James Purser

Here we go again.

This time its an implant to help people manage cluster headaches. The company that made the devices has collapsed leaving 700 people with implants and no way to manage them.

There has to be a better way to deal with this.

#disability #righttorepair #dutyofcare

Hat tip to @DrCuriosity for the link

https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-022-03810-5/index.html

Abandoned: the human cost of neurotechnology failure

When the makers of electronic implants abandon their projects, people who rely on the devices have everything to lose.

Jan 23, 2023 at 6:27amWeb
Show threadJono FergusonJan 23, 2023
@purserj @DrCuriosity Jesus wept, right to repair is worrying, but I get the idea.
Show threaddaymJan 23, 2023
@purserj @DrCuriosity
Medical device design specifications and software should be kept in escrow for public release if the company go out of business.
Show threadAnthony B,Jan 23, 2023
@purserj @DrCuriosity not *quite* as grim as the previous one with the eye implants, but still plenty awful
Show threadAnthony B,Jan 23, 2023
@purserj @DrCuriosity previously
https://spectrum.ieee.org/bionic-eye-obsolete
Their Bionic Eyes Are Now Obsolete and Unsupported

These early adopters found out what happened when a cutting-edge marvel became an obsolete gadget... inside their bodies.

IEEE Spectrum
Show threadJames PurserJan 23, 2023

@swearyanthony @DrCuriosity yeah spoke about that here

https://www.angrybeanie.com/news/how-do-you-deal-with-abandonware

How do you deal with Abandonware?

Abandonware sucks when it's your TV, imagine what it feels like when it's your Eyes

Show threadJames PurserJan 23, 2023

@swearyanthony @DrCuriosity there's going to be more and more of this.

Can you imagine what neuralink is going to look like?

Show threadI love this, so IJan 23, 2023
@purserj @swearyanthony @DrCuriosity *screams in twitter*
Show threadJames PurserJan 23, 2023
@jpm @swearyanthony @DrCuriosity you don't even need to scream in twitter, imagine these devices with subscription models
Show threadI love this, so IJan 23, 2023
@purserj @swearyanthony @DrCuriosity *screams in Tesla*
Show threadAnthony B,Jan 23, 2023
@jpm @purserj @DrCuriosity imagine the monthly subscription for the Neuralink MonkeyKiller2000 brain implant
Show threadAnthony B,Jan 23, 2023
@purserj @jpm @DrCuriosity as a first step, regulators should require that as a condition of being licensed, all of the tech goes into escrow, so that if they go out of business/decide to stop supporting it, others can pick it up
Show threadI love this, so IJan 23, 2023

@swearyanthony @purserj @DrCuriosity I’ve been wondering this, but I really don’t know who the “others” should, or even could, be.

The 3 possible places it would go are either a government department for care and feeding for the next 100 or so years keeping up with technology changes (lol), another company who may or may not care about making more money on it, or open source and then somehow get a regulatory handle on all the possible “improvements” that happen

Show threadAnthony B,Jan 23, 2023
@jpm @purserj @DrCuriosity yeah that's a whole ball of interesting problems in and of itself. Like sure, in theory you could rely on open source folks, but regulatory approval (also get back to me when Linux has working audio)
Show threadMatthew TooheyJan 23, 2023
@purserj @DrCuriosity Ugh!
Show threadOSIRIS 🎸 💻 🎙️Jan 23, 2023

@purserj @DrCuriosity Yeah, this is tricky. Publicly financed medicine would have never invented this. But sooner or later companies like this either go bankrupt or spiral into some kind of decadence where profit outweighs benefit.

This is true of other publicly financed areas as well - digital tools for education etc.

Show threadDr. Curiosity 💻🔬Jan 23, 2023
@osiris @purserj
As a one-time CS Education PhD, can confirm. One of the platforms I used as the basis for a case study got bought and killed by Microsoft before the thesis was even finished its revisions.
Show threadGurtbeef RobeJan 24, 2023
@purserj @DrCuriosity I watched a documentary and one man who was ready to kill himself over these headaches found relief by taking psychedelic mushrooms 1-2x’s per month. Die hard conservative who was completely against them until it worked as a medicine for him. Now he has to grow his own