Computer Implant

Bill Gates commented in a Microsoft seminar in Singapore that
technological advances will one day allow computers to be implanted in
the human body and could help the blind see and the deaf hear.

He noted that cochlear implants and other medical implants were
already being used to treat hearing problems and some conditions that
cause constant pain, and were changing some people's lives dramatically.
Cochlear implants, which employ digital pulses that the brain interprets
as sound, can help profoundly deaf people hear. Advances were also being
made on implants that can help fix eyesight problems.

He cited author Ray Kurzweil, whom he called the best at predicting the
future of artificial intelligence, as believing that such computer-human
links would become mainstream -- though probably not for several
generations. Gates also predicted that the keyboard won't be replaced by
voice recognition software, and that the pen will make a comeback --
although without ink. The three would form the basic ways people will
interact with their computers in the future. He said when computer pen
technology -- scratching words onto a screen that a computer tries to read
-- gets more sophisticated it will do things like let people draw musical
notes and chemical signs, as well as recognize handwriting.

Meshing people directly with computers has been a science fiction subject
for years, from downloading memories onto computer chips to
replacement robotic limbs controlled by brain waves. The fantasy is now
coming closer to reality as advances in technology mean computers are
learning to interact with human characteristics such as voices, touch --
even smell.