Oh my god that magnetism thing is so cool. I'd only be afraid of physical pain from touching powerful magnets.
I'm seeing the future and I want to be part of it.
Yeah, it's pretty cool. Aside from the whole back-alley-surgeon bit, the potential nerve and tissue death bit, the risk of rejection requiring immediate hospitalization to have it removed, ect.... Or in general, not something advisable without an actual surgeon and doctor; and they wouldn't do it, as they could lose their medical license over it. Or at least that's how it is for now. If it were safe and easy, yeah, I think over half the college students in engineering and computing majors would have them already.
Piercers can't do it? That's disappointing.
I think the safest way would be to make a little sphere of [insert material that has low rejection risk] that the magnet bit goes in.
It isn't organic. No rejection risk. Infections risks though. Technically, it's like a piercing, with the exception that the metallic bit is mainly under the skin as oposed to on the skin. But I wouldn't recommend it, and i'm a bit doubtful over the feeling. There must be a pretty strong field if you want that the vibrations will be perceived as such, and I don't think you can see them "naturely", not talking about what we already perceive of electromagnetic fields, and natural vibrations.
I think the main effect is actually the belief of being able to perceive electromagnetic fields.
Typically, rare earth metals such as Neodymium are used for the magnets being implanted, as their stronger magnetic force compared to metals like iron allows you to have an implant the size of a grain of rice, rather than a giant magnet which would be required for a less powerful, iron magnet.
Such metals, however, are mildly toxic. From what I've read, the typical procedure is, in fact, to coat them in a layer of material with low rejection risk. However, if this material cracks or otherwise ruptures, the implant will need to be surgically removed, and quickly.
You obviously don't see the field, you feel it. The reason they are put into the fingers is because the fingers have some of the densest concentrations of nerve endings of any part of the body. Thus, the idea is to shove it in right up next to a bunch of nerves. Since the magnets are the very powerful rare earth metal magnets, their size and strength allows for a rather strong pull, poking the nerves around it and triggering the sensation. If you've ever played with a rare earth magnet, you'll know they aren't exactly your average bar magnet. If you have a pair, each with a bit more mass than a quarter, they can attract one another from several feet apart, slamming together with enough force to shatter both magnets in a shower of sparks and shrapnel (I did that once, it was rather unexpected). So with one of those in your fingers huddled up next to a bunch of nerves, yeah, I would bet you could feel it when you get near magnetic fields.
Yes, and that's why I said that's what we're the closest from.
Although, on the "weak-ai". For optic nerve, it's well, quite simple. It is already harder for an arm : muscle, nerves are replaced, and will be a bit different (no tiredness, lots of differents parameters).
But what happens, when instead of connecting an artificial arm to you, you connect a computer, or the internet to you ? We don't have template to work on that, nor whatever to base our experience on. You can't code something that'll say : that impulse mean the "brain" wants to do that precise action on the computer. Firstly, because that's something that hasn't been done. Second, because the possibilities brought by a connection brain-computer are mostly infinite. We would have to learn to move and use that computer as we have to learn how to walk when we're a baby.
The "weak ai" are something that already exists in our brain. We don't think : send that impulse, then that one, etc, nor we think : move that muscle, then that one : we think : move [at least in our higher state of consciousness]. So, I don't even think we need them. At most, a converter impulse-something readable by computer, being electrical (current computers), or quantum.
Most likely, it will bootstrap on previous systems, in a similar manner to how our brain and body themselves evolved. And we don't really need a template, so long as the control scheme is relatively simple. For a more complex interface, you start out with it being simple, than gradually introduce more complexity as the user adapts to it. The whole point is to make it easier than learning how to walk; if it takes years, there's not much point to it in regards to enhancement. Days, or up to a week, sure, but not months or years. The weak-ai are already in our brain; but they aren't nearly as good as that which we can create; which is, again, why it takes months or years to learn to do things like walking. Having pre-built systems, as with the prosthetic eye, allows the device to interface with the brain much more effectively. Thus using it would become more akin to learning how to use the
Emotiv Headset (which also uses such weak-ai interpreters), rather than learning how to walk.