Russian researcher with cult following claims to have implanted a chip into his brain in the hope of controlling his dreams by performing surgery on himself at home
- WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
- Michael Raduga, 40, implanted an electrode into his brain to ‘control his dreams’
- The Russian performed brain surgery on himself in his living room in Kazakhstan
- An Oxford University neurosurgeon has stressed this is extremely dangerous
- The surgeon said that we are ‘decades away’ from achieving dream control
A Russian researcher with a cult following claims to have implanted a chip into his brain in the bold hopes of being able to control his dreams.
Michael Raduga put his life on the line last month as he lost more than a ‘litre of blood’ while performing brain surgery on himself in his home in Kazakhstan.
The 40-year-old, who has no neurosurgery qualifications, compared his extremely dangerous experiment to the film of Inception – claiming his ‘electrode’ one day has the potential to change the course of lucid dreams.
Gruesome footage of the procedure shows him holding his skin back with paper clips while bulldozing the back of his skull using a drill he found at a hardware store.
The life-threatening study has not appeared in any peer-reviewed journals and is not backed by any universities, but Mr Raduga claimed he needed to do it for himself.
Mr Raduga, 40, implanted an electrode into his brain to ‘control his dreams’
‘I am glad I survived but I was ready to die,’ he told MailOnline in an exclusive interview.
‘For many people, it will be some sort of entertainment. Now, imagine a paralysed person who cannot experience anything in this life and now we find a way to help him to get into a lucid dream where everything is possible. Have sex, eat something, do something interesting.’
Mr Raduga is the founder of Phase Research Center which claims to provide beginner’s guidance on how to experience sleep paralysis, out-of-body experiences and ‘astral projection’.
Although he isn’t a doctor, previous works have attracted the attention of thousands, and some of his online content encourages the idea that lucid dreaming is the perfect chance to do ‘dirty business’.
This includes eating fast food, getting laid with ‘pornstars or your favourite neighbour’ or even taking drugs and driving a Ferrari.
Now, with his new platinum and silicon implant, he claims to have taken this up a notch, using the power of electricity to trigger certain actions in dreams.
He inserted the chip into his brain after watching hours of neurosurgery YouTube videos and practicing on five sheep – he told no one of his plans.
While this was eventually removed in hospital after five weeks, Phase Today followers have already been asked whether they would be ‘willing to get a brain implant for more efficient lucid dreaming’.
The electrode implant is made of platinum and silicon. Mr Raduga claims that electrical triggers sent to this electrode can influence the course of lucid dreams
The Russian performed brain surgery on himself in his living room in Kazakhstan
‘During the first 30 minutes I was ready to give up many times because first of all I lost a lot of blood – approximately a litre of blood. And I was afraid I could just lose consciousness,’ he told MailOnline.
‘I finished the surgery I took a shower and I worked for 10 hours straight… people didn’t know.
‘Using VR technologies you can’t touch, you can’t eat, you can’t feel pleasure and so on. These kind of technologies are limited – they’re cool, very good but it has limitations.
‘Sooner or later, in general we will understand we have a world where everything is possible.’
It’s not clear whether there have been any long-term complications of this incredibly dangerous procedure, yet some have expressed admiration for Mr Raduga after he shared photos of his recovery.
One wrote: ‘What is happening? People around the globe love you, you know that? Can you please tell us something?’
Another added: ‘No messing around here, fair play Iron Mike.’
Despite this, Consultant Neurosurgeon, Alex Green of the University of Oxford, slammed Mr Raduga for his ‘dangerous’ actions.
‘This is an extremely dangerous thing to do,’ he told MailOnline.
‘Neurosurgery should only be practiced by experienced and qualified neurosurgeons. All sorts of complications could have happened.
‘For example, if he had caused bleeding from a cortical vein or an intracerebral vessel he could have had a stroke with permanent deficit or death.
Mr Raduga is the founder of Phase Research Center which claims to provide beginner’s guidance on how to experience sleep paralysis, out-of-body experiences and ‘astral projection’
While this was eventually removed in hospital after five weeks, Phase Today followers have already been asked whether they would be ‘willing to get a brain implant for more efficient lucid dreaming’
‘There would have been a high risk of infection. In the UK and most countries, if he does this on someone else he could be found guilty of gross bodily harm, manslaughter -anyone who allowed it would be very stupid.’
In the UK, it is illegal to implant a medical device into a brain that is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration or CE marked, unless it has specific approval.
It is possible that Mr Raduga could also be at risk of epilepsy in the long-term if any scarring is caused to the cortex of his brain, according to Mr Green.
He continued: ‘In terms of whether a device can be used to alter dreams, the answer is that this has not been shown yet. In reality we are probably decades away from being able to synthesise new experiences.
‘Our group have shown that certain deep brain nuclei can be stimulated to alter sleep stages – but more complex than that is highly experimental.’
Source: Read Full Article
