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Organic Abstraction Layer




An organic abstraction layer (OAL) is an abstraction layer between the biological systems of a living organism and computer hardware systems designed to interact with that organism. Currently OALs are most commonly implemented via silicon-neuron interconnects. reference needed

The OAL's purpose is to hide the differences that exist between individual organisms of the same species from the hardware that interfaces with it, such that the hardware does not have to be redesigned for each individual organism.


EXAMPLES



Basic


The human Electrocardiogram - In this model, electrodes are placed on a human body in predefined positions, capturing a predefined pattern of electrical signals from the human heart. This abstraction allows a wide variety of machines to record these signals and process them for further use.


Advanced


Cochlear Implants - These devices provide deaf individuals with the ability to hear by directly stimulating the auditory nerves within the cochlea. While at present, the actual device implanted into the cochlea and the external components ( Microphone , Speech Processor and Transmitter ) are intimately tied together by manufacturer, an open platform implementation is not difficult to envision.


FUTURE


Future OALs will provide global access to all major functions of the human body. The 10-year goal in the advancement of OAL technology would be to integrate an external interface (e.g. USB , IEEE 1394 ) into an organism, capable of outputting video and audio signals, and to interact with these outputs via any widely available commercial operating system (e.g. Microsoft Windows , Mac OS X and Linux ).