Garak's brain device... and a real experiment in the 1980s

[AntonyF]

I saw this at Reddit:

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And it immediately made me think of Garak.

[Today I learned] of brain stimulation reward, manually stimulating specific parts of the brain to elicit pleasure and happiness. A volunteer subject in 1986 spent days doing nothing but self-stimulate. She ignored her family and personal hygiene and she developed an open sore on her finger from using the device.

Here's the Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_stimulation_reward#History

I wonder if this inspired DS9 writers at all, or is just coincidence.

 

[Tosk]

"She ignored her family and personal hygiene and she developed an open sore on her finger from using the device."

Sounds very much like every social media addict to me.

 

[NCC-73515]

Single Worm Neurons Remotely Controlled with Lasers

www.scientificamerican.com

 

[AntonyF]

"She ignored her family and personal hygiene and she developed an open sore on her finger from using the device."

Sounds very much like every social media addict to me.

I did think "And then they created phones... saving the need for implants."

 

[tharpdevenport]

Her finger DNA helped evolve finger for today's smart phone users.

 

[Crazy 4 Xmas Lights]

It's very conceivable. Look at what happens with drug addicts, doing anything for their next "high". If all you had to do was push a button...

TNG's "The Game" is also close to that reality.

 

[kkt]

Star Trek did well to show Lt. Barclay overdoing it with the holodecks. I can see holodecks being a temptation, and if anything I'm surprised it didn't happen more often.