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DARPA Unveils System Using Human Brains For Computer Vision

MrSeb writes with news about our coming cybernetic overlords. From the article: "After more than four years of research, DARPA has created a system that successfully combines soldiers, EEG brainwave scanners, 120-megapixel cameras, and multiple computers running cognitive visual processing algorithms into a cybernetic hivemind. Called the Cognitive Technology Threat Warning System (CT2WS), it will be used in a combat setting to significantly improve the U.S. Army's threat detection capabilities. There are two discrete parts to the system: The 120-megapixel camera, which is tripod-mounted and looks over the battlefield; and the computer system, where a soldier sits in front of a computer monitor with an EEG strapped to his head, looking at images captured by the camera, wedding out false threats. In testing, the 120-megapixel camera, combined with the computer vision algorithms, generated 810 false alarms per hour; with a human operator strapped into the EEG, that drops down to just five false alarms per hour. The human brain is surprisingly fast, too: According to DARPA, CT2WS displays 10 images per second to the human operator — and yet that doesn't seem to affect accuracy."

22 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. Welcome to the Machine by preaction · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is scary to me, being wired up and used as a machine. Though I suppose it's actually no worse than other kinds of human slavery, and probably quite a bit better than some.

    1. Re:Welcome to the Machine by Squiddie · · Score: 4, Funny

      Think about it. Robocop will soon be a documentary.

    2. Re:Welcome to the Machine by Hentes · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The way I see it, finding methods to unlock the power of our subconcious is a useful delay to being replaced by robots.

    3. Re:Welcome to the Machine by Talderas · · Score: 2

      Sonic Ejaculate?

      --
      "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
    4. Re:Welcome to the Machine by CanHasDIY · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, no, no, it was "Abbey" something...

      Abbey...

      Abbey...

      Abbey... Normal! Yea, that was it: "Abbey Normal!"

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    5. Re:Welcome to the Machine by Beardydog · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why will you have nice accomodations? Do you own a company that either builds or can rely on robots? I don't, so I expect to live in squalor when robots can do 90% of all jobs. Of course, there will be a violent revolution once 90% of us are living in squalor, but we'll be fighting against an army of corporate killbots, so I don't see it going well.

    6. Re:Welcome to the Machine by g0bshiTe · · Score: 4, Funny

      EEG strapped to his head, looking at images captured by the camera, wedding out false threats

      I think it's the perfect marriage of man and machine.

      --
      I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
    7. Re:Welcome to the Machine by 0123456 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I don't, so I expect to live in squalor when robots can do 90% of all jobs.

      So, uh, what jobs are those robots going to do? Work in factories making stuff to sell to... oh, but 90% of humans live in squalor so they have no money.

      Hmm, perhaps your glorious vision of the future makes no sense?

    8. Re:Welcome to the Machine by jamiesan · · Score: 2

      1. We will create robots to do the work, and create three basic rules that the robots have to follow.
      2. They will become self aware and try to kill Sarah and her son John
      3. We will lose the war, and be enslaved in a virtual reality until Neo sets us free.
      4. Serena will lead us in a jihad to destroy all machine intelligences.
      5. Profit?

    9. Re:Welcome to the Machine by SuricouRaven · · Score: 2

      But every time you suggest it, an angry mob will declare you are a freedom-hateing communist.

    10. Re:Welcome to the Machine by sjames · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The sad part is that we have such a dysfunctional view of economic systems that the dream of all mankind for centuries (replacing human labor with machine labor) becomes a nightmare.

    11. Re:Welcome to the Machine by Sabriel · · Score: 2

      You may note he used the word 'squalor', not the word 'glorious'.

      Also, our corporate overlords? They don't seem to spend much time caring about long-term sustainable economic plans.

  2. We can optimize for efficiency in the next sprint. by Minwee · · Score: 5, Funny

    What's the next step? Jars. Lots and lots of jars.

  3. New camo techniques required by vlm · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I see an easy way to break this system

    where a soldier sits in front of a computer monitor ... wedding out false threats.

    Human soldier brain pretty good at telling the difference between a bush and a AK-47 wielding freedom fighter / terrorist / same difference when that's what he's looking for.

    So give him a different type of bush to look at. I've never really been "into" the whole "naked chicks with guns" genre of pr0n but covering the walls of a village with posters like that would probably totally screw the guy up. "That's a bush! No the other kind! No wait she's holding a AK-47. No wait, she's not moving, thats a poster. No wait, she's moving, she's for real..."

    Another tool would be psyops type stuff. So rather than your stereotypical naked woman, trust me straight guys REALLY like to look at that, you could put up 2G1C posters, goatse, rotten dot com pics, tubgirl with a 9mm, stuff like that. Too many icky false positives gross the guy out. Like a weird game of duck duck goose... OK soldier goatse goatse goatse goatse... Oh oh thats a taliban! goatse goatse ...

    Another thing is screwing around with image capture. So as a kid I had a "wolf's head" tee shirt. Rather than relying on hacking the pattern matching algo in a human brain to mess up by using all kinds of paint blotchy, ghillie suit-y, digital cammo-y stuff, just take two poor bastards and put them in a halloween horse costume and have them walk right in front of the camera. Cam sees "horse" walking around, doesn't bother showing soldier who might not notice anyway. Also hack the rangefinder. Cam algo detects movement. Zooms in and see's VLM's wolf's head tee shirt. Shows soldier a pic of a wolf's head. Soldier says WTF.

    --
    "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
  4. Blind spot by puddingebola · · Score: 2

    The enemy cleverly foiled this new surveillance scheme by putting up large blown up images of centerfolds on the battlefield, thus distracting the cameras operators. The camera operators never saw the division of enemy tanks advancing and they were overrun.

  5. Re:Resistance is futile. by Mister+Transistor · · Score: 3, Funny

    Don't forget to send in the Marines!

    This gives a whole new meaning to "Jarhead"!

    --
    -- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
  6. Wedding out false threats? by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 2, Funny

    Weddings? I love weddings, drinks all round!

  7. We are Borg. Resistence is futile. by AlienSexist · · Score: 2

    Anyone for a live action game of Shadowrun?

  8. Voluntary acts aren't slavery by habib23 · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's a job, and therefore not slavery any more than any other one. Also you are very stupid for even making the comparison, though I suppose you hear that often enough.

    --
    wake up and find out that you are the eyes of the world.
  9. Yay, we're pigeons! by suutar · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I recall reading an article (or a mention of an article, or something) about an experiment where a pigeon was trained to peck a button when shown a photograph containing a human. The accuracy was pretty good, but there was one photo that it would peck for that didn't have any people in it. Or so the researchers thought until they used a magnifying glass to find one person off in the background...
    A trained neural network can be more accurate and faster than one would think :)

    1. Re:Yay, we're pigeons! by suutar · · Score: 2

      I believe it was a reference to a 1964 paper: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/146/3643/549.abstract
      But I'm not willing to spend $20 to read the paper and see if it confirms this anecdote.

  10. Re:Finder of Lost Children by gorzek · · Score: 2

    Finding people who are doing something wrong isn't "abuse."

    Using it to identify and persecute political dissidents? That would be abuse.