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Going Cyberpunk
goingincirclez writes "Cnet has an article about the development of a "Neuro-chip". This can be implanted in the brain and is currently being researched for medical uses. The article makes a brief mention the composition of pictures on a computer based on signlas receieved from the brain. Couple this development with the information in this Wired article from last October, and I can't help but wonder how far we are from literally being able to record dreams and thoughts?" On a similar note there are stories about a temperature-sensing implantable microchip and a scientist who claims he can tell whether you've committed a crime.
"98.6! Take him away, boys, he's guilty of somethin'!"
Imagine that all you would have to do is hook a little matrix type needle in your head and you could compete based on pure reflexes and just how fast your brain can work, and not on a malfunctioning optical mouse.
Geez, when I think of it like that, there could be all sorts of implications for something like this from being a lie detector to measureing IQ.
its that only shaved psychic genetic freaks that float in a comatose state in a vat underground can tell me who has committed a crime.
There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
If (and I'm stressing that if) this becomes "widely accepted", couldn't one simply refuse to allow oneself to be tested, as it would really just be another form of self incrimination, which we are protected from by the 5th Amendment? After all, each of these little "brain spikes" would be like the defendant muttering "I did it" each time he was shown a card with evidence on it.
So reading one's mind is still _far_ in the future. That said, it's still a very cool technology which will allow for more information on how the brain works, and hopefully some serious medical advances.
---
"Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong." --Dennis Miller
The Orgasmatron. This, and a replacement for addictive drugs, are the most important functions of cybernetics. And fortunately, they are pretty easy to implement, as opposed to mind transfers or the like.
You know, I'm glad there are scientists out there who can tell whether I've committed a crime. Because with all these bizarre and incomprehensible laws out there, I sure as heck don't know when I have. Perhaps if I get one of these chip things it will tell me when my code touches a patented technology or happens to break some loser's copy-protection technology from the mid-80s.
--G
With laws like the U.S.A.P.A.T.R.I.O.T. act and the DMCA, hasn't pretty much everyone broken the law now? It hardly takes a scientists to tell whether someone's a criminal these days. Hell, it's been true for decades that the tax code is so fiendishly complex that no one can understand it, let alone comply with it fully. And if all else fails, there's always the speed limit laws...
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
And as we all know, everything you can think of will be done! What can YOU think of?
*shudder*
If there is one lesson we can learn from history, it is that we dont learn from history ~ dont know whose quote
"Error 404 - It looks like you were thinking if Windows Palladium security protocols are breakable."
Now what REALLY matters is the interface. It's not much good to have a computer wired to your cortex is all you can do is type on your brain's command line.
What will make this take off is a thought-processor. An interface device that allows the computer to read your mind. The real challange will be in signal filtering; I don't want to speak for anyone else, but I think about a lot of random crap during the day. How to distinguish legitimate commands from my daydreaming about travel or movies or p0rn?
Whoever invents this will make Einstein look like a small time celebrity.
Who in their right mind would get a chip implanted in their body? With technology advancing as fast as it does, you would be outdated in a couple of years! A better Idea would be a port that can be easily accessed that can support future upgrades without surgery.
Sound waves should be free!
Nope.
to The Matrix :)
Seriously though , as science gets better and better at capturing our thoughts and dreams the applications for such technology are limitless. Imagine playing a video game that could adapt to your thoughts.
"Grand Theft Auto 10: Drive any type of car you can think of."
- -
Are you an SF Fan? Are you a Tru-Fan?
I didn't know that subjecting yourself to mental control and monitoring was cyberpunk. Geez, I guess it's time for us to wake up and stop being so anarchist!
Why bother.
If I had a chip in my brain that allowed people to see what I'm thinking, there should be a law stating women aren't allowed within 20 feet of the monitoring equipment.
*SLAP*
YOU PIG!!!
*SLAP*
.
I am the lord of the pun. Dance Knave!
can't help but wonder how far we are from literally being able to record dreams and thoughts?
If you read material on brain research, you'll quickly come to the realize that we have no idea at all how the brain works. The theories are widely varying and contradictory. The chip in this story is a hack, like shocking a dead frog and watching its muscles twitch. You can do it without any kind of clue, but going from there to a full understanding of things is a gargantuan leap.
The prohibitive cost of a sub-cranial interface could always be reconciled by having banner popups in your field of vision.
In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane. -Oscar Wilde
I don't know about you, but some of my dreams are better left forgotten... and some could just get me in trouble with the Mrs. ;)
I'll pass on the ability to TiVo my nights sleep.
www.GamezCore.com For Hardcore PS2 Gamerz : By Hardcore PS2 Gamerz
We DO have priorities. Implantable neurochips are WAAAAAAY cooler than space ships.
Sig.i>
To Quote a section of the Yahoo article:
From a scientific perspective, we can definitively say that brain fingerprinting could have substantial benefits in identifying terrorists or in exonerating people accused of being terrorists," Farwell said"
Sounds like a definite maybe?
SCO to Hell
Rule 1: Never give your brain-node's IP to Slashdot!!!
Rule 2: See Rule 1
--CypherDragon
What if a kid is thinking about porn and soem computer neuro-chip creates a picture of what he's thinking about? Would it be a crime for him to look at the pictures he himself created? Would the police try to use these chips to monitor your activities? Would an employer get sued for sexual harassement for picturing his secretary nude?
This reminds a lot of 'Forbidden Planet' were an entire race of beings is wiped out by their own subconcious thoughts. Some things in the mind should stay in the mind.
There's a growing sense that even if The Future comes,
most of us won't be able to afford it.
-- Lemmy
Really let's think about it. If we can record our dreams and thoughts, especially for those of us that do our best writing in our head and can never seem to get it on paper, it could be a useful tool. What about those that are deaf and blind? A way that would have the ability to reconnect the broken links. The possiblities are endless. It's not about creating super human machines; or making big brother. It's taking science and and medicine a step further. A way to help build new and better interpersonal commuinications for those that have trouble with this.
The problem here is that most of humanity still needs to have a BRAIN implanted before they can start thinking about brain enhancing chips.
--- Ban humanity.
Its not a lie if you believe the lie.
Blah Blah Tacos
And to answer the unspoken question: Can FPGA's be used in your brain? I say this: Get Real. Current FPGA technology has no possible application. Maybe in 5 or 10 years, when we have conquered the leakage problem, and have developed fuel cells that run on glucose. But I don't see it, since an ASIC dedicated to brain interface functions will be a far superior solution. FPGA's may evolve into a future computing fabric, so they may have useful applications in external hardware, but it will be a very distant descendent of FPGA's that are finally used for in-body implants.
Knowing this crowd, if you actually had implantable computer chips it wouldn't be long before you would see the following: 1. Somebody running linux and a webserver from their brain. "Pass me the tylenol, my heads' been slashdotted!" 2. DRM the hard way... your vision blanks out whenever you see material you haven't purchased. 3. A beowulf cluster of human brains... of course if you did this in your average marketing department you still wouldn't end up with much....
At a press conference today, the RIAA announced that it is happy to hear about the development of this technology. The RIAA plans to contribute funding to the development of brain implants that can recognize whenever you hear, see, or even think about any copyrighted material. "In order to fund this project through to completion", said Hillary Rosen, "we will need to raise the prices of CD's. But not to worry. This price increase is only temporary."
The MPAA did not return our calls prior to press time, but it is widely anticipated that the MPAA will also be creaming their jeans over this news.
The price of freedom is eternal litigation.
Brain fingerprinting works by measuring and analyzing split-second spikes in electrical activity in the brain when it responds to something it recognizes. ...if a suspected murderer was shown a detail of the crime scene that only he would know, his brain would involuntarily register that knowledge. ... A person who had never seen that crime scene would show no reaction.
So the detail is blood in a clawfoot tub. Maybe you have a clawfoot tub? Maybe you watched a dozen different movies with blood/tub scenes. Maybe you have the same exact Teledyne Waterpic that the murder victim has hanging in his shower. You could recognize anything for any number of reasons. Not only that, but your memory changes over time. After 23 years that guy could have been imagining innocence scenarios for so long it looked to the scanner like he was innocent.
Sorry, I don't buy it at all.
Operator, give me the number for 911!
...I had to reboot my brain.
My former undergrad prof, Dr. John Donoghue at Brown University, is at the cutting edge of research into neural implantable interfaces.
Monkeys Demonstrate Thought-Controlled Computing
Monkeybrain Joysticks Excerpts:
A rhesus macaque monkey at a Brown University laboratory can move a cursor on a computer screen just by thinking about it - playing a pinball game in which every time a red target dot pops up, the monkey moves a cursor to meet the target quickly and accurately. The monkey plays the game mentally, controlling where it wants the cursor to go by thinking.
The primary research Nature article is Connecting cortex to machines: recent advances in brain interfaces
Cheers,
Joel
Go /.! Now you don't even bother to have the submitter read the article!
The Infineon chip doesn't connect to the brain. You put tiny slices of brain matter (neurons) in the chip (in a suspension inside the chip) and can then run current through those slices. No direct brain connection at all. And of course, those signals through the neurons on the chip can be recorded and put on screen...but no "recording of signals from the brain"...dunno where he even got that from. Must be on crack.
Still, it's a cool development; as the article says, we can now do better research over a longer period of time, for a better picture of how neurons work.
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
Well, here's one link to a glucose-powered fuel cell. Enjoy!
Both of the articles discuss observing only electrical activity. While useful, it is analogous to an EKG, just a graph of currents that can tell us the heart rate yet gives us little functional info beyond that. It can't tell you what the blood pressure is, or what the quality or quantity of the blood components is. The devices described are only a little more invasive than a device already in use to diagnose certain brain abnormalities: the electroencephalograph (EEG). It may diagnose epilepsy and sometimes causes of dementia, can suggest the occasional tumor and can tell us a person is brain dead. That's about it. It certainly doesn't tell the world what you're thinking, your sexual preference, or your illicit file-sharing habits.
The article on brain fingerprinting makes clear (at least to me) that the machine is of the same concept as a lie-detector test, though perhaps more advanced and reliable. IMHO, the test is not self-incriminating any more than that damning fingerprint you accidentally left at the crime scene.