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Intel Says Brain Implants Could Control Computers By 2020
Lucas123 writes "Scientists at Intel are working on developing sensors that would be implanted in a person's head in order to harness brain waves that could then be used to control computers, televisions, cell phones and other electronic equipment. Intel has already used Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI) machines to determine that blood flow changes in specific areas of the brain based on what word or image someone is thinking of. People tend to show the same brain patterns for similar thoughts. 'Eventually people may be willing to be more committed ... to brain implants. Imagine being able to surf the Web with the power of your thoughts.' said Intel research scientist Dean Pomerleau."
I can get direct neural input from the Playboy channel.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Computer implants will control brains by 2019.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
In the spirit of XKCD, should I get the chip installed in my brain and wait until Linux patches in support? Or wait for an Open Source alternative?
is someone trying to figure out a way to get advertising into my mind. We all know someone is going to try.
Fortunately, feeding input directly into the brain is more difficult that reading output from it.
First Lasers, and soon brain implants! Today is full of win! Its the effin Future!
Why do people insist on looking towards devices that need to be surgically implanted to operate?
Sure the interface is more difficult when it is outside the skull, but the barriers to adoption would be much lower also, would they not? Not to mention support, upgrades, product life cycle, etc.
Are they really that shortsighted?
Imagine the damage a "keylogger" could do in a system like this.
My mind is the last sanctuary I have left, and I'm not going to jeopardize it by connecting it into a system which can be easily tapped, read, and quite probably manipulated by an outside force.
Funny may not give karma, but +5 Informative never made anyone snort coffee out their nose.
I recently heard an NPR article about this kind of thing.
Using real time MRI, someone could be presented with flashcards of common objects (screwdriver, igloo, flower, etc). When they thought about those objects, certain areas of the brain lit up.
The scientists said that when you think of a screwdriver, there isn't a single "screwdriver" area that lights up. Instead, you think of how it looks, what it feels like in your hand, what it's used for. You might think of construction workers, or your favorite screwdriver in your workbench at home. So lots of areas in the brain "light up".
What's amazing to me is that it appeared to be the SAME AREAS for DIFFERENT people.
As an example of this, the NPR production assistant (who was just visiting and helping with the interview) got hooked up to the MRI and was shown the flashcards. The computer, by looking at her brain, successfully guessed 10 out of 10. Even though the computer "learned" from someone else!
I suppose someone who'd never seen a screwdriver before wouldn't have the same sort of response, so it's probably limited to people with the same cultural backgrounds.
Pretty neat stuff.
In the future...
"Wait, Dad, you mean you used to have to move your arm to change the channel on the TV?"
"That's nothing, son. Great-Grandpa had to actually get up off the sofa and move to the TV to turn a dial."
Son physically reels. "Whoa, stop, you're blowin' my mind. But they did have motor-sofas to move you to the TV, right?"
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
The convenience of being able to navigate to a URL without having to type it is a really limited example. How about writing music with it? Being able to notate exactly what's playing in your head without needing to manually write a single note down? Weeks worth of work reduced to a few minutes! Or art: Can't draw? Just visualize!
Anything you can think about but can't actually do would be fair game.
Even with those sorts of apps, I still wouldn't get an implant unless my skull was being opened up for some other reason already. It's certainly not a fair tradeoff against something as simple as web browsing, as the summary suggests. I'm all for the braincaps. That's where BCI technology's headed anyway. And those have the distinct advantage of being removable as well...
Why, oh why does everyone at Intel think that people just want to 'surf the web' with whatever they happen to invent? You invent freaking brain implants and the first obvious use becomes surfing the web?
It could not be ... `write code` or `use photoshop` or .. anything even remotely challenging to a human brain?
Ah well.
It seems like they're at the point where they can recognize thought patterns. They intend to map those patterns to a UI. Just the other day I found myself sitting in front of a PC and browsing the web (imagine that). I've been using a Mac a lot lately. I wanted to scroll the page down and I found myself reaching for the touch pad to do that nifty two finger drag motion.
Some where between wanting to scroll the page down and the actual muscle action of reaching for the non-existent track pad was a series of neuro-chemical impulses. It seems like the researchers are identifying those. It would be kind of cool to be able to move a pointer around the screen and do basic web browsing actions (forward, backward, click, scroll, etc) without ever having to reach for the mouse. It seems like I first read about people using alpha waves to control mouse pointers over a decade ago at this point. It's about time they're getting to the point of doing something that might be useful.
Now once they get to the point of bringing up search results based on our thoughts, that is when I will start worrying.
Imagine being able to surf the Web with the power of your thoughts.
And there you have it. Why would we want to set up a direct connection between the human mind and a 64-bit multicore computer with many gigabytes of RAM, over a terabyte of storage, and a high-speed connection to the international network of computing machinery? To do large-scale science? To create art as it has never been created before? To help throw off the shackles of oppression and exploitation? Shit, to manage your budget and do your taxes? No. To surf the web.
Well, at least they're not kidding themselves over at the ever-practical Intel.
Honest to Dog, I swear we've been "just a decade away" from mass distribution of optical implants to aid the blind since the SEVENTIES! I've given up on stories about the distribution of ALL brain interfaces that are "just a decade away (Really, trust me!)" until I see local news stories about my neighborhood hospital installing them and insurance paying for them.
Do you really want someone drilling holes in your head and shoving wires into it just so you don't have to type and use a mouse? Do you have any idea how many of these things you'll need shoved through your skull to be able to fore go just those two activities? (Hundreds) Do you realize that implants hasten neuron death and as they die you'll need to associated electrodes replaced? And just who makes enough money to pay for undergoing dozens (at least!) of invasive implantation surgeries requiring real time CT or MR imaging? You insurance damn sure won't pay for it. And don't give me that "for the disabled" crap -- they don't get the expensive stuff either.
You don't need implants for brain "waves". Implants are better suited for detecting neural firing patterns on a much smaller scale. But you can get the job done with "waves" (EEG) without having to trephan yourself.
There are now EEG systems that have the premap on the electrode, making impedance issues irrelevant and signal balancing automatic. There are EEG analysis packages that use continuous wavelet analysis to do time/frequency analysis similar to the "thousands of channels" analysis radio-astronomers enjoy. Between these two, and 'training' a system to recognize a particular person's EEG patterns well enough to control a device like a computer, the other EEG related problems like skin potentials, EMG and EKG artifact become non-issues. And as far as localization, I can reliably localize 40 to 50 signals simultaneously with this technology using a high density (256 or more) electrode EEG.
This technology exists now. The computing power necessary to operate in as a control system in real time is beyond most people's ability to purchase. So if the nice folks from Intel will kindly put down the cranial drill and get back to what they're good at, maybe by 2020 we can have the sort of computing power sitting on everyone's desk if not sitting in a handheld device in their pocket.
And get away from that fMRI. I don't care what you think you saw. I saw the fMRI "brain scan" of the dead salmon showing it lighting up as it recognized a human emotion from a photo it had been shown before (but while still dead).
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
Well that's not that hard to imagine, since silicone implants have been controlling men's minds since the early 60's...
Laters Sol "Have you found the secrets of the universe? Asked Zebade "I'm sure I left them here somewhere"
what a segmentation fault feels like...
So if this is the future...where's my jet pack?