> Let's extrapolate from the narrow case a bit: what other
> body mods would be useful in minimizing the kind of
> catastrophic damage that we want to avoid most (i.e.,
> loss of memory/cognitive function)?
One thing that I would like is some reserve circulation for the
brain. Not sure how to implement it without hypotech, but its goal
would be to sustain cranial circulation and avoid ischemia as long as
possible.
An ICP/blood pressure/oxygenation monitor would ge a great start. A
fairly simple (well, none of these devices are simple by today's
standards :-( ) possibility would be an autoinjector linked to the
monitor system, so if you went into a unhealthy state it could release
anti-ischemic drugs, antidotes to detected poisons or other useful
chemicals.
> So having a builtin ICP monitor, blood pressure monitor,
> heart monitor, respiration monitor and some other basic
> stuff might be most helpful, especially if they were
> tied to a warning system that, say, called 911 when the
> heart stopped or brain pressure went over threshhold.
That would be extremely useful. Pressure monitors can likely be made
fairly easily, what we really would like is an oxygenation monitor. I
saw a pacemaker last year that had a prototype for this, a small
optical device that measured oxygen inside the heart, but according to
its developer it wasn't that good. More work is needed.
> Perhaps we could build some standard sensors with skin-
> mounted transducers that could be plugged into a cheap
> Fluke meter at home to monitor as many signs as were
> needed (diabetics would have glucose meters, etc.) Is
> there an existing technology for internal devices with
> external electrical contacts that doesn't have too many
> of its own problems?
I haven't looked into this field much, but it seems to be fairly
standard to supply power and some information to implants using
transducers (cf. the anti-epilepsy "vagus pacemaker" mentioned here
earlier; I really wonder how *that* stimulation feels!). This would
likely be enough to signal to a device worn in the breast pocket or on
the wrist.
A neater solution might use infrared light through the skin.
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