Those of us who are blessed with the gifts of self-mobility and sight are, the ultimate in mobile devices. We see, analyze, process through time and space. The main serial BUS architecture at play here, youmight say, is the way that signals travel from the eye, to the brain, and then, if the signal calls for it, to the feet.

Sometimes, though, this architecture does not function in the way that we wish it might. So, we need to fix things.

Which brings to mind that at Cal Tech, they've been able to design a chip that replicates the activity in the five cell layers of the retina. Researcher Kareem Zaghloul completed this process in 2001, and as we learn in "Neuromorphic Microchips" (May issue of Scientific American,) calls this a "neuromorphic chip." This 60 milliwatt chip uses 1,000 times less electricity than a PC.

Inspired by this technology, researchers at the University of Southern California are perceiving what University of Pennsylvania neuromorphic engineer Kwabena Boahen calls "a total intraocular prosthesis- with camera, processor and stimulator all implanted in the eye of a person who has retinitis pigmentosa or macular degeneration - diseases that damage photoreceptors but spare the ganglion cells."

The SoCal whitecoats visualize (pun intended) this prosthesis working with wearable computer that would process images captured by a video camera attached to the patient's glasses.

Boahen views this technology as at least five years away from the higher-fidelity attributes they need to make them practical.

What he doesn't say is for the next few years after that, such prostheses will be expensive as hell. But by 2015, I predict, you'll see more of them in everyday use.