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Ultrathin Silk-Based Brain Implants
hatboyzero writes "University of Pennsylvania engineers have designed silk-based electronics that can stick to the surface of the brain, allowing for better brain-computer interfaces. The researchers say the silk-based devices are thin and flexible enough to reach previously inaccessible areas of the brain."
Luckily it doesn’t matter much. It’s not about what we can access. (There is a much better interface to that, called speech! ;)
It’s about plain interfacing. With feedback. And in that matter, the brain can without any trouble reconfigure itself (=training/learning) to do whatever you want.
It’s what you do all day long anyway.
Remember those experiments where they stuck a couple of wires in a monkey’s head, and he “magically” learned to use them to control a robotic arm... in addition to his other limbs!
That’s what I mean.
If you know how a (really any) dynamic neural net works, it’s obvious. (But it gets harder with old age. Though I think there are drugs that can partially undo it. But you don’t want to mess with those, since it’s the same thing as forgetting old habits... and you may find yourself forgetting someone or how to do something important.)
I have no doubt, that you can train yourself to send any patterns of signals over those wires. And sense anything that’s coming in As long as they are below your brain’s maximum resolution (in time and space) and in the proper voltage/current range.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
I don't know if I'm ready to go sticking stuff in there, especially in light of evolution's work to keep stuff out, and, our still insufficient knowledge of the brain.
No one is talking about starting to implanting things right now. These are the first steps. Of course researchers will be careful to make sure it is safe (Or at least worth the risk) before starting human trials.
And this is a very important area of study. Imagine someone that is paralysed or missing a limb. If we can build artificial limbs and able to interface it directly without causing infections or rejections, this will substantially improve their quality of life!
This is actually very exciting news. We should definitely pursue this as much as we can.