The new implant, to be marketed as Clairvoyeur, is a far cry from the crude “high-density microelectric array” devices that researchers started testing in the early part of the century. People using those contraptions had to attach a large pair of goggles to a wire that extended through the skull. And because the implants contained just 100 needlelike electrodes, which communicated sporadically with 200 to 300 neurons, users saw only a faint keyhole image. Many saw nothing at all, and no one gained the ability to read or get around independently.
Progress was slow until the 2080s, when materials scientists developed Neurophos, a biocompatible substance with silicon’s appetite for digital information. When a Neurophos chip is implanted in the visual cortex, the surrounding neurons take up its tiny fibers to create a dense network that includes thousands of connections. And because Neurophos can receive laser signals from the microcameras now mounted on most eyeglasses, the new device requires no wire through the skull. If larger trials succeed, Clairvoyeur could reach the market by 2100.
