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Brain-Implanted Chips Allow Control of Technology
Nilchii writes "The Guardian has an article about implanting electrodes in the brain, allowing paralyzed people to control various software-integrated devices, such as the cursor on a computer and the channel and volume of his television. From the article: 'The experiment took place a few months ago as part of a broader trial into what are known in the business as brain-computer interfaces. Although it is early days, aficionados of the technology see a world where brain implants return ability to those with disability, allowing them to control all manner of devices by thought alone.'" The BBC has coverage of this as well, and we've mentioned this research before.
Why not make it capable of controlling robotic limbs, etc...things that are more useful than the volume of your tv?
Gibble: Descriptive of an emotional state in which one's mind is scrabbling for some purchase on reality
I believe that this could be a great thing, but do we need implants? Why can't we refine brain wave scanning? In the future, how will we power these systems? I don't want people to open my skull every two years to change my battery! A nural net or something that rests on the scalp would be a less invasive and possibly better solution. Some who knows more about this than me please comment.
is that they require a surgical procedure which makes it risky at the moment and hard to reverse. While it's good for disabled patients (until we can biologically fix neural damage) it's still not the magic neural link that some geeks want it to be. The more interesting research with alternative interfaces comes from tech like subvocalization and other virtual input that NASA is working on. This includes movement recognition where sensors on the surface of the skin (no surgery required) can pick up subtle gestures that would be invsible to others. That would allow you to work your wearable computer without anyone noticing since all of your motions would be subtle.
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Wired article as proof
If we can't restore functionality, how are we supposed to improve our functionality? No one is proposing that once we have artificial limbs and mediation devices that are equivalent to a normal person's, we should just stop! These types of innovations keep coming up in the context of making the "disabled" normal again because that's the best we can now do, not because that's the best we can ever do.
Its already here:5 01_020501_roborats.html
Remote Controlled Cockroaches
http://www.wireheading.com/roboroach/
Remote Controlled Rats
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/05/0
I don't think that qualifies as "control". It is communication to be sure, but the brain still decides what to do about it. From a post further up this thread, it sounds like sending complex impulses to the brain (from an outside source) can cause seizures.
I can see that we may be able to artificially send brain like signals to limbs/robotic devices and that could be very useful. Also, I can imagine that finding ways to use "real" signals from the brain to control things could be even more useful. But neither of those circumstances imply control over the brain itself as I believe several parents in this thread are implying.
It is kind of like saying that now that we know how to lead a horse to water, we will soon have them drinking as much as we want.
"Contrarily the lookaside buffer might not be the panacea... "
So you would rather not have this technology to help disabled people on the off-chance that it can be misused in the future? Show my one piece of technology which can't be misused, and I will agree. The potential for misuse exists, and its only people like you and me who can exert pressure to prevent it.
Why don't you say these things about the internet, or about any other technology? How do you know you don't have a chip in your head right now, implanted by the government/corporations when you were born? (I know I don't, I was born at home). Paranoia is a slippery slope...
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"How long is it going to be until somebody makes this work in reverse, ie, controlling the brain from a computer chip?"
I have a question: Are you seriously concerned about this, or where you secretly hoping for a cheap 'Insightful' mod?
"Derp de derp."
Injecting signals into the brain amounts to controlling it, though. If those signals come from a body part with which the brain is already familiar, great. If not, the brain can learn to process the "foreign" signals as best it can.
:)
Certain situations already cause similar behavior. When a person becomes blind, the part of the brain devoted to visual processing starts taking input from other parts (especially the hands, since they are absolutely loaded with touch receptors). The situation is not identitical to getting feedback from prosthetic limbs, but it does show that parts of the brain can take unfamiliar inputs and figure out what to do with them.
We could just be debating the semantics of the word "control" here. I imagine many people see it as forcing the brain to take a particular action. Although this is probably possible, it also probably isn't desirable. For instance, it would be monumentally difficult to inject a probe into a person's brain and trigger it to get them to raise their hand. This is because it takes a massive amount of motor coordination to get the hand to raise smoothly and subsequently remain in the air, and the probe would produce an unnatural, Frankenstein-like motion.
Instead of trying to force the arm up, it's easier just to ask someone to raise their arm. You are controlling their brain by activating their auditory processing cortex, which leads to them interpreting and understanding your request, then firing off systems in the motor cortex that get routed through the cerebellum to lift their arm and hold it there. More effective than a probe, and easier, too!
We do have RoboRats. Note that the rats are not "forced" in a certain direction, but actually trained to respond to mild electrical stimulus to the "whisker processing" center of their brains that is enforced by stimulating their pleasure centers. Even remotely controlling a rat, it's far easier to provide minimal feedback and let the brain do the bulk of the processing.
bytesmythe
Hypocrisy is the resin that holds the plywood of society together.
-- Scott Meyer
I think it would be better put that we cannot evolve anymore. That's the whole point of civilization. As soon as people start working together, evoltion stops. The weak (like the handicapped people we're building implants for) are protected/supported by the strong (those of us with working bodies.)
It works intellectually as well as physically, ie the smart raise up the stupid. We don't all have to discover our own vaccines....
I personally see genetics as influencing our minds and bodies more than cybernetics (it seems easier to tweak genes to get rid of birth-defects than to rebuild bodies after they are born wrong), but the idea of, say a pilot's brain connected directly to a plane does have interesting implications...
The whole point of all this is that there are people in this world with incredible amounts of power who would have an interest in bringing this about. There are people that are smart enough to make this type of scenario work out. They could make it happen many different ways. It's not really an issue of how it happens. Whichever way it happens, you end up with the same result. I'm not saying it is going to happen in the exact way I described, I am only giving an example. I thought this would be obvious since it would be kind of stupid if someone really believed that this is exactly how things would unfold over the next 50 years. Slippery Slope Logical Fallacy does not apply because the post is not focused on the link between one event and the next. It is focused on intentions and ability.
So if you are arguing anything, you should be arguing that I am paranoid for thinking that anyone could be so clever to make this type of thing happen (or something along those lines.)