities?   Well, DARPA does, for one.