The Future of Putting Chips Inside Our Brains

Roland Piquepaille writes "Researchers at the University of Florida (UF) have developed chips which someday might be inserted in the brains of people affected by epilepsy or who have lost a limb. These neuroprosthetic chips 'can interpret signals in the brain and stimulate neurons to perform correctly.' The University claims this is the future of medicine. This is maybe a little bit extreme. Just the same, the researchers are already studying these chips with rats and hope to have a prototype ready within 4 years that could be tested on humans."

Comments

Wirelsss Cybernetics

[epistemiclife]

"The future of medicine." I'm sure. In any case, I'm always happy to hear about something to help people to live better lives, even if it sounds a bit too much like something out of a cyberpunk novel. What does concern me are things such as, say, sensitivity to EMP. I'm sure that there will be ways to work around this... This is interesting: "We have intermediate designs that connect to the brain, interpret signals and can wirelessly send commands to devices," he said. "This is another path of technology we're pursuing." While the summary doesn't mention this, the prospect of controlling things across the room with a thought is perhaps not as far away as one might think.

Re:Wirelsss Cybernetics

[epistemiclife]

As I think about it, controlling things across the room with a thought is potentially disastrous for most normally functioning people, given the rise in obesity and general sedentary nature of of many. Can anyone imagine the day when someone is too lazy to use a remote to turn on the TV? Convenience is good when it improves quality of life. The ability to control things without moving would be great for someone who can't move;giving everyday people the means completely eliminate what little exercise they get from their days would not. That would probably actually exacerbate medical problems.

Re:Wirelsss Cybernetics

[Anonymous Coward]

Just remove that corporeal stuff when it fails please and upload me to the network.

Re:Wirelsss Cybernetics

[Anonymous Coward]

Or, when those with the tendancies to do so die out of the gene pool due to heart disease and such, the strong willed and chemically balanced shall wield this technology into a new future!

Re:Wirelsss Cybernetics

[Ohreally_factor]

Still, this didn't stop some slashtards from casring about their eyes for some sharp object with which to amputate a limb. Anything to get a chip stuck in their skull.

However, you are right that action without seeming effort comes at its own cost. Consider the tale of this man, although his powers do not come from cybernetics or even the bite of a radioactive insect. He had the ultimate remote, but found that its use was spiritually problematic.

Re:Wirelsss Cybernetics

[Eddi3]

You just took away two and a half minutes of my life that I will never get back.

Re:Wirelsss Cybernetics

[NoobixCube]

Controlling things with your mind is just a bad idea... Wait until we get "thought-click" ads and purchases on the internet. Advertising is already so all-pervasive that it's a form of mind control in many cases. Imagine going about your daily business and seeing a banner ad on a page. If your first impulse is to buy, you'd sure as hell better hope your bank transactions aren't thought-controlled too.

Re:Wirelsss Cybernetics

[lessthan]

I laughed so hard at your comment, because when I RTFA I was disappointed. No chip for me. :( Now you have given me new hope. I don't reeeally need 2 hands right?

Re:Wirelsss Cybernetics

[maxume]

They just need another chip, except instead of letting them control things with their mind, it would let things control their body without their mind.

Re:Wirelsss Cybernetics

[BakaHoushi]

How, exactly, is using your body without your mind any different from the average person?

In all seriousness, convenience is a double edged sword. I can see some practical uses. Say, starting your car from inside on a cold winter morning. Or maybe turning on a speakerphone or flashlight in case of an emergency. But a TV remote? That's when laziness just comes in. I consider myself to be rather lazy, but I'll still at least walk across the room to get something, or even get up and LOOK for something rather than just shouting for someone else to do it.

Though the day we can get full prosthetic bodies like The Major from Ghost in the Shell... What fun THAT shall be!

Re:Wirelsss Cybernetics

[Forty Two Tenfold]

We are the BORG. All your brains are belng to us!

Re:Wirelsss Cybernetics

[NoobixCube]

That's one area where this kind of technology would be immeasurably useful. Prosthetics, I mean. A chip in the part of your brain responsible for motor function, wirelessly connected to a prosthetic hand or arm, would be a gigantic leap forward in that area. It could also be used to control battle mechs with the same ease as our own bodies :P. I see a Gundam-esque future before us!

Re:Wirelsss Cybernetics

[tinkertim]

As I think about it, controlling things across the room with a thought is potentially disastrous for most normally functioning people, given the rise in obesity and general sedentary nature of of many. Can anyone imagine the day when someone is too lazy to use a remote to turn on the TV?

I'm curious about what goes into 'lazy'. I travel pretty extensively, I find myself at all kinds of odd elevations at any random time, my body has long forgotten a world with 4 seasons, I hardly sleep on any regular basis and to compensate (and complicate) I have no choice but fill my body with junk if I hope to eat (sometimes sensible food just can't be found).

I am living happily, but abusing the heck out of this machine I was born in. I am far exceeding "Recommended Wear And Tear", I'm getting in my mid 30's now and starting to feel it. Its not bad, but I have a pretty good idea what 'ouch' at 50 is going to sound like.

I think the word you were looking for is 'apathetic'. I am far too lazy to keep typing anymore, but that's because I had one hell of a day and I'm quite tired. The distinction is a stigma, and dangerous.

Re:Wirelsss Cybernetics

[LionKimbro]

How, exactly, is using your body without your mind any different from the average person?

In that it can require zero attention.

You just say, "Body, begin exercise routine X."

Then you go and do whatever work or play you want to do on the Internet.

Come "back" an hour later, and your body has been through every piece of gym equipment in the room.

Re:Wirelsss Cybernetics

[Cardcaptor_RLH85]

I actually like this idea. I get *some* exercise but not nearly as much as I should (BMI of 25.8). However, if I could be working on my computer while letting my body exercise by itself, I'd be eternally grateful.

Chips?

[akkarin]

Ooo! What flavour?

Re:Chips?

[Anonymous Coward]

You think your Commodore 64 is really neato / What kind of chip you got in there, a Dorito?

Feedback and Learning

[MichaelSmith]

Lets hope that if people try this on a real brain with Epilepsy they read The Terminal Man first.

As for me, I will continue rely on home brewed behaviour modification to treat my seizure disorder. Though I am pleased to see more treatment options for people with very serious conditions.

Re:Feedback and Learning

[DynaSoar]

> Lets hope that if people try this on a real brain with Epilepsy they read The Terminal Man first.

Sure, and Johnny Mnemonic, and Jake 2.0, and of course The Matrix. Oh, and hey, what about that SG1 episode with the fat bald guy in their heads that made all the food taste really good?

There's never going to be a /. article on neural implants without people spouting science fiction at it like it's relevant, is there? You'd think that getting The Terminal Man from the fiction section as opposed to getting science articles from journals or books from the non-fiction section would tip people off.

This isn't just self-righteous anger. The problem is that if people only think in terms of what fiction writers write, they're getting a very inaccurate and restricted view of the possible real consequences. The few things in fiction stories probably won't happen. There are many, many more things that could, far too many and some far too complex for most fiction writers to come up with. Believe me, brain scientists don't give a rosy rat's ass for what fiction says, but most are thinking way beyond any fiction.

OK, some self-righteous anger too. I have to think about this stuff hard, and I hate it when people pretend bringing up science fiction does anything like approach the subject of implications. It's lazy.

Re:Feedback and Learning

[Anonymous Coward]

Lets hope that if people try this on a real brain with Epilepsy they read The Terminal Man first. Sure, and Johnny Mnemonic ... I suspect that even if I beat you with a clue stick you still wouldn't get it. Sigh. The Terminal Man ought to be required reading period, but oh well.

OK, some self-righteous anger too. I have to think about this stuff hard, and I hate it when people pretend bringing up science fiction does anything like approach the subject of implications. It's lazy. He's not, but even if he was it's better than being ignorant and willfully stupid like you.

Re:Feedback and Learning

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, this type of stuff is going on right now. I have a close friend who has epilepsy, a month and a half ago she got a chip implanted that is supposed to stop seizures by applying a small current to the affected area, from what she's explained to me it I gather it sorta works like a pacemaker. She is undergoing a double-blind study right now to gauge its effectiveness, but she has high hopes for this device. The Mayo clinic in Arizona is conducting this experimental procedure, let's hope it works as expected, she's a great person and I'd love to see her being able to drive and be totally independent...

Re:Feedback and Learning

[MaXMC]

Mod parent up!
My aunt have one of those things. You "reboot" her with a magnetic thing that looks like a round stone.

Re:Feedback and Learning

[gplus]

Wait a minute... A double-blind study? So the patients in the control group got fake chips implanted? I didn't know brain surgery had become that routine. Well, great if it is, I guess...

Re:Feedback and Learning

[keithius]

Lets hope that if people try this on a real brain with Epilepsy they read The Terminal Man first.

As for me, I will continue rely on home brewed behaviour modification to treat my seizure disorder. Though I am pleased to see more treatment options for people with very serious conditions.

Or how about Ghost in the Shell? Although I'll admit, there are probably a lot of problems that could arise from brain chips that even Cyber-Punk authors haven't thought up yet.

Re:Feedback and Learning

[maxume]

Tens of thousands of people are walking around with electronics wired into their nervous systems:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagus_nerve_stimulati on

Not quite a tasp just yet though.

Re:Feedback and Learning

[ClickOnThis]

Wait a minute... A double-blind study? So the patients in the control group got fake chips implanted? I didn't know brain surgery had become that routine. Well, great if it is, I guess... Well, my guess would be that all of the patients in the study have real chips installed, but neither they nor the researchers know whether or not they are turned on at any particular time. One could turn them on or off externally and, over time, effectively double the sample size of the study over what it would be with half of the chips as "fakes." A good move considering, as you rightly imply, the risk of brain surgery.

But as I said, I'm just guessing this is what they're doing.

Re:Feedback and Learning

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep, my friend in the Mayo clinic study says exactly that, that neither she nor the doctors monitoring her know if the chip is turned on or not... its a pain for her, she has to fly every Tuesday from Albuquerque to the Mayo clinic in Arizona to go see the doctors and let them download data from the device and interview her...

Re:Feedback and Learning

[Anonymous Coward]

dear angry dude,

    we are sorry that we are not as insightful and enlightened as you.

Signed,

  the world

  hope that helps.

I want a math coprocessor

[Myria]

I want a computer in my head that I can tell to do discrete calculations for me, since humans are so slow at them and mistake-prone. I'd love to be able to do 4096-bit RSA encryption in my head. Then the rest of my brain could concentrate on the problems the computer isn't good at.

Re:I want a math coprocessor

[MichaelSmith]

I'd love to be able to do 4096-bit RSA encryption in my head

Hmmm interesting. Because we don't have a specification for the storage structures in the brain, and rely on non-encrypted IO to reverse engineer such structures, encrypting your IO is effectively the same as encrypting your brain.

Well done. If you are Greg Egan I suggest you write a book about your idea. If you are not then I suggest you send it to Greg.

Re:I want a math coprocessor

[E 99]

I want a computer in my head that I can tell to do discrete calculations for me, since humans are so slow at them and mistake-prone. I'd love to be able to do 4096-bit RSA encryption in my head. Then the rest of my brain could concentrate on the problems the computer isn't good at.

I'd be satisfied if I could just figure out the restaurant tip in my head.

Re:I want a math coprocessor

[mcpkaaos]

Then the rest of my brain could concentrate on the problems the computer isn't good at.

Such as finding a purpose for doing 4096-bit RSA in your head. Unless you mean doing 4096-bit RSA encryption in your head to your head, in which case the rest of your brain had better be concentrating on the key.

Re:I want a math coprocessor

[Antarius]

I want a math coprocessor. I want a computer in my head that I can tell to do discrete calculations for me

Knowing my luck, I'd get one with the Pentium FDIV Bug in it.

What about memory storage?

[jjh37997]

Why the uses mentioned are interesting wake me once they develop chips that allow a person to augment their memory. Even if the technology never gets to the point where you can download info or skill sets directly into your brain I can see the benefit of supplementing the natural storage capacity of the human brain with such devices.

Re:What about memory storage?

[epistemiclife]

I'm not sure that anyone has ever reached the "storage capacity" of his brain, or that there is any confirmation that such a thing exists. Our memory seems to be more of a dynamic thing than a static collection of information with an identifiable upper limit.

Re:What about memory storage?

[timeOday]

I'm not sure that anyone has ever reached the "storage capacity" of his brain, or that there is any confirmation that such a thing exists.

If the brain can't reach its capacity within a lifetime, it's because it's so horribly slow at learning. I can copy Wikipedia onto my PocketPC in 5 minutes, how long would it take to memorize Wikipedia? There's no comparison.

Since it won't be ingrained like natural memory, I am very curious to see how we'll perceive I/O with these devices. Will we feel it, hear it, or see some sort of pattern in our visual field? Might it become a new sense that no person has ever experienced before?

Anyways, I think it will be a while before healthy people receive direct implants. You could go a long way with nothing but a blue tooth headset small enough to fit invisibly in your ear canal. And maybe a shirt button camera so it can recognize people and invisibly remind me of their names.

Re:What about memory storage?

[epistemiclife]

That's an interesting thought. I have synesthesia , so I'm very familiar with experiencing certain things in ways that are foreign to most other people. It's interesting to ponder what types of sensations can be created by external forces applied directly to the brain. Some studies have shown that direct stimulation to some parts of the brain can produce first-person sensations, such as smell, taste, etc. I think that some type of great leap in the way that we understand the brain would be necessary before something like that could even be thinkable. Concerning your statement that we don't reach our brain capacity in our lifetime because we're slow at learning, there appears to be evidence to the contrary. First, consider all of the information we take in. It's true that most people do not assimilate (as far as we know) all of the textual, factual information that they encounter. However, we remember so much more than simple factual information. We remember not only facts, but events and sensations. We, furthermore, remember the associations. Consider this: In just one day, what is there to remember? There are people, conversations, feelings, environments, thoughts, countless objects. We don't necessarily remember all of it, but we remember quite a bit. Also consider some exceptional cases of people who can remember everything that they read (and read extremely quickly). There was a video about such a person on YouTube, but I can't seem to find it. He not only read at an incredible rate, but also could do calculations extremely quickly and reproduce entire landscapes. His brain has yet to get "full.' In addition, any autistic people have been shown to factor large primes extremely quickly. In any case, I think that it is very premature to refer to the brain as though it is merely a biological computer with a biological hard drive.

Re:What about memory storage?

[Ohreally_factor]

I don't think I've ever seen anything beyond a guess at what that storage capacity might be, other than "really huge". But the danger isn't in hitting capacity, it's in exceeding the erase-write cycles limitations.

Re:What about memory storage?

[Ohreally_factor]

That's an interesting thought. I have synesthesia , so I'm very familiar with experiencing certain things in ways that are foreign to most other people. Have you ever considered doing UI design and testing for Apple? Finally, someone could tell them what the lickable buttons actually taste like!

Re:What about memory storage?

[nowhere.elysium]

there are a couple of estimates on the brain's storage capacity: the last one I heard was about 16 terabytes, but that was nearly a decade ago. According to researchers from google answers, somewhere in the range of half a petabyte up to a petabyte.
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=52 5801

Re:What about memory storage?

[jollyreaper]

Consider this: In just one day, what is there to remember? There are people, conversations, feelings, environments, thoughts, countless objects. We don't necessarily remember all of it, but we remember quite a bit. Also consider some exceptional cases of people who can remember everything that they read (and read extremely quickly). There was a video about such a person on YouTube, but I can't seem to find it. He not only read at an incredible rate, but also could do calculations extremely quickly and reproduce entire landscapes. His brain has yet to get "full.' In addition, any autistic people have been shown to factor large primes extremely quickly. I'm just an amateur but here's a thought I had. When we hear about these idiot savants we're quite impressed. I think I saw the guy you're talking about on Youtube, he takes a helicopter tour of a city and reproduces the entire skyline in photographic detail with a pencil on a big sheet of paper. My question is, is he tapping into an unused portion of the brain or is that portion unused because of his disability and the brain just happened to wire it up in the way he's currently using it? In other words, just how much horsepower does it require to do all the normal stuff that the brain does that allows us to function inside social groups, understand the dynamics, all the stuff that makes someone "normal?" Is this like the mental equivalent of hotrodding a car, turning it into a dragster that can do 0-60 better than anything else out there but now the vehicle is good for nothing but drag-racing? Or would is be possible to get a neurotypical and functional mind to be able to this same thing?

Even more importantly, did anything I type here make sense?

Re:What about memory storage?

[Anonymous Coward]

Consider this: In just one day, what is there to remember? There are people, conversations, feelings, environments, thoughts, countless objects. We don't necessarily remember all of it, but we remember quite a bit. Also consider some exceptional cases of people who can remember everything that they read (and read extremely quickly). There was a video about such a person on YouTube, but I can't seem to find it. He not only read at an incredible rate, but also could do calculations extremely quickly and reproduce entire landscapes. His brain has yet to get "full.' In addition, any autistic people have been shown to factor large primes extremely quickly. I'm just an amateur but here's a thought I had. When we hear about these idiot savants we're quite impressed. I think I saw the guy you're talking about on Youtube, he takes a helicopter tour of a city and reproduces the entire skyline in photographic detail with a pencil on a big sheet of paper. My question is, is he tapping into an unused portion of the brain or is that portion unused because of his disability and the brain just happened to wire it up in the way he's currently using it? In other words, just how much horsepower does it require to do all the normal stuff that the brain does that allows us to function inside social groups, understand the dynamics, all the stuff that makes someone "normal?" Is this like the mental equivalent of hotrodding a car, turning it into a dragster that can do 0-60 better than anything else out there but now the vehicle is good for nothing but drag-racing? Or would is be possible to get a neurotypical and functional mind to be able to this same thing?
Even more importantly, did anything I type here make sense?
I saw the full documentary about savants in which that savant (on the helicopter, who was able to draw with a frightening precision) appeared. In this documentary (Odisseia channel over here - .pt) it was pointed out that while he had this extraordinary ability, he was socially inept.
At the time they were trying to integrate him into society. But at a big cost. He was losing his savant ability.

Re:What about memory storage?

[suv4x4]

My question is, is he tapping into an unused portion of the brain or is that portion unused because of his disability and the brain just happened to wire it up in the way he's currently using it?

The latter. It's a proven fact in science that most of the "super abilities" in mentally impaired people are directly related to their other mental problem.

For example we read earlier that it's critical for normal human beings to be able to drop neuron connections and make new ones which match their current requirements better. Autists can't do this and hence become proficient in tasks which we balance with other abilities they don't have.

Still, I can only say, thank god for the versatility, and this is just one more example that there is no "smartest" or "best" human being: we're far more powerful when we're all different and working together on a bigger goal.

I wouldn't be surprised if the specific abilities of people with mental disabilities spawn new industries in the decades to come. It has already happened with computer industry (a very large number of the top programmers in the industry have the asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism, also responsible for their social awkwardness).

Re:What about memory storage?

[jollyreaper]

wouldn't be surprised if the specific abilities of people with mental disabilities spawn new industries in the decades to come. It has already happened with computer industry (a very large number of the top programmers in the industry have the asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism, also responsible for their social awkwardness). Mentats! Not to replace computers but to talk to them. Thank God Mountain Dew doesn't stain the lips red.

Re:What about memory storage?

[StarfishOne]

"There was a video about such a person on YouTube, but I can't seem to find it. He not only read at an incredible rate, but also could do calculations extremely quickly and reproduce entire landscapes. His brain has yet to get 'full'."

Stephen Wiltshire perhaps?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVqRT_kCOLI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95L-zmIBGd4

What about a chip that

[rolfwind]

performs calculations for me and other such function. Sort of a floating point coprocessor for the human mind - our brains are certainly weak in some areas where we have to rely on tools such as calculators/computers to get by - maybe the next step is attaching them directly.

Sometimes I wonder if, without outside help, we are going to reach a plateau of scientific development because of our limited minds and the amount of time education takes these days (personally I think the amount learned in a 12 year public school could be reduced 8, and in a typical college reduced to 2.5 years.... but that's another issue).

Re:What about a chip that

[Antique Geekmeister]

It's called "a pencil". You use it with that other amazingly technolgy called "paper".

OK, OK, if you want the upgrade vresion, get an abacus.

Re:What about a chip that

[rolfwind]

Yeah, you know that, in theory, all computer languages are Turing Complete.

Still doesn't mean that I want to program in assembly rather than some higher level language.

Re:What about a chip that

[lachlan76]

Great. Now use that pencil and paper to find cos(3pi/5).

Re:What about a chip that

[Antique Geekmeister]

No, they're not all Turing complete, even in theory. Many limited use languages, often suitable for microcomputer use or old expensive computer hardware designs, had built-in limits on digit size and available memory use. Any such built-in limit means it's not Turing complete.

Many are, but don't be misled by the higher level programming levels so many of use on a daily basis, which are at least theoretically Turing complete.

Re:What about a chip that

[Antique Geekmeister]

OK.

"cos(3pi/5)"

See? All neatly written out nad everything!

Now, if you want to do trig functions, I call the right to do them the way a typical computer program does, by keeping a lookup table around and using that to get the nearest answer, then rounding.

tag?

[ZachMG]

this should be doyouhearvoicestoo

do schizoids dream of eclectic sheeple?

[scooviduvoctagon]

I want to be a cyborg when I grow up.

Re:do schizoids dream of eclectic sheeple?

[Tablizer]

I want to be a cyborg when I grow up.

Welcome to Slashdot, Mr. Cheney.

-1 Troll

Re:do schizoids dream of eclectic sheeple?

[Antique Geekmeister]

My workmate with the insulin pump already is. So is my friend with the cochlear implant, and that's a neural implant tied to his brain stem. (Weird case, they apparently couldn't use his inner ear, so they connected it to his brain. It works!)

Re:do schizoids dream of eclectic sheeple?

[pragma_x]

Weird case, they apparently couldn't use his inner ear, so they connected it to his brain. It works!

That has to be the most amazing thing I've read here today. Simply fascinating.

http://guidance.nice.org.uk/IPG108

got one

[Tablizer]

I just installed a Troll Chip, and it's working great! I've never fealt better or smarter. Oh, and by the way, both emacs and vi suck eggs to high hell, and C# is better than Java.

Re:got one

[badzilla]

I see you only got the RC3 hardware stepping. I've upgraded to the release version and now it's clear how totally superior MySQL is to Postgres.

Re:got one

[ioshhdflwuegfh]

[...]and C# is better than Java. What? Java is definitely much much better than C#

We don't need no education

[ameyer17]

We don't need no thought control.
Seriously, today it'll be a cure for epilepsy, tomorrow it'll be a cure for individuality. /me puts his tinfoil hat back on

Re:We don't need no education

[jamstar7]

We don't need no thought control.

Seriously, today it'll be a cure for epilepsy, tomorrow it'll be a cure for individuality. /me puts his tinfoil hat back on

Tinfoil hat won't help against anything programmed into the chip once it's implanted. Course, it MIGHT help keep that chip from getting hacked by the l337 5cr1p7 k1dd13zz.

Don't count on it, though...

Re:We don't need no education

[Anonymous Coward]

Wonder which government will be the first to mandate control chips be fitted into convicted criminals? (after the UK naturally).Getting rid of pesky democratic rights these days is as easy as boiling lobsters alive - just do it slowly enough so people don't notice it / get used to it.

Finally!

[Tablizer]

instant porn in the middle of boring meetings. Brilliant!

Re:Finally!

[Short Circuit]

instant porn in the middle of boring meetings. Brilliant! >

And everyone's going to wonder why you're sitting there, squirming in your chair...

hmmmm, oh huh?

[drDugan]

"huh, what?" "elecronics in brains.... hmmmm" (prys eyes away from TV)

"Does it think for me?"

"no."

Eyes revert to TV showing cars with hard drives. ... the typical American response

Re:I want a conversation coprocessor

[DataBroker]

How about something that filters out pointless conversation instead? In the middle of some intense thinking and and some numbskull walks wanting to share some boring story again? Expecting an urgent email but tired of reading each message as it pops up? Tired of having to concentrate and focus on "conversation" with the Wifey or kids (aka, saying "uh-huh" at the right time)?

Get a Conversation Coprocessor! It handles mundane written and verbal conversations for you! Worried about missing something important? Conversation Coprocessor records all conversation for later review and recall. If any current conversation meets the conditions you specify as being "worth attending to" it immediately triggers a small sneezing/coughing/belching fit and plays back the previous conversation buffer to you. End result: you waste less time on pointless conversation and are able to time-shift conversations! It's like Tivo for conversation.

Yes!

[Umbral Blot]

Now I can stop moving altogether and type only with my mind, thus completely leaving the animal kingdom.

When Do We Get Brain Internet...

[LowlyWorm]

... And then brain spam. Must buy more viagra...Must buy more viagra...

Re:When Do We Get Brain Internet...

[AmberBlackCat]

That's only in the version for people with no insurance. The paid version has no advertisements.

Classic "elephant in the room"

[Anonymous Coward]

The elephant being, of course, transhumanism. "The Future of Medicine"? More like the future of everything--unless you like living in a zoo.

Let me help...

[msimm]

Big or small tits? (I'm going to hell)

Re:Let me help...

[ericartman]

Always happens, just when I think /. is getting to .........
along comes a member of my tribe
wish I had points
great comment

as long as ...

[Anonymous Coward]

... the hardware is not made by intel (power hungry and overheating) and the software not done by microsoft (BSODs, security issues and EULA's concerns), it can be cool.

btw, here is the BSOD in action

[Anonymous Coward]

http://modblog.bmezine.com/2007/07/26/best-windows -tattoo-ever/

Block It...

[Revenge_of_Solver_Ta]

Man. I hope they invent some sort of chip that makes me get back to work.

Surfing Reddit and /. is killing ma productivity....!

This is not the first of its kind

[CaputNoodle]

Read about a brain implant that has already been tested in humans: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=182802 &p=irol-newsArticle_print&ID=1026764&highlight=

Better allocation of government $ than stem cells

[Alsee]

George Bush wants to fund this brain chip research to show how pro-medical research he is. He has high hopes that these brain chips will be able to cure 70% of the American public.

-

Looks as if

[Anonymous Coward]

we'll have to put more brains in the chips
before we can put the chips in the brains.

Putting chips in our brains?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sweet. I've always had problems with the short game. Watch out Tiger Woods!

Factoring large primes

[grimdawg]

I can factor large primes very easily.

For any prime p,

p = 1 x p.

Re:Factoring large primes

[tepples]

I can factor large primes very easily.

For any prime p,

p = 1 x p. But can you "factor large primes" out of even larger composite numbers?

Normalising Brain Patterns

[maskedau]

Inserting such an object into someones brain I believe should only be done in extreme cases. I don't see why this can't be done with some embedded computing in a cap or hat with electrodes and a bio-feedback mechanism. Headphones with binaural beats and eyeglasses running alphawave patterns. Surely this neat device could prevent the need to insert a chip in many cases. Bio-feedback EEG is already being used for Epilepsy at www.adhd.com.au and there has been an open source eeg for years at http://openeeg.sf.net/ Quantative EEG (http://www.adhd.com.au/QEEG.htm) databases to give us the mean to write protocols for normalizing brain function.

Re:Normalising Brain Patterns

[maskedau]

anything to throw that pill away.

Upgrades

[EnsilZah]

Must be a bitch when you come in for a next-gen upgrade and it uses a different socket. =/

Long way to go

[neurophys]

Recording from the surface of the brain will hardly get you to the point where you communicate on an "in vivo" level. In 1 cubic mm of brain it has been estimated to be 4000m of neural fibers! There are million of neurons in a square millimeter of brain cortex (the outer 2-4 mm of the brain) each wtih 10000-20000 connections.

There have been many studies on connecting brain to machine; some using e.g.nerve growth factor to make the nerves connect to the chips. They have been promissing up to a level, but it seems now to be a little quiet in the camp?

The first paper i read on connecting the brain to machine, wasin the beginning of the 80. They tried to get a blind man to see. He did not.

Pål

BSOD

[wikinerd]

I hope they won't run Windows. If so, the Blue Screen of Death would get recognised as a medical condition and official cause of physical death.

Bipolar treatment?

[Gadzinka]

I would give an arm and a leg, if they created such implant treating Bipolar Disorder. Living with pharmacology-resistant Bipolar II is PITA.

Robert

Re:Bipolar treatment?

[Anonymous Coward]

I realize I'm just an anonymous voice on the internet, but consider *carefully* analyzing your diet. Try cutting out foods, one-by-one (and no cheating). It helped me a lot (wheat+dairy in my case). We think of food as mere calories, but it's not-- food matters and can cause physiological malfunctions.

It IS the future of Medicine!

[Kensai7]

At least the future of Neurology and Neurosurgery... Neuromodulating directly the brain tissue with neural implants can in theory provide both electrical and chemical changes to the circuits in question, giving advantages in respect to strictly pharmaceutical or brain pacemaker approaches. Miniaturization and nanotechnology will provide even smaller implants, with less adverse effects to the host biological tissues.

However, there are experts in the field who believe that transcranial tinkering is even better...

Because it has to be done

[TimeElf1]

"Got live metal inside me-
"Razors under my skin-
"Crystal mind and wired
nerves of steel-
"Still chippin' in...
-Silverhand

A good scifi novel involving "chipping in"

[Marrow]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Gravity_Fails

Bionic father-in-law.

[Assassin bug]

My father-in-law had something similar installed in him this past year. He has Parkinson's disease and had a mini computer installed in his abdomen with some strategically placed wires that are tucked under his skin and connect to specific areas of his brain. The implant is wireless and so it can be reprogrammed and fine tuned without surgery. The dosage of his medicine was getting so high that it was affecting his heart and pulmonary system in some very negative ways. So far the implant has given him much better mobility and added about 4 hours to his day. Before the device his muscles would clamp down and render him immobile by around 9-9:30... with the medicine. For some paralytic types of disease these devices are very important!!

Yes, master...

[Anonymous Coward]

Look at those two videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5u2IWFNFDEvideo1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpfjmzZ4NTwvideo2

And then think of a wireless chip for the human brain...

Thought control anyone?

Perhaps a tinfoil hat isn't that bad... perhaps it can mess with the wireless connection ;-)

Get ready for

[iminplaya]

the V-chip.

Re:I want a conversation coprocessor

[Kozz]

Married men across the world await to purchase your product, sir! My wife can make a 60-word phrase and turn it into a 500-word essay. And she wonders why I tune her out, waiting for the important bits!

MOD PARENT UP!

[ClickOnThis]

The problem is that if people only think in terms of what fiction writers write, they're getting a very inaccurate and restricted view of the possible real consequences. The few things in fiction stories probably won't happen. There are many, many more things that could, far too many and some far too complex for most fiction writers to come up with. Believe me, brain scientists don't give a rosy rat's ass for what fiction says, but most are thinking way beyond any fiction. Indeed. And given recent comments from Michael Crichton (author of The Terminal Man) denying the science of global warming, the need to distinguish real science from science fiction becomes all that more important.

Future of medicine? Future of FOSS!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

If we can implant chips in people's brains, we can finally get them to stop buying software and totally lock them into FOSS platforms (in other words, it would be an brain-based version of the GPL).

Yes, it would be thought control, but people just don't understand the horrors of for-profit software like we do. So yes, we are constantly manipulating people, but we are doing it for their own good.

Yeah, get back to me on that

[smchris]

Honestly, it seems for a quarter century now I've been reading that all the blind people in the work will be seeing with implanted photo-receptors "in just a few years". Stories about brain/digital interfaces have just become annoying to me.

Re:Yeah, get back to me on that

[GrievousMistake]

Cochlear implants are pretty neat, though. Yeah, blind people are a lot worse of, at best getting severely crappy resolutions and fps. If they ever reach VGA resolutions, I guess a lot of non-blind people are going to want one as well.

Neurotech

[the_kanzure]

Haha- so this is the sort of article that I miss when I sleep? Anyway, I have collected some links that somebody might find useful to go start some more research. Maybe setup a basement lab or something.

-- General
* Irazoqui's neurotransceiver [pdf] [2003] The problem with Irazoqui's device is that it is maybe 1% power efficient, so maybe some electronicists can come around and make some suggestions to improve the coil design and so on. He did his testing on rats, not humans.
* Direct brain interface bibliography from the University of Michigan
* Gleamed from an article below: wireless visual cortex implant publications
-- EEG
* Controlling computers with EEG signals
* EEG via soundcard from OpenEEG
* Wireless EEG
-- Slashdot goodness
* Scientists couple nerve tissue with semiconductors
* Post re: neurosilicon junction with PDF
* Thinkware
* Good post w/ links on neurocomputation
* Brain slice experiments
* Neuroscientists at MIT doing direct neural interfaces- but this post sets things into perpsective as well as this one
* Single neuron recordings w/ ref
* Sorry to dash your hopes, but ...
* Autonomously adjusting electrodes? and more
* Artificial hippocampus and stimulating neuron growth / neurogenesis ... with Prozac?
* Implant a chip inside your head- though it does not discuss the specific surgery skills you would need
* Working nerve chip of silicon and snail neurons
* Re: Kevin Warwick- interview- the so-called "Captain Cyborg" since '98 or something
* BrainPort
* Fusing neurons with computers
-- More
* Artificial vision
* The vision quest
*

Obligatory...

[Brad1138]

I for one welcome our new brain chip overlords

Golf Score

[Anonymous Coward]

Just how much would this putting chip help my handicap?

Unfortunate Side Effects

[Calpse]

While the article didn't say so, it seems as though this chip would deliver small electric shocks into the brain in order to stimulate and/or shut down a synapse(s). While this has been proven to work in a much more imprecise manner a fairly common side effect of the shock is a lose of memory. While this is much sounds much more careful wouldn't it be possible for the same side effects to take place. Some ex-epileptic person is in the middle of a business meeting when he gets a shock. "As you can see this would benefit the company greatly because of... Who am I?"

I put chips in my brain every night

[saltydogdesign]

At first I thought this article must be something about Pringles.

Trouble

[PPH]

"I don't know, doc. He just froze up and turned blue."

Monkeys have done it

[cyberfringe]

Using a different technology (no direct chip-neural interface), a monkey controlled a robotic arm over the Internet about seven years ago. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2000/monkeys-1206.ht ml The technology for direct neural interfaces is developing very rapidly. Background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-computer_interf ace