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Matrix-Style Brain Interface Closer To Reality

Posted by timothy on from the be-your-own-neo dept.

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!"

28 of 567 comments (clear)

  1. screw the matrix by proj_2501 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can get a remote-controlled monkey?!

    1. Re:screw the matrix by ArsonSmith · · Score: 5, Funny

      Imagine a beawulf cluster of US.

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
    2. Re:screw the matrix by nih · · Score: 5, Funny

      will this one do?

      --
      I'm a rabbit startled by the headlights of life :(
  2. Yes, but .. by Autonomous+Cowherder · · Score: 5, Funny

    .. will I be able to run Linux?

    1. Re:Yes, but .. by NeoThermic · · Score: 5, Funny

      Or a direct link to your brain got posted on slashdot...

      NeoThermic

      --
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  3. Not exactly the Matrix by Orion442 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This would enable handicap people to control machines, not vice-versa. It would be killer for fighter pilots though...

    1. Re:Not exactly the Matrix by Lane.exe · · Score: 5, Funny
      It would be killer for fighter pilots though

      I thought so too, until I realised that the human brain has a tendency to wander. Sure, in the middle of aerial combat they'd be focused, but can you imagine what would happen in the case that some pilot is cruising along and thinks of his girlfriend back home? Yeah that's right... a very sharp climb into a stall.

      --
      IAALS.
    2. Re:Not exactly the Matrix by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, I think the plane would dump all of it's fuel. ;)

  4. Nice, they've got Matlab routines... by tcopeland · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...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
    1. Re:Nice, they've got Matlab routines... by blakestah · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yep. John Donoghue (of Brown) has been working on this stuff for a few years, and his former postdoc, implant engineer Nikos Hatsopoulos is another key person at Cyberkinetics. But this is really Donoghue's baby.

      They've adopted the Richard Normann's (of Bionic Tech) implants (the Utah grid), and they are working fairly well for time periods up to a year. You can expect them to be the first to do human studies, and for quite a lot to be learned about the brain in the process, as well as dramatic improvements in the lives of their test patients.

      I'm quite excited to see how it goes for them, and hope for the best.

  5. Wow... by Undaar · · Score: 4, Funny

    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."
  6. Ugh... by ManicGiraffe · · Score: 5, Funny

    So....imagine a Beowulf cluster of *me*!

    [rimshot...]

  7. No M$ for mine... by BitWarrior · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

  8. Regretting... by i_want_you_to_throw_ · · Score: 4, Funny

    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!

  9. We are the Borg by NetDanzr · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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"?

    1. Re:We are the Borg by geeber · · Score: 4, Funny

      I feel a song coming on....

      We are the Borg,
      We are the children
      We are the ones who assimilate
      So quit resistin'

      It's a choice we're makin,
      Connecting our own brains,
      But it's true we'll make a bigger hive
      Just you and me!

      --
      Download my free songs!
  10. Re:Gateway to wetware? by Soul+Brother+#1 · · Score: 4, Informative

    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...)

    No, we don't.

    http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/10percnt.htm

    -W
    --

    --
    All unfair meta-mods are now being meta-meta-modded as retarded.
  11. I'll pass by Z4rd0Z · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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".
    1. Re:I'll pass by nodwick · · Score: 4, Informative
      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.
      I think you're mistaking the application for this. Dozens of Slashdot posts about the Matrix notwithstanding, this isn't an elective surgery targeted towards geeks who want to get one step closer to their machines. The company line is that it's aimed primarily at quadriplegics who have a choice of either continuing to be unable to interact with their environment or having a shot at gaining some more function.

      In spirit, it's similar to prosthetic devices that people have already been developing that operate using nerve impulses, such as prosthetic legs with knees that "bend" via sensors which pick up nerve impulses in the quadriceps. It's just that with people who are more severely disabled, you're going to have to move closer to the brain to pick up live nerve impulses. It'll probably be a long time (if ever) before this moves into being an elective procedure for entertainment purposes; the Matrix-speak from the Wired article seems to be just typical media sensationalization to give the story a little more juice.

    2. Re:I'll pass by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ...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.

  12. I'd love one. by nate1138 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.
  13. Re:Quake? Warcraft? by DanThe1Man · · Score: 4, Funny

    Dude, if you want realistic fighting with the chance of possible brain damage, just join the army.

  14. Re:Not like The Matrix at all by SpyPlane · · Score: 5, Funny

    If it can get information from my brain, can I finally prove to my wife that I have no f-ing clue what she is talking about most of the time, or that I REALLY don't care where we go eat friday!

    Let me know.

    --
    "We need a fourth law of Robotics: Stop Fingering My Wife"
  15. Doubt it.. by ciroknight · · Score: 4, Funny

    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
  16. Just Remember.... by hardgeus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just remember our experiences from the computer world...

    NEVER use BrainJack v1.0

    Always wait for the point release!

  17. Re:qu4k3??? w4r cr4f7???/ by Deraj+DeZine · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.
  18. Wow. by adun · · Score: 5, Funny

    Gives the phrase Blue Screen of Death a whole new lease on terror, doesn't it?

  19. Comparable to Voicemail recognition. by elrick_the_brave · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

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