Great News for people with Eye Trouble

A bionic eye that can restore sight to the blind should be available commercially within two years, scientists behind the revolutionary technology announced yesterday. The artificial retina has been cleared by US regulators to begin trials on between 50 and 75 people suffering from two of the most common causes of blindness, opening the way for millions more to benefit from similar implants in the future. If the research progresses well, a device could be on the market early in 2009 at a likely cost of about £15,000, said Mark Humayun, Professor of Ophthalmology at the Doheny Eye Institute, part of the University of Southern California. ... Professor Humayun said that it would also work better for people who have been able to see as older children or adults, than for those who have been blind since birth. Times Online

Well folks, this is the real thing. This is the beginning of the end of most kinds of blindness as we know them today. They are right to call it a bionic eye. That is exactly what it is. This one is promising because it is not trying to fix the eye or retina. It is replacing them both entirely. The fact that it is wireless is good too. I cannot imagine catching a wire plugged into my brain on a nail and ripping it out.
Honestly, this is the announcement I've been waiting for all my life. It is not miracle. It is not a one stop fix everything technology. It is not and probably will not surpass the ability of the human eye for a long time. But it is a start. It is the key step that many new innovations will use as a starting place.
I knew that as America gets older something like this would happen. When it comes to medical advances, numbers matter. I picture people warring these things in public in a couple of years. I picture a couple friends of mine warring them too.