Educational Media Reviews Online

The Cyborg Revolution: Advances in Brain/Body Control demonstrates several ways in which brain/machine technology already in use can be refined for medical, social welfare, industrial and military applications. The examples provided show each of these applications in turn, illustrating how the brain can work directly or indirectly with machines. For example, Jessie Sullivan lost his arms in an electrical accident but uses his prosthetic arms “naturally.” A medical process that grafted the remaining nerves in his upper arms to his pectoral muscles allow for a computer - also embedded in his chest – to interpret and transmit his brain’s electrical signals to his prosthetic arms so he can move them in accordance with his intentions.

There are five parts to this documentary, and Jessie is an example of the first part – “Cyborg Technology employing Human Brains.” The second part, about how brain function changes to adapt to machines, is illustrated by an example similar to Jessie. A woman who has lost a hand is studied as she functions with a prosthetic. From brain imaging we are shown how the brain, at first, has distributed the work of using the prosthetic hand across many parts of the brain. Over time though, we see that the brain changes and concentrates its work in the area that traditionally governs hand function. As one of her doctors explains, “the brain has optimized the machine in order to use it as part of its own body.” In contrast to part two, in part three we see how machines can regulate the brain rather than the other way around. An electrode is implanted in the brain of a Parkinson’s patient to regulate the flow of electricity to the part of the brain that is misfiring. When the electrode begins transmitting you get to actually see the patient’s tremors subside and her movements become controlled and purposeful.

In the last substantive part of the film, military applications are considered. DARPA (the same U.S. government agency that sponsors the Great Robot Race ) is studying the brain-machine interface which is the process “directly linking the brain to a computer” which would allow for direct mind control of machines at a distance. The example that illustrates this kind of interface is called “Robo Rat.” A rat has an electrode implanted in its brain and is controlled via a human using a wireless remote control. The “right whisker” part of the brain is stimulated to make the rat turn right and then the pleasure center of the brain is stimulated to overlay the hardware with behavioral conditioning.

The fifth and final part of Cyborg Revolution, which begins at minute 49 of a 51 minute program, is about the ethics of brain experimentation. Though it is given short shrift, the entire disc would make excellent starting point for a discussion of ethics. The various sections would work well in to introduce the topics of animal rights, the military-medical connection, military technology, trends in medicine, medical ethics, neuroscience, philosophy of mind and popular culture (specifically comics.)

Cyborg Revolution is originally a Japanese production and large portions are translated with a voice over or via subtitles. Because of the technical nature of some explanations, this film may be either too detailed or not detailed enough for classroom use. It is comparable to a Nova or Frontline program on the same topic. The graphics do show the parts of the brain being discussed and there are convenient breaks between the sections which make it handy for in-class viewing, as does the 51 minute length.