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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!"
I can get a remote-controlled monkey?!
.. will I be able to run Linux?
This would enable handicap people to control machines, not vice-versa. It would be killer for fighter pilots though...
...for processing the data from the microelectrode arrays.
Yes, the above link goes to another web site called "bionictech.com", but the two companies merged in 2002.
The Army reading list
So far it works for monkeys...
Can they use it to teach the monkeys to program?
That would make them the ultimate code monkeys!
*ducks*
~ "When I'm of that age I'm just going to live up a tree."
So....imagine a Beowulf cluster of *me*!
[rimshot...]
sign me up as well! i have wondered though when they seriously would start implementing computer based implants in our brains. it actually seems quite logical as a "next step" sorta thing. i remember when me and friends used to joke that one day we'd be able to add extra memory (RAM) to our brains. watch this have DRM on it! (lol)
"why don't you just slip into something more comfortable...like a coma!"
I'm game as long as it's not controlled by Windows. I can see it now, it's the ultimate experience in VR except for the minor annoyance of crashing and killing the connected users after a few days.
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
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All unfair meta-mods are now being meta-meta-modded as retarded.
It's not the backup that causes the problem, it's the restore.
How soon until anyone can become the ultimate expansion card? Sign me up!"
Damned ISA interface! I was told when it was welded on that it was all I would need. That and 640K!
Don't forget ram doubler. I would love to store memories.
So let's see. First, we connect our brains to the computer. Then we create Internet 3, by directly linking our brains. Then a new anti-terrorism bill outlaws firewalls, and our brains will be wide open to each other. Can anybody say "collective consciousness"?
I wonder if this would work backwards? Is this the gateway to using the human brain as a computer? (After all, we only use a portion of it...)
m
No, we don't.
http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/10percnt.ht
-W
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All unfair meta-mods are now being meta-meta-modded as retarded.
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.
You had me at "dicks fuck assholes".
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.
Where's my lobbyist? Right here.
Dude, if you want realistic fighting with the chance of possible brain damage, just join the army.
I doubt you meet the system requirements ;) you need at least a 386...
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
"Alright, now think of any number between 0 and 18446744073709551615."
OR, if you're using 128-bit encryption:
"...between 0 and 3.4028236692093846346337460743177x10^38"
Crushing dreams at the speed of sarcasm
This was the cover story of the Popular Science that I just received in the mail. You can read the article here.
Do not read this sig.
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.
My user number is prime. Is yours?
No, we only know what a portion of it is used for. There's a diference.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Just remember our experiences from the computer world...
NEVER use BrainJack v1.0
Always wait for the point release!
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.
True story.
Gives the phrase Blue Screen of Death a whole new lease on terror, doesn't it?
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.
While I laud the effort, it will be a long time before this becomes a proper human interface. Take computer voice recognition... it's still in it's infancy despite years of 'progress'. The issues at hand:
i) How long it takes the computer to learn how to interpret the signals and what they relate to(its training).
ii) The training involved for the human to keep a 'steady mind'. How does the system bypass clutter?
If those two issues are resolved or mitigated, this is a cool prospect.
(1st sig) If this were a snappy sig, you'd be reading it right now. (2nd sig) I'm a karma whore. >Insert FUD here