Original story

Compumedia 4.7.2019

World’s first totally synthetic nerve implanted in 3-year-old patient

In Chicago yesterday, a medical team led by Prof. Adlay Maharina succesfully implanted in a 3-year-old child with a congenital hearing defect the world’s first completely synthetic nerve.

The synthetic nerve replaced a damaged auditory nerve. This morning, the child woke up to hear for the first time his mother’s voice. According to the nurses and doctors present at the occasion, the look on the boy’s face was best described as one of stunned astonishment.

The synthetic auditory nerve was manufactured by installing in a glass tube of 8 µm in diameter roughly 100 small computer processor units and a chemical-electric conductor. The synthetic nerve has already been tested on animals, but there have been disputes as to the interpretation of the results. The transplant carried out in Chicago indicates beyond doubt that it is possible to manufacture a working artificial nerve. Thus far science has been able to replace nearly all the organs in the human body with man-made substitutes - the sole exceptions have been the brain, the nerves, and neurally-driven systems.

Professor Maharina forecasts that in the course of the next decade we shall see progress that allows even the brain and parts of the brain to be replaced by artificial means. It is already possible to emulate the greater part of the brain’s activity in memory holograms, and research towards 100% emulation is going on at a furious pace. Several research centres are also competing in the race to model the brain and the nervous system with artificial nerves.

According to information received this morning, the news of the neural transplant breakthrough has sparked a heated discussion within the United Nations. A number of delegates would like to see a worldwide ban on neuroscientific modelling. Their spokesman, the Asian Union’s Ambassador to the UN, commented to Compumedia: “The path these people are embarking on may result in a human that has been completely refitted with artificial limbs and organs and which is thus essentially a robot or humanid. Such a creature may be more efficient and wiser than we mere mortals, and may in time render us unnecessary and obsolete.”

Further details on this story: sat.web. 990-4-RT-COMPUME

Toteuma-arvio 2026

Toteuma lyhyesti

  • Ilmiön toteuma: 4/5
  • Toteuma viiden vuoden tarkkuudella: kyllä; arviointi-ikkuna on 2014–2024
  • Toteuma väljemmällä aikahorisontilla: kyllä, erittäin vahvasti
  • Ilmiön ydin: vaurioitunut hermotoiminto voidaan korvata synteettisellä sähköisellä rajapinnalla, joka palauttaa esimerkiksi kuulon.

Sisäkorvaistutteet välittävät äänen sähköisesti kuulohermolle, ja hermoproteeseja sekä johtavia hermotukia kehitetään aktiivisesti. Kokonaan synteettistä biologisen hermon korvaajaa ei ole istutettu tarinan tavalla, mutta palautettu toiminto on.

Johtopäätös: ydin keinotekoisesta hermorajapinnasta ja kuulon palauttamisesta toteutui olennaisilta osin.