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iPlant
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Welcome An iPlant is a brain implant that is technically no different from today's deep brain stimulation implants, but which has not yet been developed for human use. Fully implemented, the implant would electronically regulate monoamines and the reward system in the brain, thus giving its user increased control over his or her motivation, mood, learning and creativity. Brain implants like this have been available for non-human animals for decades: by associating rewarding brain stimulation with specific behaviours, they have been used to motivate rats and other animals to do heavy exercise (Burgess et al 1991, Garner et al 1991) and solve problems (Hermez-Vasquez et al 2005). Electronic regulation of monoamines could similarly help people perform difficult behaviours like strenuous physical exercise, learning or research. iPlants might also offer a more dynamic alternative to pharmacological modulators of monoamines, such as stimulants and antidepressants.  Deep brain stimulation implants are currently used to treat a number of psychiatric conditions by modulating activity in the human reward system. For
instance, Medtronic's Reclaim implant, which targets the nucleus accumbens, is CE marked in the EU
and FDA approved in the US for obsessive compulsive disorder. iPlants could be implemented using the same
technology and surgical procedure, but would involve brief, strong, rewarding current rather than the constant, weak, normalizing current that is used at present. A patient-doctor agreement would ensure that RBS
was delivered if and only if the patient engaged in pre-specified, beneficial behaviours, such as the use of a rowing machine, an exercise cycle, an e-learning program etc.
This kind of artificial motivation by means of conditional
RBS is currently the most realistic and interesting application of iPlants.
This website promotes ethical development of iPlants and public awareness and debate about monoamine neuroscience, deep brain stimulation and conditional rewarding brain stimulation. More generally, it explores the prospect of personalized neuromodulation: what happens when people acquire increasingly better and more precise technological control over the chemistry of their own brains? 
iPlant talk for the
2009 International Neuromodulation Conference,
iPlant 101,
What is dopamine?,
iPlant seminar
iPlant poster from the 2009
International Neuromodulation Conference,
iPlant fiction
Can you translate parts of the website to another language? Please email christopher@iplant.eu. 
All content on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons License. All proceeds from the store go toward maintenance and further development of the site. |
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Content |
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Home About Fiction Monoamines and the reward system Rewarding brain stimulation Implant technology iPlant programming Safety and ethics Forum Store Video |
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Google Friend Connect |
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Realtime |
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Blog |
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At the International Neuromodulation Conference in Seoul
(September 2009) Does secularism fuck you up? (pt.2, pt.3) (June 2009) What we need to accelerate biomedical research and fight aging (May 2009) I can has freedom and dignity? (April 2009) Using Medtronic's Reclaim implant to generate artificial motivation (March 2009) Wired-article-induced neuroscience rant (March 2009) Riding a bike (December 2008) How compliant do we want our children to be? (December 2008) Thoughts on forks (December 2008) Aging (November 2008) Brainbeat (October 2008) |
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What the blogs say |
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The iPlant: Making life easier for the lazy?
(June 2009)
Enogamez iPlant (June 2009) Something Awesome iPlant Brain Implant Advocated for Self-Improvement (June 2009) Technovelgy iPlant - the motivational implant (June 2009) Futurismic A prosthetic motivational system (April 2009) Emerging Ideas Self-determination for the 21st century (April 2009) psique The iPlant (May 2008) Brain Stimulant |
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Zazzle items |
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