OVER 350 BLIND

OVER 350 BLIND PEOPLE GOT AN IMPLANT THAT GAVE PIECE OF THEIR SIGHT. COMPANY WENT OUT OF BUSINESS AND THE HARDWARE STAYED IN THEIR HEAD. THE DEVICE WAS CALLED THE ARGUS BIOMEDIC 2. THEIR BIONIC EYES ARE NOW OBSOLETE AND UNSUPPORTED Second Sight left users of its retinal implants in the dark BY ELIZA STRICKLAND MARK HARRIS 15 FEB 2022 18 MIN READ THE COMPANY WAS CALLED SECOND SIGHT. BARBARA CAMPBELL WAS walking through a New York City subway station during rush hour when her model abruptly went dark. For four years, Campbell had been using a high-tech implant in her left eye that gave her a crude kind of bionic vision, partially compensating for the genetic disease that had rendered her completely blind in her 30s. "I remember exactly where I was: I was switching from the 6 train to the F train," Campbell tells IEEE Spectrum. "I was about to go down the stairs, and all of a sudden I heard a little 'beep, beep, beep' sound." It wasn't her phone battery running out. It was her Argus II retinal implant system powering down. The patches of light and dark that she'd been able to see with the implant's help vanished. THE DEVICE WAS YOUR RETINA. A CAMERA ON AND A PROCESSOR ON YOUR BELT. AND IT WORKED. PEOPLE WERE ABLE SHAPES, DORWAYS, THEIR KIDS MOVING ACROSS A THAT AROUND 2020, THE COMPANY NEARLY WENT BANKRUPT. THEY LAID OFF ALMOST EVERYONE AND QUIETLY STOPPED SUPPORTING THE DEVICE. AN M.R. TO CHECK FOR WITH DEAD ELECTRONICS WIRED INTO HIS STILL I SPECTRUM DOCUMENTED THE WHOLE THING BACK IN 2022. ANYTIME SOMEONE SELLS YOU AN IMPLANT THAT FIXES YOU, A SUPPORT CONTRACT THE MIRACLE. AND THE MIRACLE ONLY LASTS AS LONG AS THE COMPANY DOES BECAUSE YOUR BODY NOW HAS A PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE. LINK IN BIO IF YOU WANT LINK IN MY BUT AS ALWAYS, THINK ABOUT IT. WHAT YOU THINK. FOLLOW ME.