One theory for the fall of the Roman Empire is lead poisoning from their plumbing. In 1989 an opportunistic bureaucrat in a government research agency stumbled across a modern day parallel produced by the repetitive flashing of images from movies, TV, and computers through the eyes into the cerebral cortex. The discoverers of this effect not only found out how to counteract it, they developed a way to use the technology to implant new information into the human brain. This is the ultimate information technology; a machine that can instantly impart encyclopedic knowledge with no effort from...