Matrix-Style Brain Interface Closer To Reality

atkulp writes "According to this Wired article, a private company, Cyberkinetics is seeking permission from the FDA to test a product called BrainGate that implants in the brain and can control actions on a computer. So far it works for monkeys and they'd like to see it as viable for quadriplegics and others in need. How soon until anyone can become the ultimate expansion card? Sign me up!"

Comments

Not like The Matrix at all

[Soul Brother #1]

This really isn't Matrix-like at all, though. The implant doesn't feed information to your brain, it only gets information from it. Still, it's VERY cool if it works and is safe. I like the idea they mention of also putting implants into paralyzed limbs to allow the brain implant to move them. Eat it, paralyzation!

-W
--

Re:Quake? Warcraft?

[thelaw]

"what happens if i die in the matrix?"

"the body cannot live without the mind."

jon the "morpheust"

real or virtual viruses to make the leap first?

[keot]

this is scary, although at least at the moment when you're plugged in you are able to communicate with the machine and the real world, unlike the matrix, where you are either fully in or fully out.

think what would happen if a virus made a leap from our reality to the machine reality; or the other way round...

I'll pass

[Z4rd0Z]

People who are eager for this sort of thing puzzle me. Maybe I'm a little paranoid, but I'd like to stay as far away from this as possible. I don't say this to be a luddite, but there are definite limits to where I would personally go with technology.

Re:I'll pass

[RetroGeek]

I'd like to stay as far away from this as possible

You may not have a choice, IF you want to stay competetive.

Real Soon Now(tm) the implants will be able to be "read' by our brains. Then you have two-communication with a computer just by thinking about it.

So, instant:

1. computations, including complex transforms
2. reference look up. Who needs a library?
3. communications (holy shit, can you imagine the spam???)

And these are just off the top of my head (pun?). I am sure that once this becomes common the applications will be endless. Just like the first computers did math (shell trajectories), then later came the cool stuff.

I will want this!

Re:I'll pass

[YrWrstNtmr]

...this isn't an elective surgery targeted towards geeks who want to get one step closer to their machines.
It'll probably be a long time (if ever) before this moves into being an elective procedure for entertainment purposes;

Just like plastic surgery was only used for birth defects and accident reconstruction
Just like stomach stapling was only to be used on the morbidly obese
Just like Viagara was only to be used for serious erectile problems

Given a procedure, there will be some who want it (and very early on) simply because it's 'cool'. And there will be doctors who will supply it for the right sum.

Re:I'll pass

[Fr0mZer0]

Maybe I'm a little paranoid, but I'd like to stay as far away from this as possible.

My dad used to say the same thing about computers, ATM machines, credit cards, etc. Its a natural reaction to fear technological leaps like this. But the next generation of people will be more willing to accept it.

The 12-30 years old will dictate if the next 20-30 years will be dubbed the cybernetic age. After all they are the early adopters, more willing to take risks to get ahead in live.

I want to know when, in that future, will society not only accept cybernetic implants but demand them. How well will you fair at a job interview against a cyborg who codes at the speed of thought. Today's blobbing in boardrooms could foreshadow a time when employees think-chat their brainstorm sessions. The un-enhanced employee will be left behind the 8-ball. Eventually he will be looked at as a second-class citizen who is becoming more and more difficult to interact with.

I remember there was an Outer Limits, or new Twilight Zone episode where 99% of humans were implanted and connected to a global network. The few that weren't had a brain abnormality that did not allow the enhancement. All interaction was done through the implants. All media was electronic. One scene shows an cyborg girl and un-enhanced boy go into an outdoor cafe, and the waitress is already their with her plate before she even sits down, and the waitress looks at him puzzled as to why she only got 1 order. The girl says something, sympathetically, to the effect of "Oh! I'm sorry I would have orders for both of us, but I keep forgetting you're not implanted."

I'd love one.

[nate1138]

My biggest complaint about computing is that my brain->computer interface (hands to keyboard that is) is VERY low bandwidth and VERY high latency. And I know I can't be the only one that has this problem. Anybody that codes knows what I mean, you can visualize and solve the problem in your head much faster than you can get that solution into the computer.

One Question...

[FortKnox]

... How can we try to control things with our brain when science doesn't fully understand the brain?

Re:One Question...

[FesterDaFelcher]

We dont have to fully understand the brain in order for this to work. It's a hack, trial and error. When something works, stick with it, if it doesnt work, try something else. We dont fully understand nuclear physics, but reactors work pretty well.

Military uses

[v_1_r_u_5]

This is really the first step towards cyborgs, instant control for fighter pilots, enhanced soldier response, etc. When you stop to think about the potential, it's pretty fascinating and a bit scary.

Re:sign me up

[JediDan]

Unfortunately believable... The company pays for a brain upgrade that's enabled/disabled at the door and it makes for a more efficient and capable worker. Wrong or right?

Gimme Gimme Gimme!!!!

[Stonan]

Arthritis is really hindering my FPS ability!!

Re:Gateway to wetware?

[Kenja]

"After all, we only use a portion of it..."

No, we only know what a portion of it is used for. There's a diference.

Re:qu4k3??? w4r cr4f7???/

[Deraj DeZine]

I would imagine that there would probably be separate arenas/competitions for physical-interface games and (not sure what the word is) neural-interface games. Just because, like the top-level poster said, it would generate an unfair advantage.

Frankly, I'd prefer to see neural-interface match-ups because then the games become less of a matter of how well you can properly wield a mouse, but it relies more on strategy. Presumably, all the characters would have the same "physical" (in the game) abilities, so it would be up to the players' strategies and luck to determine who would win.

Re:qu4k3??? w4r cr4f7???/

[hesiod]

> I would imagine that there would probably be separate arenas

Too bad you post at zero, because that was a good point.

imagine the possibilities here:

[draco ni]

On the one hand, we have the very very scary.

The company's system, called BrainGate, could help patients with no mobility to control a computer, a robot or eventually their own rewired muscles

...

Surgenor said the whole system eventually will be wireless.

Stray EMI could give you a tic. Someone malicious could actually block/redirect/subvert control of your own body, remotely.

On the other hand... telerobotics, maybe? Use your brain to control a robot doing a dangerous job somewhere! Going into a hazardous environment from the safety of your control lab...
Or maybe even a totally virtual environment.

Safety concerns for future versions:

[Rallion]

Surgenor said the whole system eventually will be wireless.

And we think cell phones are bad because they're close to out brains?

Re:brain r00t

[the_mad_poster]

As opposed to Windows which just runs all of your thoughts as admin by default? Imagine someone crashing your optical input to get full access to your brain a la smashing SQL Server to grab a whole server.

AAAGHH!!!! I'm blind!!!

But, on the other hand, I'm being used to host pr0n... so is it really that bad?

Imagine a ping o' death on your brain...

It's been a long time coming

[X-Nc]

Those of us who were dreaming of this back in the late 70's/early 80's will probably not get a chance to try this technology. Bummer.

I remember when I first read a Gibson novel and he described "jacking into the Matrix"... All I could think was, I want one!

I don't like it...

[mark-t]

Science and technology often come head to head with the inevitable moral question that just because we _can_ do something, does that mean we _should_? But let's just say that we do go down this road, and once they've been tested and proven safe, how long will it be before they are foisted upon us as mandatory, with the ulterior motive that the powers that be would not only hold us accountable for what we do, but even the way we think?

I generally embrace new technologies, but the potential disasters that this could create for humanity gives me the total creeps.

Re:Old news

[Yunalesca]

What concerns me is the neuropsychological reactions this will induce in human brains. For example: if a person is without sight for a very long time - say, from early childhood until adulthood - then when that person regains vision, it can be extremely disconcerting, and he/she may actually be unable, either biologically or mentally (both, most likely) to deal with it.

Just because you can connect the circuitry or add new parts, doesn't mean that the signals will be processed well, or that the machinery for using the signals will be able to handle the new load. How well it works will depend a lot on the individual with the implants. And it may take a whole lot of work and training the affected individual in order to make the implants effective.