> speach processor have returned almost all her hearing. How is the optic
> nerve so much different from the auditory nerve that we can successful
> interface with the auditory nerve but not with the optic nerve?
I'd suspect the answer is bandwidth... the aural nerves are probably
kilobaud links whereas the optic nerve is probably megabaud. Ok, they're
probably analogue rather than digital, but that should still give some
idea of the difference.
Have you heard of the experiments which ignored the retina entirely and
instead used a grid of pins on the back to 'display' the output from a
camera mounted on the side of the head? According to Dennett in
'Consciousness Explained' blind people could soon learn to 'see' the
pressure from the pins as a low-resolution monochrome image.
Mark
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