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Brain Power

August 9, 2009 4:35 PM

People who are completely paralyzed due to illness or trauma are getting help communicating with a new technology that connects their brains to a computer. Scott Pelley reports.

Brain Power
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by designp May 23, 2012 9:02 PM EDT
For most of my life I have been trying to figure out why IBM and their cronies termed the phrase "Solid State" when talking about electronics.
One would assume that circuitry could also be in a "Liquid state", ie: a vaccination. Hmm
Pete Ashton
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by Astra-Moon December 20, 2010 6:40 PM EST
This man (Scott) has to be one of the bravest men I've seen in a long time. He's completely paralyzed & can't move a thing but his eyeballs, but he finds his will to live in a simple machine. Not many people can do that. keep going Scott, keep fighting for your life, you ARE an inspiration to many people out there I imagine. I'm not paralyzed or anything, but I had a little sister who was severely physically & mentally disabled (now deceased)So you are an inspiration for me.
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by ChildofALSpatient August 30, 2009 11:44 PM EDT
Please, to anyone who is saying this technology is terrible that the government will spy on our thoughts or things like that, I don't think you fully realize how terrible the diseases are whose symptoms it seeks to alleviate. I was majoring in biology at college when my parent was diagnosed with ALS. I dove into the scientific literature to try to figure out what our options were. But right now there is no cure. Maybe Rilutek slows it down and adds a few months to the person's life (months that family members are certainly very grateful for, don't get me wrong) but nothing stops it. She's in a drug trial now but even that trial is just a safety trial so it's in the very early stages with not much data to back it up. I've graduated and returned home to help care for her, but my long-term goal is to get an MD/PhD so that I can do work like that of the scientists featured in this segment. At the very least, as a family member of someone with ALS I am very grateful that this technology exists and I hope that it continues to become easier to use and more accessible.
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by qeegsupport August 13, 2009 11:23 PM EDT
If you are looking for a Neurotherapist I would suggest contacting http://www.isnr.org . This is the International Society for Neurofeedback and research and have a number of clinicians that work in the field of brain science. Dr Kassel is correct when he says that this makes total sense to people doing neurofeedback. To learn more about brain mapping and brain science you can also visit www.qeegsupport.com

Brian M
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by biofeedsk August 13, 2009 9:15 PM EDT
This is fascinating, but makes total sense to those of us that have been treating patients for A.D.D. and other disorders of neuronal dysregulation with EEG biofeedback (Neurofeedback). Steve Kassel, MFT, BCIA-c, BCIA-EEG
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by egyptianllama74 August 13, 2009 6:55 AM EDT
Scott, Good for you! You think you are not courageous, but you are. You are self-less, and many, many kudos for your wife for sticking it out with you through thick and thin. I have many health problems myself...a seizure disorder, chronic fatigue,depression, and now (f/a wk. injury) a herniated disc...none of which I can get much help for. Doctors (either the many I've been to or L & I) say I'm not "bad enough" & there's "nothing we can do." It's frustrating- I'm in pain everyday. So, I go on.
I wish I had your motivation and positive attitude- I think it would be absolutely incredible for you to give "speeches" to HS or college kids. Not only would it educate them, but maybe those with health problems that are serious like yours could get help. 60 minutes= thank you for this one- it was truely amazing! Good luck to Scott and the other lady!
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by das908kind August 12, 2009 2:57 PM EDT
This story is very exciting! I currently volunteer at the George Pearson Center in Vancouver, Canada, assisting a long-term care patient with computer use. My long-term goal is to help patients use computers independently, then interact through social networks. I use Facebook to communicate with distant, yet life-long friends - why can't the same technology be used by those that have lost their physical ability to communicate? You can read about Norman Ryall on my blog: http://*****/jQHb
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by Adeshoga August 11, 2009 9:24 PM EDT
Hi my name is Markanthony. This is not a joke. Per last night's 60 Minutes broadcast, my brain is being held captive by an underground Wireless BCI lab that I do not know who is controlling. It follows me around 24/7 even as I sleep and wake up as if it is a BCI satellite. It is becoming overwhelming. I feel like I am in an underground invisible prison. Please I need help. 786-274-0563. Thank you.
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by Adeshoga August 11, 2009 9:14 PM EDT
PLEASE READ PLEASE READ PLEASE READ PLEASE READ PLEASE READ



Since the beginning of 2006 I realized my cell phone was tapped by Clear Channel?s ?Star and Bucwild Show? when the host of the show ?Star, Mr. Troy Tobain? and his radio show began to conversate with me through my car radio.

This happened after I emailed my resume to the Star and Bucwild Show in repsonse to an ad for a Newscaster position. While Star and the show?s co-star ?White Trash? reviewed applicants on the air, they expressed interest in my resume.

A few weeks or months later ?Star? admitted on the air that he had been spying on his listening audience through cellphones and the radio.

After the Star and Bucwild Show went off the air my cell phone was still tapped and now my car seemed bugged. It was as if some sort of illegal underground show was taking place around me. It was known as the ?No Snitching Campaign?. It was created and promoted by Star himself before his show went off the air.

In the chaos of this harassment and confusion my identity was stolen along with personal research concerning the culmination of 20 years of my revolutionary cutting edge research was stolen from my cell phone texts. Later in July 2008 a passing stranger told me that Jay-Z stole my identity.

I realized my thoughts were being heard through the world?s first and only wireless Brain-Computer-Interface, but anytime I ask someone about it they tell me they don?t know what I?m talking about. It is as if everyone was duped into signing non-disclosures for the No Snitching Campaign. I also realized that my research was perhaps being stolen straight out of my brain by listening to my thoughts.

In the meantime my ?Analog-Digital Energy Interface? technology or ADE9 technology is being used to program Digital TV, news and television media to continue to communicate directly with my brain activity. It is creepy.

This extreme harassment has caused me and my company ?I T RevolutionConcepts? financial ruin. In 2007 I received harassing phone calls, my car was illegally towed twice and returned free of charge, I have been stalked by the public, my cell phone has been tapped, my car bugged, all rooms in my apartments bugged with cameras including my bathrooms, the State Unemployment Office Attorney proved I was wrongfully fired from my job, for the first time in my life I was evicted from my apartment, I have been threatened, and I can go on and on, but I had no way to prove what was going on without sounding crazy.

This can happen to anybody. The way my technology is being handled is a new danger to society. This is inhumane. Everyone everywhere can hear me think. I do believe the No Snitching Campaign has become a plot to conspire around the U.S. Government in a conspiracy to cause insanity. This has to stop. I am being held hostage by a Brain-Computer-Interface conspiracy.

Due to this harassment, in June of 2008 I moved from my residence Cross Keys Apartments in Fort Lauderdale FL to the Kingdom of Oyotunji African Village founded by my late uncle Walter Eugene King AKA His Royal Highness King Oseijeman Adefunmi in Sheldon, SC where this harassment and psychological assault followed me.

While living in the African Village I filed a police report with the Beaufort County Sheriff Department after my car window was shattered by a member of the village that claims he was drunk, and after being foolishly attacked with a machete. In the police report I suggested there seems to be a conspiracy to evade the law.

While living in the African Village I admitted myself into the Coastal Empire Mental Health Center in Beaufort County, SC. The doctors examined me and found nothing wrong with me aside from being stressed and fatigued. This is the discomfort and danger I have had to face everyday until I was able to prove that my identity and technology was pirated and being used in a conspiracy against the Federal Government.

I will be reporting this incident to the United Nations as A Crime Against Humanity. This situation must be investigated and stopped before it turns into more seriously fraudulent crimes. You will find that prior to 2005 non-implant wireless Brain-Computer-Interface technology was unheard of. However this technology has existed under my company I T RevolutionConcepts since 2004. ADE9 documented research and development goes back to 1987.

This is a conspiracy to steal intellectual property and use this new technology to mislead the government through seditious acts in the name of the victim of the identity theft and a No Snitching Campaign.

This is not a prank or practical joke. I have already given this information to the local police and FBI and no one is doing anything. Understand this is really happening right now. This is terrible.
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by ksj48c August 11, 2009 9:05 PM EDT
Around 1990, a songwriter named Peter Himmelman released a song called "The Woman With the Strength of 10,000 Men", about a paralyzed girl usimg eyebrow movements to direct a computer to type her thoughts. How prophetic! Excellent piece (yours and his)!

Ken J
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