>>> May 09, 2002

Robo Rat

“Males 25 to 34 needed for medical experiments; must be willing surrender free will.” Such a request may not be far off following the announcement by a group of researchers that they’ve successfully implanted electrodes into the brains of five lab rats allowing the beasts’ actions to be controlled by computer 500 metres away.

The team at the State University of New York say they are still within the boundaries of acceptable research, but agree there may be “some ethical issues here.” Gary Francione, an animal welfare specialist at the Rutgers University School of Law, points out that one such issue might be that “the animal is no longer functioning as an animal,” but rather as a puppet.
The “Robo Rat” lead researcher doesn’t think the rats could be controlled to do harm to themselves, but admits that they’ve been successfully coerced into dropping off ledges when commanded to move forward. :

—Scott Saxon