The Future of Mind Control of Physical Objects

mattnyc99 writes A month ago we discussed the accomplishment when researchers got monkeys to feed themselves with a robotic arm controlled by their brains. But after all the recent successful experiments with brain-computer interfaces, will the technology ever make it out of the lab and into hospitals — or even into our hands, for the closest thing imaginable to The Force? Popular Mechanics takes a look at the future of mind-machine control, speculating on several theoretical applications once brains can adapt to devices via direct communication between, say, synapse and prosthetic. Quoting the field's leading neuroscientist: 'For the foreseeable future, the main benefit is for rehabilitation. But the research is showing that the brain can act independently of the body. One day, you could be sitting in an office and controlling a device from across the room — or in another building. And it's not just flicking a switch. It could be a nanotool that's moving through a tiny environment, and you can control it and see what it's seeing.'"

Comments

Cool I guess

[UseCase]

Considering we are just now getting to the point where gesture/Multi touch UIs are becoming usable, I am a bit skeptical of the whole Jean grey UI thing.

"...the main benefit is for rehabilitation..."

[Iamthecheese]

I'm tired of scientests refusing to admit the full implications of their work. It hold back society and fosters an atmosphere of complacence. There is no reason at all, if it can be used to control a prosthetic, it can't be used for telepresence, using my computer, driving my car or any thing else. Anything at all.

Re:"...the main benefit is for rehabilitation..."

[vux984]

I'm tired of scientests refusing to admit the full implications of their work.

Its more a case that due to the astronomical cost, difficulty, and less than ideal results, for the forseeable future medical use is the only application where the cost isn't too high, and the risk is acceptable, and the clumsy results are still infinitely preferable to what's available otherwise.

Long term sure, maybe we'll be operating our computer, car, and TV by thought. But nobody is going to pay $250,000+ for a system that lets them change the channel with an 80% accuracy of it getting it right.

On the other hand, for someone paralyzed from the neck down... even clumsy control would be a godsend.

Not so fast...

[wild_quinine]

About ten years ago I saw someone controlling a cursor (badly) on a computer screen using electrodes planted in a headband. Last couple of years it hasn't been much better and now they're shoving things right into the brain. Seems like the tech is going backwards if anything, and frankly until it is non-invasive I don't think it's going to catch on much - even in the medical field, even for those paralysed from the neck down, there are better options that getting wires in the brain.

Re:Not so fast...

[IdeaMan]

Brain-computer interfaces need to be implanted and active before the child learns to speak. Some feedback needs to be given to the child in terms of flashing lights the child can see. Adults will take many years of training to approach what a child will learn during their early stages of development.

I would hazard a guess that the most inane of enhancements will have the most impact. Instantaneous access to a simple calculator and 50 gigs of ram/flash storage alone would enable uncanny abilities in humans. The ability to carry on simultaneous conversations with N other similarly enhanced humans, or even the concept of conversation using wide symbols rather than very narrow and slow bandwidth communications protocols such as speech would also have a huge impact on society.

This research has been going on for far too long with the squeamish ones of you holding it back waiting for non-invasive. Requiring non-invasive is like trying to build a Tempest device to access a computer inside a faraday cage instead of just putting in an Ethernet card and running a cable out.

The number of uses an enhanced human will use the implant for will make the rest of us all look like deaf and dumb quadriplegics by comparison. Having an interface in place before an injury would greatly shorten the rehabilitation time of an unfortunate amputee.

Re:Not so fast...

[sexconker]

?

I have access to a simple calculator - it's my brain. It's quick, easy, and pretty damned accurate.

I think I can store just a tad more data than 50 GB.

I don't know about you, but I can already communicate pretty damned well with multiple people at once.

A child does not learn such things quickly. There's a reason they teach cutting and gluing and writing and coloring and all that in preschool and kindergarten. Children lack motor skills. The brain takes a long time to develop them. How long was it before you could hit a ball with a bat reliably? How long did it take you to learn to drive? How long did it take you to learn to type?

The more you do something, the sooner you will become adept at doing it. Children will have little impetus to learn their newfangled brain implant interface. There are things on the floor that need tasting, there are other children around, and I think the neighbors just got a puppy.

An adult, who is paralyzed, will have (depending on the situation) a section of brain that is not being used, and a serious motivation to learn to work their new robo arm. Sure - some people will break down and cry and not succeed (see current physical therapy), but if it was the difference between having an arm and not having an arm, I'd work my ass off to make sure I learned to use that arm.

Re:Not so fast...

[Anonymous Coward]

"...instead of just putting in an Ethernet card and running a cable out" isn't all that apt a simile. Rather think of your metaphorical computer as having no PCI slot for this ethernet card, and the case has no screws, so you have to cut it open and destructively solder in your ethernet circuitry onto the mobo - except you have no way of tracing the circuit diagram, or finding out which bit does what exactly.

Thought Control Mouse

[corsec67]

You mean like the OCZ's Brain Wave Interface Headband that was posted here a little over a month ago?

No surgery, and it affords some control of the mouse cursor without any arm movement.

Taoism has a prior art claim on The Force, too

[CarpetShark]

I don't know where the OP got the idea that neural control of an artificial hand is the closest idea we have to The Force. The Force in Star Wars is only a thinly veiled reference to The Tao.

Monsters from the Id

[hedley]

Don't be too quick to take a nap once that synapse parser starts getting the REM raw data. I would recommend a 'sleep' mode on that circuitry.

Shadowrun anyone?

[Anonymous Coward]

Application of this technology has been designed to death in the cyberpunk literature! From replacement body parts, to mind-controlled drone vehicles, to full immersion VR. Skip Matrix, go directly to Snow Crash, get a Shadowrun Cybertech sourcebook on the way (Man & Machine or Arsenal).

Re:Futurama

[MyLongNickName]

And what would happen if something happened to the input/output sensory link? You could be in a vat of this chemical keeping your brain alive forever. And no sensory input. It would be worse than being buried alive and it would last forever (or a very long time, at least).

Re:Futurama

[FeepingCreature]

A common fear, but it's not like they'd just put you in a jar and forget about you. For instance, it would be trivial to add a simple challenge/response test, and trigger an alarm on failure.

Re:Futurama

[RulerOf]

You'd be so bored you'd want to die.

Presumably, if this were a possibility, you'd also be able to stimulate the part of your brain that makes you so incredibly happy that you wouldn't care you were, well, just a brain.

Read up on The Hedonistic Imperative, just in case you don't understand.

The brain

[Stooshie]

What makes anyone think that the brain can exist as an entity on it's own? (As a working entity Im mean, i.e. capable of conscious thought).

The brain is not just the big blob inside our skulls, it includes all the neurones in our bodies and all the chemical messengers(hormones), all of which need the rest of the body to work.

The mind-body separation is a philisophical separation, not a physical one. (Not to be confused with the blod brain barrier which arises purely from the fact that the brain is slightly more fat soluble than the constituents of blood).

The brain has developed through evolution as part of our body, not as a separate entity. Of all the organs in the body, it is the one that relies on the rest of the body for it's existence. A kidney or the heart can function on it's own for a while (with a little help).