Tuesday, February 27th 2007

Chinese scientists create RC pigeon

Scientists at Shandong university in east China succesfully implanted micro electrodes in a pigeons brain. The electrodes simulate specific parts of the brain forcing the pigeon to comply with the given commands.
The technology is being improved so it could be put to practical use in the future. The pigeon is the second succesful remote control animal since a similar experiment on mice in 2005.
Source: XINHUA online
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40 Comments on Chinese scientists create RC pigeon

#1
jocksteeluk
a new type of weapon perhaps? i cant see any other reason for remote control animals.
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#2
Zero Cool
woah! thats pure ownge! soon they will sell remote control animals in the shop! animal rights activist have a hard time to come
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#3
Zero Cool
jocksteeluka new type of weapon perhaps? i cant see any other reason for remote control animals.
oh yea like in Worms! the Flying Kamikaze Sheep!
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#4
ace80
Although this might have some good implementations(can't really think of any:ohwell: ), imagine this concept in a few years time and getting into the wrong hands, very scary times
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#5
mullered07
hmmm what use could this possibly have ? well im sure it wont be too long after this is perfected they would try such a thing on a primate similar to ourselves such as monkeys and if successful whats next ? :twitch: us of course, for what purpose i dont know although warfare is the likliest, anyone remember cyborg w/jean claude van damme ? :wtf:
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#6
Zero Cool
hmmmmm, I think whats next is improving the human brain. as some of us beleive that an average human uses only 5 percent of hte potentional of our brain, and people that say can do telepathy and magic (seriously, lol) are people that can use a bit more then 5% (i am not sure If I really beleive this or not)
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#7
WarEagleAU
Bird of Prey
Damn Chinese. This is how they will carry out what happened on the show "Jericho". On a serious note, this is pretty cool, but I see it being used as a weapon to control powerful diplomats and what not.
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#8
Sasqui
I want one for my girlfriend.
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#10
J0N
Could be a spy pigeon!
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#11
new_rez
Whilst this is really cool and all I still think its wrong. Im not one of those hippy save the animal faggy kinds but I still don't reckon sticking computer chips into a pigeons head is right. They did the same thing with a rat a while back.

With the rat they would control it and when they stopped and allowed the rat to do its own thing it was well confused.

Its still cool though. Also there is no contradiction here.
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#12
DMSMac_Consult
Wonder what'd happen if the remote control for the pigeon got the blue screen of death...
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#13
J0N
Pigeon simply falls from the sky, and unleashes its deadly load all over the Red Dragon!

;)
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#14
ryzak7
I would think that such research could be implemented to help people with diseases that effect motor control and such. There are a lot fo people worldwide that have an absolute crappy life because they shake or are unable to use fine motor control. Alternately as others have said this is far more likely to become a military thing.
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#15
J0N
Mmm, when was the last time you heard of China putting peoples health first against their own ideology.

Medical based use would be a fantastic idea and use. Hopefully the Americans or Brits or Germans could further this technology for good use one day soon.
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#16
Completely Bonkers
Infect the pidgeons with Asian Bird Flu. Then fly them remotely to tactical targets. A new kind of barn storming.

Personally, I think this is pretty f'ed up. Combine this technology with cloning and where do you go? Remember that RC does not necessarily mean the animal objects can do anything useful... just "controlled" in some negative totalitarian way.

It's like a combination of Matrix and The Island and other sci-fi elements but with more ethical-horror. What the chinese and vietnamese do to Bears and Monkeys is bad enough. It can only get worse.
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#17
Easy Rhino
Linux Advocate
didnt they already do this to president bush ?
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#19
OneCool
SasquiI want one for my girlfriend.
I was thinking the same thing!!!!!!! :laugh:
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#20
PVTCaboose1337
Graphical Hacker
They can control you... pretty neat though.
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#21
cdawall
where the hell are my stars
jocksteeluka new type of weapon perhaps? i cant see any other reason for remote control animals.
it poops on its enemies
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#22
Scavar
I suppose it might lead the way to implants which improve our own abilities, and who ever said 5%, The average human actually uses somewhere between 6 to 10% of their brain for every day living. Some people who strive their entire life to control such things as their body heat, heart rate, eyes, hearing, taste, and other such things are believed to use over 10% or at least use a part of the brain which is not within the standard range.


There only two viable uses I can see for this at the moment. The good one, involves helping people with certain disabilities and diseases. The bad one is easily Warfare and "body"control. Like mindcontrol, just you are controlling the body.
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#23
magibeg
I'm not sure if i like this kind of technology being developed. Then again thats just me being protective of the one thing that truely makes us who we are.... our brain :P
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#24
laszlo
they will put in the population to increase/de the birth rate;when they go under 1,2 billion the leader take the remote and press the button "f..ck":laugh:
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#25
JC316
Knows what makes you tick
You know, this could be really good news, but I bet it's going to be really BAD.

Good because they could make vicous animals tame and wouldn't have to put so many down. Good because it could lead to cureing brain damage and disease, possibly even paralysis.

Bad becase I really dont like the idea of a pigeon bomb, or my dog spying on me, or worse..... Like what they could do to humans.

Again, a technology that could be helpfull, but can also be weponised.
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