Scientists are apparently working on an electronic “Sex Chip” that can be implanted in the brain to stimulate the orbitofrontal cortex – the area associated with pleasurable activities such as sex and eating. One professor even predicts that by 2015 we’ll have implants controlled with hand-held transmitters, potentially giving rise to push-button-pleasure.

The technology stems from deep brain stimulation treatments used in America on Parkinson’s disease sufferers, in which implanted electrodes deliver shocks to under-stimulated areas of the brain.

The chip would be used as a treatment for sufferers of anhedonia who are generally unable to feel pleasure, but has the potential to go mainstream – bringing on-demand pleasure to the masses…well, at least those brave enough to undergo the surgery.

The procedure has a successful precedent too. Neurosurgery professor Tipu Aziz claims a woman with a low libido was treated with the technology a few years ago and was transformed into a very sexually-active woman. She had the electrodes removed however – not fancying the sudden jolt from prudishness to promiscuity.

I guess there’s a lesson in there somewhere – like how the brain is highly complex and that shooting jolts through it may have unexpected and/or unpleasant consequences. But what do I know. I’m too distracted by Seven of Nine who due to being sex personified, doesn’t require an another implant.

Sources:
Times Online and Telegraph