Eyes in the Back of Your Mouth
From: Wired Magazine - December, 2002
By: Michael Abrams

The brain doesnt care where visual input comes from. So why not see with a
camera jacked into your tongue? 

Visual information doesn't have to go through the eyes to get to the brain.
Our sense organs are mere input devices - wet USB ports. The basic premise,
known as plasticity, is that the brain can adapt to new data channels by
rewiring itself. It's a short step from there to sensory augmentation and
substitution. New devices are extending pilots' perception of space, giving
rudimentary sight to the blind, restoring balance to people whose vestibular
systems have failed, even enabling orgasms. "A nerve spike is a nerve spike,"
says Paul Bach-y-Rita, professor of rehabilitation medicine and biomedical
engineering at the University of Wisconsin. "The brain doesn't give a damn
where the information is coming from."  

Bach-y-Rita is adapting the system for stroke victims and others who have
lost their sense of balance. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.12/start.html?pg=9
