The Internet Meets the Neural Net

orangesquid writes "OpenEEG is a system for getting data from your brain to your computer. Recently, work was resumed on scEEG, a soundcard-based system which may one day make home EEG systems very cheap (they currently cost a few hundred US$ to put together; there are, though, some potential cheaper alternatives). But, what research is being done into getting data from your computer to your brain? There have been some systems that inject optical signals into your eyes, but, what about direct neural interfacing? It seems EMF and light are one option; playing with neurotransmitters may be another. What do /.'ers foresee coming in this field? What research have you seen being done? Particularly, is any of this to the point where homemade, low-cost systems are feasible? Where can I find out how to inject signals into my head? Combining this with openEEG might lead to some exciting new levels of Internet addiction."

Comments

Excellent

[Anonymous Coward]

The sooner I can get that Google extension for my brain, the better.

Slashdot HUD Overlay

[taylortbb]

Something just tells me that us geeks are going to demand a HUD of Slahdot if its possible with this technology.Imagine how much more interesting meetings would be?

Critical that it stays Open Source

[mfh]

Gaming will benefit from this technology -- that much is true. But what else is true is that the use of brainwaves in an Open Source setting will help us all to better understand the vulnerabilities of our brains over time (and there are likely plenty). Technology can therefore be developed to ensure our safety, without any future Dieboldesque security/functionality problems. Not to mention what we can learn about piles of different minds, perhaps even working together in unison.

While gaming will prosper from this tech, it's important to note that gaming will also lead this technology further than any other field, because of the fierce competition in the global gaming market. The rest of the world is going to play catch-up to gamers.

Controlling rendered environs in space using our brain, must be the first step towards perfecting the human-computer links we'll need to explore the deepest parts of space. I believe that Einstein predicted that we will need to eventually embrace a future where computers and human beings coexist and evolve together (and we're already doing that), but what Alan Watts, the famed Buddhist, said was that we should be utilizing the systems at our disposal to make our lives easier. Watts said that fears be damned -- we must find a way to free every human being from the slavery of the 9-5 grind. Don't think Watts was a fringe guy -- he was very insightful and grounded. If you haven't read anything by him, I suggest picking up

This kind of technology, if kept in the Open Source realm, can lead to greatness, in time.

Re:Critical that it stays Open Source

[cujo_1111]

While gaming will prosper from this tech, it's important to note that gaming will also lead this technology further than any other field, because of the fierce competition in the global gaming market. The rest of the world is going to play catch-up to gamers.

On this point, I think you are wrong. Porn will lead the development of this technology whether you like it or not.

Imagine inputting porn signals directly into the brain, you could take porn from being an audio and visual experience into a full body experience. The possibilities are enormous (hopefully).

Just like the porn industry took up online credit card transactions faster than anyone else, the porn industry will lead the way in this field too.

Re:Critical that it stays Open Source

[alienw]

Whatever. As someone who has some experience with neurobiology, it is very unlikely you can actually get anything useful from EEG signals. They are totally useless for exploring the brain's functions. Sorry to burst your bubble, but even microelectrode arrays implanted directly into the brain don't provide anything too interesting. At best, you might see a different firing pattern based on external stimulus, and even that is rare.

Re:Critical that it stays Open Source

[natrik]

Early tests with monkeys indicate great progress in controlling a robotic arm with a monkey.

The monkey is in a room looking at a screen, and thinks ... the picture on the screen changes position according to the monkey's mind. A robotic arm is also controlled, and the screen and arm basically do the same things as a result of the monkey "wanting" it to. ... and that's just a monkey!

Google it: robot arm monkey brain

Re:Critical that it stays Open Source

[dukeisgod]

That is mostly because of the over-abundance of live-action actors/actresses. It's hard to get people to really shoot each other, but it's easy to get them to have sex. There isn't much need to render something you can film 10x easier and cheaper.

Re:Critical that it stays Open Source

[JWSmythe]

If I remember the original articles on this topic, the monkey started out with moving it's hand, to do the functions it was thinking of. Over time, it got lazy to the point of not even moving it's arm, to achieve the same results.

But now, if we all did this, how much lazier would we get. Hell, we went from an agrarian society a few hundred years ago (like, most people were all hunter/gatherers or farmers), to the industrial age where we busted ass in factories to make things to make our work easier, to today, where we sit in front of glowing screens, pushing little buttons to talk to people all over the planet. Speeds for this communication is no longer measured in the days or weeks that it would take for a letter to travel that distance, but the milliseconds it takes for the packets to travel. For me, Slashdot is 30ms from where I'm sitting, or 6 hours by car. That 340 miles would easily have been weeks for a message like this to get there not very long ago.

If adapting neural monitoring technology to this global network happens any time soon, we'll see people get fatter and lazier than they are now. Hell, how many people on here can lift 200 pounds? Ok, that's retorical, I know that all kinds of people read /., and I'm even active in my real life. I spent the morning working in my cars, but I spent the afternoon looking for new car parts online (I'm considering new heads and cam for my car now). Of all the people I frequently deal with in real life, I'm the only one who would know how to actually install those parts, or more importantly, would actually be willing to do it, rather than the lazy "pay someone else to do it" method.

But with all that said, I'd love it. I won't be one of those fatter, lazier people. I will love to be one of the first to play with neural technology when it's availble to the general public (well, us). I had looked at some of the available software/hardware before, but maybe I'll actually give building some of this a try this time.

Re:Critical that it stays Open Source

[tgibbs]

Whatever. As someone who has some experience with neurobiology, it is very unlikely you can actually get anything useful from EEG signals. They are totally useless for exploring the brain's functions. Sorry to burst your bubble, but even microelectrode arrays implanted directly into the brain don't provide anything too interesting. At best, you might see a different firing pattern based on external stimulus, and even that is rare.

Actually, this is an area where there has been a lot of progress in recent years. Check out the literature on "hippocampal place cells" for some very interesting results with microelectrode arrays.

Re:Critical that it stays Open Source

[Illserve]

Progress up to a point.

Basically you are trying to create, with EEG equipment, recording vague, noisy signals through a skull, an output system that is superior to the motor control system designed by evolution that uses direct signal propagation.

Now these systems will be useful for those who lack these output streams (e.g. CJ disease). But for the rest of us, our hands are going to continue to be the best way to output information for decades at least.

Re:Critical that it stays Open Source

[alienw]

That's pretty well known. I have a book from the early 80s with a simple analog circuit that's supposed to do something similar (control the direction of a toy train, IIRC). This has nothing to do with EEG, it's just muscle signals. Your brain sends small signals to the muscles when you think of moving them. If you amplify them, you can use these signals.

Interesting? Maybe. Useful? Not for an average person. You have to attach lots of electrodes that are intrusive, uncomfortable, possibly expensive, and not very reliable. It's also very difficult to get any real precision, because you are just seeing some average signal for a huge group of muscles.

Risky?

[usefool]

...homemade, low-cost systems are feasible? Where can I find out how to inject signals into my head?

Homemade, low-cost, inject signals into my head... For some reasons I don't think this is one place for DIY :)

Re:Risky?

[Lord Kano]

Give it a few decades, it'll be as safe(and not nearly as gross) as do it yourself body modification.

LK

I know...

[wyldeone]

Kungfu!

Please don't tell MSFT about this

[KevinKnSC]

Considering how many times my Windows computers have crashed, I'd hate to think what Microsoft Brain Server 2008 will do to me.

chips on baby's brains

[flechette_indigo]

New braincells are total wildcards. They can be used for anything. Put a grid of wires over a 1000X1000 patch of neurons shortly after birth. Use the grid for io, teaching the baby to use the interface. Viola, a computer finger.

Re:chips on baby's brains

[randyest]

Sounds cool. Why don't you test it on your kid? Let us know how it works out.

Re:chips on baby's brains

[bigsteve@dstc]

Viola, a computer finger.

Bzzzt. A viola is a musical instrument. Thanks for playing.

Re:chips on baby's brains

[pjpII]

You've obviously never had to write a proposal for human subjects research...

Re:chips on baby's brains

[Beryllium Sphere(tm)]

What if the only way to get full value from an implant is to grow up with it?

What if an adult brain doesn't have the flexibility to integrate completely with an external interface?

We could wind up with the mother of all generation gaps. That could be the premise for an interesting sf story.

Re:chips on baby's brains

[Nefarious Wheel]

A viola is a musical instrument

Some might question that...

More likely as an input device

[CatGrep]

It's more likely that we'll be able to use brainwaves to say, move a cursor, or input text to a computer than it will be to go the other way around. I really doubt that we'll be able to input data from computers directly into our brain anytime soon - the human brain is very complicated and varies from individual to individual. Would everyone have exactly the same input regions, for example?

hmm

[uprightcitizen]

What do /.'ers foresee coming in this field?

Porn. I foresee lots and lots of porn in the field.

Not to be argumentitive...

[merikus]

...but does anyone else find this to be creepy? I like having a physical separation between me and my net connection. If we had direct brain interface, could you imagine what the script kiddies would come up with? You'd open an e-mail attachment by mistake, and end up poking yourself in the eye for hours...

Re:Not to be argumentitive...

[mattkime]

I like having a physical separation between me and my net connection.

You're not welcome here!

Isn't it obvious

[fireman sam]

"But, what research is being done into getting data from your computer to your brain?..."

Duh, a monitor!

"getting data from your brain to your computer."

Damn, that is a tough one? How about a keyboard.

btw, I'm *trying* to be funny.

Re:Isn't it obvious

[mefster]

Having a neurological disorder myself, I actually
do consider this a useful research topic.

Both of my optic nerves, and the touch sensitivity
in my fingers, have both degraded.

If I had a way of overcoming these problems, it
would be very useful to me.

Remember, not everyone has the same level of physical ability!

--
mefster

You'll need a good firewall

[SteamyMobile]

MindGuard provides pyschotronic mind-control protection and runs on Linux. Try it, you'll see how well it works.

Me, personally?

[fodi]

Optimistic: I don't forsee any development reaching the consumer level in the next 20 years

Pessimistic: well... >20 years...

Immortality.

[Lifix]

I wrote an ask /. article very similar to this yesterday. My question was, will the integration of computers and our brains lead to practical immortality? Can a human consciousness, memories, and personality be transfered to hardware in such a way that the person can continue to learn? Duplication of the human brain seems to be the next step.

[PERSONALLY]: I would jump at the opportunity to be a test subject in any experiment of the kind. Imagine the power of a human brain connected to your cooperation network and the internet. Actually intelligent antivirus software, intelligent searches and an intelligent filing system. I would sell my brain for however long was necessary to any cooperation if I could attain immortality this way. [/PERSONALLY]

Re:Immortality.

[NightWulf]

You can copy over a persons memories, heck their whole lives. The problem I forsee is you can't transfer their essence. What makes you..well you! Think of it like a play, take Hamlet for instance. Go see it acted out. Watch the pure essence of the story, the emotion of the actors, the grandness of the sets, etc. Now read the story in a book. Sure it's the exact words of the actors, it tells you what they're supposed to be saying, doing, feeling, but it's never quite the same. Sure it's the same information but it's not what made Hamlet...Hamlet. So yes technically you would be immortal in what you experienced, but you would still be dead because everything that made you wasn't transferred over, just the video to your life.

Re:Immortality.

[wyldeone]

I have to disagree. What is your essence other then your collective thoughts, memories and feelings?

Transmitting to the brain...

[NightWulf]

I don't think anything like that would be adopted by society. First off unless you are dealing with eye to brain stimulus it'll be hard to interact with the brain through bone, flesh and hair. Unless people start plugging nueral connections into their body. Eventually it may be as normal as getting a piercing at the mall, but for the time being it's near impossible to merge organic with inorganic parts without heavy risks.

Another issue would be the following. Do we really want something to interact directly with our brain? Imagine if you will the world of tomorrow, where we do have direct nueral nets. Now imagine the equivalant of a computer virus but going through said nueral net. Instead of formatting a C:\, we have something that erases short term memory, or long term memory, or induces schizophrenia. I remember an old outer limits episode where society was connected to a nueral net. Any data you requested was instantly put into your mind, such as a book like Moby Dick. Eventually the computer that ran the system had a bug that started demanding more information input from the people. Stupid things like the number of grains of sand on the beach, etc. This eventually drove the population insane, even with the failsafes they built into the unit. The moral of the story is don't hook anything up direectly to the brain!!

Re:Transmitting to the brain...

[Concerned Onlooker]

but for the time being it's near impossible to merge organic with inorganic parts without heavy risks.

Agreed. Another entry point for infection is being created. But what if the interface didn't "break" the skin at all? We have pacemakers that operate completely inside the body. What if there was a tiny control unit placed completely under the skin and the communication with it was completey via inductance or something like that?

I'm skeptical of messing with neurotransmitters, though. That's what Prozac, et.al. do, not to mention LSD. The chemical balance of the body is very delicate. You might be attempting to load a book into your brain when you find yourself wondering where all those lizards crawling out of the walls came from.

Ouch

[barista]

Time for a tin-foil hat...

an alternative focus

[captain0101]

It seems the natural input systems (sight, hearing) have a far greater bandwith than the natural output systems (visible motion, speech).

Perhaps the more appropriate question is what conditioning might be involved in making existing mechanisms more efficiently related to whatever output mechanism (neural interface) is chosen to augment natural output systems.

good political satire

How I found out about it

[Anonymous Coward]

I saw a news article on biofeedback in treatment for ADD and ADHD - applications exist to play games for training you to behave better.
AFAIK, add + adhd kids have messed up alpha waves (please correct me if I'm wrong), and the EEG machine listens to those. When they can conciously control the patterns of the alpha wave the game rewards them. Fairly successful too I heard. When I found out about it I instantly wanted to have a thought powered mouse.

I also read something about the USAF and biofeedback flight control systems. One of the problems a fighter pilot faces is sitting down and high G turns - blood drops out of the brain and they do "the funky chicken" - then black out. Women are better pilots because they have shorter distances from heart to head. If a pilot could lie down on his back, blood would be forced to the back of the skull rather than his feet; meaning s/he won't black out. The 'joystick' worked by finding electrical twitches fired along the muscles and responding accordingly.

Personally mouse gestures in opera are pretty cool. But I can't wait till I *think* "move back a page" rather than have to move a whole half an inch.

Also, if you guys haven't read it, read FireFox by Craig Thomas, about a thought controlled plane for more ideas.

Re:How I found out about it

[GoPlayGo]

Beta waves (about 15 Hz to 40 Hz) are associated with concentration and calculation. Alpha waves (about 8 to 11 Hz) are associated with calmness, creativity, and being "in the zone". Theta waves (about 5 to 7 Hz) are associated with hypnogogic states: drowsiness and the state of just waking up or falling asleep. Delta waves (about 1 to 3 Hz) are deep sleep waves.

To address your initial point, ADD and related disorders may be connected to a deficit of alpha brain waves. Although the increased beta activity leads to concentration in small bursts, a lack of calmness leads to great distractibility. ADD can be helped by techniques that enhance one's ability to generate alpha waves. Alpha waves are constantly being generated by the thalamus but can be swamped by other brain activity by time they arrive at the cortex.

All of these brainwaves can be trained for with neurofeedback training. I have received training at the Biocybernaut Institute and I can recommend it as quite remarkable on several levels.

Not surprisingly, caffeine stimulates beta activity and suppresses alpha and theta. Meditation increases alpha ability and advanced meditators get into increased theta while maintaining wakefulness.

Beware of entrainment systems that channel the brain into fixed frequencies with blinking lights or beat frequencies. Proper brainwave training is completely driven by the trainee's own brainwave patterns which are rewarded with positive feedback.

Homemade neural interfaces? WTF?

[DigitalCrackPipe]

Unless you're a genius, please don't attempt homemeade devices to input anything directly into your brain. That sounds worse than creepy, it sounds like mail-order courses on open-heart surgery. The only thing I can think of for less that $100 that interacts directly with the brain is the standard drill. Leave the rest to experts and people who know what they're doing.

DIY neural interface

[Mr. Roadkill]

what about direct neural interfacing?

Parts/Tools Required:

Dremel with bone drill bit

Heat shrink tubing

13 Acupuncture Needles

Hookup wire

soldering iron

DB25 cable,

DB25 breakout box

9V battery

an observer.

Difficulty: Intermediate/Suicidal

Procedure:

Drill holes at various spots on your head. Solder hookup wire to non-pointy ends of sufficient acupuncture needles, and use heatshrink tubing to cover almost all of the needles, leaving only 1mm uncovered at the pointy end. Using the 9V battery, and a return path via somehwere convenient and moist (I suggest your anus, what's a little more humiliation if you've gotten this far?) test your response to electic stimulation at various holes and depths. This is where the observer comes in handy, as you might be in no fit state to write down your observation, or even disconnect the current. Once you've found a useful set of needle positions, wire them up to your breakout box and plug it in to your printer port. Write software to apply a signal to each needle under various conditions.

You could interface it with remote monitoring software, and a complete loss of bowel and bladder control could be used to indicate that a Windows machine on your network has crashed. Aphasia could be used to signify a loss of internet connectivity. And a throbbing erection could be used to signify yet another V1@gr@ spam in your inbox. Remember, you're limited only by your imagination and the rate at which infection sets in!

Re:DIY neural interface

[K-Man]

You may laugh, but this isn't far from the procedure used to get high-quality EEG data. The stuff you get from outside the skull is generally junk.

Researchers used to piggyback on severe epilepsy patients, whose condition had gotten so bad as to require surgery to remove or alter parts of the brain that triggered the seizures. This operation required a bit of reconaissance to find the offending grey matter, so a craniotomy (skylight in the cranium) was standard diagnostic procedure, and the operation usually had a few extra minutes for experimental measurements.

Some of the more advanced people used to insert probes all the way into the brain to trigger the seizures; the whole process was guided by EEG's to gradually refine the location of the source.

One of my programs was set up to take EEG's from an 8x8 electrode array, which was laid upon the brain after the skull and membrane were removed. I almost got to attend one such procedure live, but I was scratched from the roster at the last minute - that's a lesson as to why software shouldn't be too reliable.

As far as using a soundcard, I'm not surprised at all. A soundcard is basically a two-channel A/D converter. You need a lot more channels to compete nowadays, but for the price, you can't beat the commodity hardware. The only additional hardware you need is a bank of preamps, and possibly a clock/timer board to make sure the sampling is precise. And, of course, a drill.

Cluster

[Anonymous Coward]

I want a beowulf cluster of brains

Re:Cluster

[xp]

Great. Now I'll need an anti-virus patch for my brain.
----
Pair Programming with a Teddy Bear

Pop-ups...

[LaTechTech]

OMG this could be completely awful...Imagine trying to think of something and then all of a sudden A huge pop-up comes out of nowhere ruining your entire train of thought...Or worse...you get drunk and forgot to turn off your instant messaging client...You start to instant message your buddies what you really think about them...I think being disconnected is very benificial...The porn thing has its downside to...ever click on the wrong link?

People to people

[Strandman]

Connecting your brain to machines sounds interesting enough, but what about connecting your brain to another brain?
That would really produce some interesting results, and all in all, for the first time oneself could really know what another person thinks.

it really could happen!

[Anonymous Coward]

serluny: how long did it took u to learn c?
ReDPriest:4.5 minutes
serluny:how did u do that?
ReDPriest:i downloaded it into my brain..i got a program to do that
serluny:what program
ReDPriest:download shit into your brain v3.1
serluny:how do i download it?
ReDPriest: go to www.downloadable-shit-for-your-brain.com
serluny:i cant download it something is wrong

http://bash.org/

Re:Movie Reality

[NoYes19]

"Someone can spend years learning something that could be transferred in minutes. Where is the fairness in that?" Someone can spend a life time discovering something that can be learned in a day. Where is the fairness in that? Its not about scholastic "fairness" it is about progress. If the time to learn can be cut, then the contribution to research naturally increases. Likewise intelligence becomes of greater importance, unlike the current education system that favors memorization ability.

Re:Movie Reality

[MrFlannel]

Point of school is to learn, right? So whats the difference if they pick it up after hours of studying, or after a few minutes of "downloading". Heck, how is that any different than people learning as they already do, at different speeds? Should we go Harrison Bergeron on everyone?

Well..

[wviperw]

"Where can I find out how to inject signals into my head?"

1) Unplug coaxial cable from cable tv/cable modem (depending on personal preference).
2) Jam into back of head.
3) ???
4) Profit!

some current research and conjecture...

[asreal]

is available here. one of the most promising techniques seems to be self-assembling nanowires and sensors running through the blood vessels of the brain. lots of facinating reading.

Re:Playing with neurotransmitters

[slickwillie]

I used to do that in the 1960's and 70's, but now I just stick with wine and beer.

New braincells are total wildcards

[boesOne]

No they're not. While they are highly flexible, the nature/nurture debate points in the direction that also a baby has certain predispositions.

The dangers of technology?

[MachDelta]

...post your thoughts automatically...

Man, who is this tool and what the hell is he talking about? Slashdot always seems to attract such weirdos.

Oh, shit! Boss looked at me. I hope he doesn't know i'm on slashdot right now... eye contact... polite smile... nod at the projector image... and.... quickly write something on your paper:

"Joe. Is. A. Wanker."

Hah, that ought to fool him. Stupid bastard. "Oh i'm sorry, but we just don't have the budget to increase staff salaries right now." Dick. Here he drives around in a fucking Lexus, and i've got a 20 year old car thats about to rust itself out of existance. What a load of crap.

I should reala... ahh.... ahhh... oh no! I think i'm gonna sneeze! Hold it in, hold it in! Ahhh...!

{CONNECTION INTERRUPTED}
...
{CONNECTION REESTABLISHED}

Shit! Now *everyone* is looking at me, even that cute girl from region...

Ok, they all looked away. Good.

Man she has a nice rack. I'd like to get my hands on -- CRAP! She saw me! Oh fuck, I hope she doesn't know I was looking at her chest...

Waitasec, did she just smile at me? Hot damn, I think she did!

I hope that was a "Hi there" kind of smile and not a "You have snot all over your face" kind of smile though. I don't feel anything, but maybe i'd better check... got to be discreet here... rub my chin... aaannnd... clean! Whew, close one.

SHIT! She looked at me again! Look away, look away! Act uninterested you fool! You... OH YOU IDIOT YOU LOOKED AGAIN!! Goddamnit, now she probably thinks i'm a weirdo stalker or something...

*Sigh* Back to browsing on slashdot.

Waitasec, whats all this text? Is this thing on?!?

{CONNECTION CLOSED}

Re:Movie Reality

[RedRocketRanger]

Someone can spend a day to walk 20 miles that could be driven in half an hour. Where is the fairness in that? Of course, people who just download stuff into their brain and don't bother to actually use their brains to learn and study are much more likely to have their brain degrade on them over time, just like people who drive everywhere are much more likely have their muscles degarde on them over time.

Spyware

[ZeroExistenZ]

"Hey, what are you up to?"
"Neuro-surfing."
"Oh cool.. anything good?"
"Hold on.. *closes eyes* Appearantly Duke Nukem is about to come out."
"Oh cool, where did you read that?"
"*closes eyes* let me paste it into your head."
"Thanks... *closes eyes* I wonder though.."
"What?"
"Do you have.. these... images and voices.. inside your head.."
"That's what this is all about."
"No.. these.. voices.. at night.. they haunt me.."
"What do they say?"
"3nlarg3 y0ur p3n1s now! |3uy \/|4gr4 N0w!"

Re:Dumb idea (use soundcard): Just buy a cheap ADC

[thepr0fess0r]

Yeah, shortcutting around the 20Hz filter seems a little silly. I did a fair amount of work with this EEG business not too long ago, creating an ad-hoc sensor network, indegrating ADC directly on the electrode. (Available here) These ADCs cost less than 20 bucks a channel, (total, with COM and everything) and in even modest quantites could be made for much much cheaper. I think there is simulaneously too much excitement over the possibilites of EEG, and too little work done to further the technology for both medical and nonmedical purposes.

Re:Where is the fainess?

[Veridium]

I share your sentiment about the potential for this. It would be a fundamental change, no doubt.

But I foresee problems with huge amounts of technical information being available to the minds of severely immature people. Schools today suck, that's my opinion based on my experience, but what I did do in school, was mature. If I had access to the programming knowledge that has taken me over a decade to amass, available in my brain when I was 17, I would have used it to wreak havoc. And that's just the programming knowledge I've acquired. I shudder to think about my military training, aikido, iaido, etc...

Interesting times ahead.

Hippocampal prosthesis -- and more!

[Randym]

I just read about the hippocampal prosthesis that has been developed and is about to be tested, and it made me wonder how close we now are to the scenario portrayed in the movie, The Matrix, where the characters are able to download new skills in the blink of an eye. From what I read, this prosthesis takes incoming signals from numerous brain regions and outputs data that has been parsed in a way that allows it to be encoded into long term memory. It occurs to me that if we are able to do this, we should also be able to record these outputs and reproduce them in others, thus transferring memories without the lived experiences...

Of course, the parsing will be the tricky part. But once we have the hippocampal prosthesis, what's to stop us from creating other brain prostheses (other than the fact that implanting things into our brain currently constitutes major surgery)? For example, an amygdala prosthesis could help people with borderline personality disorder, since recent research seems to indicate that it is a *mis-wired* amygdala (due possibly to inadequate parenting and childhood psychological trauma) that causes the sudden rages so characteristic of this largely untreatable syndrome.

Or imagine the Anti-aphasia bridge. You'd never be stuck searching for the right word ever again. How about the enhanced cochlea? Super-hearing! And haven't you always wanted to see into the ultraviolet? No problem with the Magnetic Resonance Optical Overlay Device.

And, besides, I'm just waiting for this one:

In the future, there will be a machine which will produce a religious experience in the user.
--David Byrne, In The Future, Music from the Knee Plays

It may be here sooner than we may think, since we know now that the parietal lobes are implicated in these experiences.

I can see it now

[geekoid]

Enter: Keys
bGoogle found 10,453,456,921

Enter: Keys Car
bGoogle found 10,038,594

Enter: Keys Car House today
bGoogle found 7,546

Enter: Keys Car House Today -sex
bGoogle Found 1

Wrong

[mfh]

You're dead wrong. The porn industry has not made use of any current 3d animation to any effect worth mentioning (other than Anime which is largely hand drawn or computer generated -- yet not really 3d animated), and they will clearly *not* make any use of this tech until it's at least production stable. Who do you think is going to carry this tech meanwhile? Gamers.

Re:Wrong

[cujo_1111]

As a previous poster stated, the porn industry has not embraced 3D animation because it is 10x easier and cheaper to shoot the real thing on film for a realistic looking result.

The realism of the scene will not matter so much when the 'scene' is being implanted directly. It will be the sensations that will be more important.

Re:Wrong

[danila]

There are two important advantages of 3D porn:

1. It can be interactive
2. You can render things that are illegal to film (snuff, zoo, pedo, etc.)

The fact is that there is practically no realistic 3D porn and what is available is more ugly than barby porn. :) The quality of girls in 3D action/adventure games (and even 3D card demos) is much better than even in the best 3D porn games (and there are no 3D porn films to speak of).

Information Injection

[cr0sh]

Getting information out of the brain is going to be difficult at best - as others have noted, it is a very noisy output on the best of days. Filtering the noise, etc - tough, though not impossible to do. What is difficult is analysing the results (the brainwave plots). I remember an old Steve Ciarcia Workshop column or book (late 70's - early 80's) that detailed building your own EEG machine using cheap high-gain op-amps (designed for this work, with isolation and such - when you are dealing with electricity around the brain, you need safety above all else) - I can't remember, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if he didn't show how to interface it with an S-100 bus computer...

Now, getting data into the brain, that would be easier. We have two main, "high bandwidth" conduits for input; the eyes and the ears. First off - look up "brainwave stimulation", "light and sound", etc - here's a few links:

Hack Canada's Brain-Wave Machine
Futuremind Light & Sound
Neural Signals, Inc

There are other projects out there as well - just google, and you will find them.

Also - look into "Neurophone" and "Voice to Skull" technologies - these use two systems: ultrasound and microwave. Of the two, microwave seems to offer direct neuron stimulation. Basically, on both systems, a carrier wave is set up and voice is FM modulated on top of the carrier wave. The signal is beamed to the subjects head. In the ultrasound version, the skull filters out the carrier wave, leaving the original signal, and bone conduction allows the subject to "hear" the original sound. In the microwave system, the brain itself does the filtering, and the brain then reconstructs the sound. Both systems suffer from major drawbacks in sound quality. Both versions are patented. NASA at one time was interested in the research. Basically, to the subject, it sounds like voices are speaking in their heads - and in the case of microwaves being used as the transmission medium (the research originally started when radar and microwave technicians reported hearing "clicking" type noise whenever they worked on live equipment), it makes you wonder about wearing tinfoil hats (hmmm). I know that the ultrasound version has recently been used as a testbed for "beaming" custom music or advertisements to people on an individual basis - I know /. stories have reported on this in the past (heck, you will find my comments in them on voice to skull).

Anyhow - once you have a couple of ways to get data into the eyes and ears (and/or vestibular system) - and note, a good quality HMD could be used as a light/sound device - you then can play. I can see using the sound part to play music, and underneath the music have the sound binaural beat doing the brain-wave thing (basically, what you do is inject two different audio signals into the ears - say the left at 30 Hz, and the right at 36 Hz - which will yield a "beat tone" of around 6 Hz, which will make you drowsy, etc). Get the sound going, and sync up the eyes in a similar matter, to the sound. Maybe monitor (via IR leds and a camera) the eyes, see what they do, and if you can tell when you are in the meditative state - then alter the sound and/or visuals to force something different (say, ramp slowly from 10 Hz to 6 Hz - then hold at 6, then ramp quickly up to 7-8 Hz, injecting crazy patterns into the eyes - if using an HMD, maybe something like a visualization hack).

Another thing or possibility would be the idea of computer controlled or directed lucid dreaming, via a brain-wave system - imagine donning the goggles and headphones, lying back, listening to a relaxing audio CD as the computer drops you down to a lucid dreaming state, then starts putting suggestions into your ears and eyes, suggesting and guiding a lucid dream (perhaps the computer could also monitor breathing rate, skin conductivity, etc - to help control the "dream")...

Fascinating thoughts and ideas...

Why FM

[XNormal]

The reason for using frequency modulation is not just for bypassing the highpass filter on sound cards.

You wouldn't connect anything attached to mains power to your head with low impedance electrodes, would you? Do you trust the USB port of your motherboard with your life?

You need isolation. This is usually achieved with an optocoupler. An optocoupler is not so good at passing analog signals but passing a simple on/off FM signal through it is trivial. Isolating a serial digital signal is equally easy but then you need to find some way to power the ADC and microprocessor on the other side of the coupler with an isolated power supply. The voltage-to-frequency converter takes very little power so it can be easily powered by a battery. The microprocessor and digital interfaces of the ADC can also add noise to the sensitive EEG inputs.

And why are you so afraid of analog circuitry? I find if hilarious that you consider an 8-pin voltage to frequency converter with a few resistors and capacitors more complicated than an analog to digital converter, high order anti-aliasing filters, microprocessors, crystals, serial interfaces and burning ROMs. There is no demodulation circuit since it's done in software. I consider trading a few MIPS from CPU for a simpler circuit a good trade.

There are also other potential advantages for this scheme. For example, if you want to record nighttime EEG activity you can transmit the FM signal from your bed to the PC through an off-the-shelf short range stereo audio transmitter. The two channels are indeed a limitation but this is only a simple circuit that beginners can build with a mimimal chance of frying their brains in the process.

BTW, I wrote the Python frequency demodulation code for this project.

"Totally useless"

[XNormal]

They are totally useless for exploring the brain's functions

Perhaps you won't be doing cutting edge neurology research with this kind of EEG interface to your computer but it's far from useless. Basic analysis of the spectrum of the signal is not so hard. The dominant frequencies correlate to states of consciousness such as relaxation or concentration.

It's fun. It's fascinating to watch your own brain in action. It can even be potentially useful as a biofeedback tool.

What?

[essreenim]

Am I the only person here who finds this nuts?

I can see it now**News**

Man found dead after brain assist software went into killall processes mode.

Killer says faulty software drove him to kill his wife....

Not For Quite Some Time

[lnx991]

I work in a lab at University of maryland currently doing research into how the brain integrates audio information. For data collection we use microwire arrays hooked into a $25,000 neural Amp. The results are hard to deal with mainly because it requires about 400 insertions to draw an adequate map of the diffrent audio fields. Anyway, we are very far away from doing this in real life, let alone an opensource project. dont get me wrong, but in order to get good results you have to use the purest metal you can find, hook it into a amp that has been designed using extremely high quality parts that have an absolute minimum of signal degridation. Also, there is the problem of backround noise. we do our exparaments in a room lined with the magnetic equivalent of a faraday cage. some other promising research was posted by "new scientist" magazine. in their febuary 23 2002 edition they had an article about mind over metal and sucessful exparaments that transplanted the brainstem from rats into robots. the brain stems then allowed them to walk and do stuff. The site www.newscientist.com has an archive but you must be a member to view it. In the article they also go into remote controling a brain and the ethics of that. Though, ecause of ethics it is highly unlikely to have human trials anytime soon. However, Mr. roadkill stated on his list a dremel with a bone cutter bit. the irony of this is that we actually use such a thing when inserting implants.

download shit into your brain v3.1

[ntr0py]

I can't help but be reminded of this gem on bash.org:

serluny: how long did it took u to learn c?
ReDPriest:4.5 minutes
serluny:how did u do that?
ReDPriest:i downloaded it into my brain..i got a program to do that
serluny:what program
ReDPriest:download shit into your brain v3.1
serluny:how do i download it?
ReDPriest: go to www.downloadable-shit-for-your-brain.com
serluny: i cant download it something is wrong

Slashdot Reactions

[renderhead]

"Vaccine" to prevent getting high from cocaine: Think of the potential for abuse! Keep your fascist, controlling technology away from me, you pleasure Nazis!

Pumping information directly into the brain: Sweet! Lay it on me! What could possibly go wrong?