Study Shows Direct Brain Interface Between Humans

vinces99 writes University of Washington researchers have successfully replicated a direct brain-to-brain connection between pairs of people as part of a scientific study following the team's initial demonstration a year ago. In the newly published study, which involved six people, researchers were able to transmit the signals from one person's brain over the Internet and use these signals to control the hand motions of another person within a split second of sending that signal.

Comments

Don't we already do that?

[mozumder]

I type a comment here, and it goes into your brain.

This comment is now about steak.

You are now picturing a juicy steak inside your brain.

Re:Don't we already do that?

[koan]

Think "orgasm"

Re:Don't we already do that?

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you!

I'm going to come back and read your comment again in a little while. I just need about 10 minutes.

Re:Don't we already do that?

[radtea]

I type a comment here, and it goes into your brain.

But it doesn't go directly into my brain!

Where "directly" apparently means "via millions of dollars of highly specialized equipment", which is a use that only is only found in headlines on stories like this one.

"Humans can now transport themselves directly to the store in an automobile!"

Why is it that when we cut out the use of one organ--our feet in the case of automobiles--we all recognize that only a gibbering idiot would describe the resulting walking-free transportation process as "direct", but in the case of cutting out the use of the mouth almost everyone buys into this idiotic claim that its replacement by millions of dollars of gear is "direct"?

Re:Don't we already do that?

[fahrbot-bot]

Think "orgasm"

Sure, but, like in the movie Firefox you must think in Russian ...

Re:Don't we already do that?

[NotInHere]

My position too. Telepathy is a nice thing to have, but we already have a thought transport mechanism. Speech is one of the things that make us human, and it helped us to write thoughts down, conserve it for the past in form of written text, and enabled us to build a system that transports thoughts in light speed: the internet.

Re: Don't we already do that?

[Anonymous Coward]

Cool

Re:Don't we already do that?

[iggymanz]

No, your typed words have no meaning to a non-English reading human. This experiment transcends language issues.

Re:Don't we already do that?

[iggymanz]

No, that only works for those who speak or read the same language.

Re:Don't we already do that?

[AchilleTalon]

You cannot say that. Nobody knows how the knowledge is represented in brain. You can think of a particular knowledge the other party has never experienced in the past, will this other party able to extract the meaning from such a thing? I doubt greatly it would be the case. The same thing as some words just do not exist at all in some languages because there was never a need for such words and to designed or describe such things.

For now, this experiment is at a very basic level which can be represented in a binary form. Nothing that can be compared to a language and what the written or spoken language enables us to communicate.

Re:Don't we already do that?

[Quirkz]

Because everything with a computer has been done with "Just one click!" since the internet went big in 1995. No, the previous 500 clicks and hours of configuration don't count, just that final one that does what you want. It's magical!

Re: Don't we already do that?

[Anonymous Coward]

Smh. You're seriously just going to poo-poo the entire thing, and the use of "directly"? Pfft.

I think this is really cool. Maybe one day we can record dreams or thoughts for entertainment - I wouldn't need tons of money and connections to producers, directors, actors, editors, etc to make a movie, I could just imagine it. I may not have to use clumsy language to convey something (don't get me wrong, I pride myself on being able to convey ideas), I could just think it to someone, without fear of misinterpretation.

Re:Don't we already do that?

[erice]

No, that only works for those who speak or read the same language.

Vs "thought language" which is likely to be unique to each individual. At least with spoken languages there are strong incentives to iron out the differences so that a different people in a group can communicate. And still there is continuous drift. In the history of human kind, there has been no incentive or even influence to make internal thoughts compatible.

Re:Don't we already do that?

[iggymanz]

There are means to convey emotional state and other concepts universal to all humans, we could only argue about "degree of compatibility" between certain thoughts.

Re:Don't we already do that?

[Anonymous Coward]

That is why there is babelfish and the like you /pedantisch douche/

Re: Don't we already do that?

[Anonymous Coward]

prokhladno

Re:Don't we already do that?

[arvindsg]

A word is worth a word, A picture is worth a thousand words, A direct link is worth megabits

Re:Don't we already do that?

[Anonymous Coward]

Consider transmitting a painter, the picture you want painted, though i understand a direct link might obsolete paintings.

Re:Don't we already do that?

[jythie]

I don't know, this sounds pretty 'direct' to me since it is sending raw signals into the brain rather then using any of our existing specialized sense organs. The only way it could be more direct is if you started sticking spikes in people's heads or removed parts of their skull and sorts slapped two people's raw exposed brainmeats together.

As for 'millions of dollars', I am guessing you have never worked in University research. These projects tend to be very shoestring when it comes to budget.

Re:Don't we already do that?

[jythie]

Right there you have a good justification, we started with speech yes but we have expanded communication so far beyond that already. We have the written word, we have pictures, we have video, we have music, history is filled with people trying to figure out how to communicate more to each other. Imagine what this type of thing could do for communication, you could teach people physical skills by moving their limbs around rather then depending on language or vision to explain motions. An even greater possiblity is what it might be like to actually convey feelings, something that historiclally we have only ever had ourselves as a single base point to guess at others with.

Re: Don't we already do that?

[JasonGoatcher]

I want to use it in video games. No more pressing x, I just frickin' do the action I want to do.

Re:Don't we already do that?

[JasonGoatcher]

Looks better on a postcard if you leave out that last bit.

Reminds me of a hobby I have. I like to take famous moments or quotes and figure out how I could have totally ruined the moment.

"Four score and seven years ago, we brought forth a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

"Unless they're not white, don't forget that part. Very important."

Re: Don't we already do that?

[Pikoro]

You didn't see the movie "Brainstorm" did you?

Re:Don't we already do that?

[kilodelta]

Think Brainstorm. Remember that movie - and the guy who looped the orgasm scene until he was a gibbering idiot?

Re:Don't we already do that?

[VAXcat]

But happy...and from what his wife was saying later in the movie, no longer impotent....

Re:Don't we already do that?

[Anonymous Coward]

You are now picturing a juicy steak inside your brain.

I'm a vegan you insensitive clod!

Re:Don't we already do that?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nobody knows how the knowledge is represented in brain.

True...of pretty much anything. Surety of our knowledge is fairly impossible from our less-than-omniscient perspective. But there has been empirical investigations into the matter, and it is possible to make a guess.

As noted above, our 'thought languages' are likely to be unique to each individual, since we've never before had a direct experience of another's thoughts, and our first attempts to pass information in this way will appear to be gibberish. The concept of 'apple' and the patterned neurons that store any information you know about 'apple' is not going to map 1:1 from person to person. But, like immersing yourself in a foreign language, two connected minds will eventually assimilate/acclimate. If you connect to another mind for a long period of time, I expect both would reach an equilibrium, where both minds are near identical (Of course, they'd begin to diverge as soon as you severed the connection).

The experiment in the article appears to be a brain-to-spinal column connection, which is neat, but not reflective of the article's headline.

Re:Don't we already do that?

[mansie]

Having only read the synopsis i imagine a world where soldiers never set foot on the battlefield in person, but instead possess some poor hapless cannon fodder soul and remote-control them with complete disregard for their life. Just pick up another should the first one fail to perform adequately. Farms where human cannon fodder is born, grown, to die and be discarded on the field of battle. A future genocide, unrivaled, at greater cost than all prior ones combined, a world darker and more bleak than the matrix. Have a nice nightmare! You're welcome!

Re:Don't we already do that?

[Half-pint HAL]

Nonono. Just one click was invented by Amazon, and don't let any commies convince you otherwise.

Re:Don't we already do that?

[Anonymous Coward]

If they can get an FMRI machine on a shoestring budget then they need to talk to my health insurer...

Re: Don't we already do that?

[Anonymous Coward]

He works for the government where "shoestring" is a cool 8 figures.

Re:Don't we already do that?

[AndreaStocco]

That is correct, jythie. The experiment did not cost "millions of dollars", we used equipment that is on the order of few 1,000s (EEG) and maybe 20K (TMS). You can get cheaper versions as well. And all the equipment can be found at your hospital (minus the software the serial cables we built to hack in the back of the machines to sync them). So, it's not stuff you find at Home Depot, but it's not multi-million extravaganza either. And,a s you pointed out, the signal is "direct": neuronal activity is directly modulated by the TMS magnetic field. It is exactly as direct as using electric probes inside your brain (as in deep brain stimulation), only it is non-invasive.

Re:Don't we already do that?

[AndreaStocco]

There are many uses of brain-to-brain interfaces that go beyond communication. Think of neurorehabilitation, for instance: when a person has a stroke, often s/he has to painfully and slowly re-learn motor commands like walking, grasping, and swallowing. That's because the brain, deprived of previous "motor templates" (which were disrupted by the damage) needs to re-learn from scratch. If you could give the brain partial information (copied from a healthy brain, or from the healthy side of the injured brain) on the intended neural activity, it could significantly speed up the process.

Re:Don't we already do that?

[AndreaStocco]

Individual differences in thoughts must ultimately rely on individual differences in either anatomy or in patterns of neural activation. As far as we know, anatomy is pretty similar across individuals, and that is why neuroimaging studies can do group-level statistics. We do not know much on the differences between patterns of neural activation, but they also seem consistent across individuals.

Re:Don't we already do that?

[Anonymous Coward]

A word is worth a word, A picture is worth a thousand words, A direct link is worth megabits

and a cliche is worth ..

this....

[Anonymous Coward]

right after the badusb exploits.... great idea.

First Post

[Anonymous Coward]

Who of you made me write that?!

Mind control?

[Anonymous Coward]

If they can do this in a laboratory, we can do it in real life. Maybe projecting thoughts of sex towards that pretty girl will turn her into a nympho. Same thing, right? They are just using a bit of amplification.

Re:Mind control?

[rogoshen1]

How many tumblrina's would be triggered by this post? haha.

Re:Mind control?

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

That's incrementally less plausible than the idea that the electrical signalling in our nervous system should give us the ability to shoot lighting from our fingers...

Re:Mind control?

[RavenLrD20k]

At the very least we should be able to shoot bolts of lightning from our arse.

Wasnt me!

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone else is using my hands!

Re:Wasnt me!

[jones_supa]

That's the new excuse of an alcoholic buying copious amounts of booze.

Re:Wasnt me!

[Opportunist]

Doesn't hold up in court when you're in for groping... or so I heard.

OK

[koan]

This explains the electrodes on the inside of the ear piece for Google Glass.

Re:OK

[Anonymous Coward]

Since Google is having trouble legalizing self-driving cars, now they can use this technology to self-drive humans who in turn drive the cars!

Re:OK

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Since Google is having trouble legalizing self-driving cars, now they can use this technology to self-drive humans who in turn drive the cars!

Depending on the cost of the implantation and the achievable precision that just might be economically viable...

For certain tasks, robots are already markedly superior to humans, mostly the ones that we can build around the robot's capabilities; but our general-purpose humanoid robots are still pretty tepid and very expensive. Humans, by contrast, are fairly elegant mechanisms and not terribly expensive to maintain if your standards are low enough.

With just a dash of neurosurgery, and an appalling disregard for the poor bastard locked helplessly in his own body as it moves under external control, we can convert surplus or undesirable humans into computer-controlled robotic platforms with limited self healing capabilities, excellent dexterity, adequate runtime on a variety of commonly available food items, and a steady supply of replacements!

Surely nothing could go wrong, yes?

Re:OK

[sillybilly]

Then humans become hackable objects just like other computer systems, and instead of internet denial of service attacks, all of a sudden you have a rebellion and mass shootings everywhere, from hacked humans containing a virus that activates on some zero day, and overthrows a government. Then "all your bases are belong to us" including your human security guards, that unbeknownst to you have also been hacked long time ago. And then imagine artificial intelligence doing all this. Who can you trust? The only VHS movies I have for now, that I watched, are Screamers (1996, the best AI movie ever), Collateral Damage, and The Last Mohican. All have themes on the who can you really trust topic, though the last one very little of it, and it's mostly a taste of the world of nobility vs. hillbillies, and, btw, it messes up bigtime by not showing hillbillies with crappy weapons and indians with bows and arrows, and the nobility with high tech guns, so it was obviously created by someone partial to native americans, but it's still very educational. I'm on the hunt for more VHS stuff as long as it's not braided recent Disney crap (oldschool Disney like Tom and Jerry, Donald Duck, and the like, is awesome, compared to the new stuff and Disney knows that too, which is why we keep getting copyright extensions perpetually.) For instance one item on my huntlist is Jeremiah Johnson, with Robert Redford. I would also not mind some Gregory Peck, Perry Mason and Matlock (from a time when legal profession and common sense justice was taken with some kind of seriousness, at least the illusion of it provided in movies), and even All in the Family episodes. I'm not really into Rambo or Total Recall type movies though, but I like westerns with gunfights, I find the macho posing right before pulling the gun and shooting fast very funny. Similarly are funny the asian martial arts movies where some girl tries to avenge her father's murder, and she fights off thousands of soldiers sent against her, one at a time, or a couple at a time, like one against 10,000, and she keeps winning, and she's really hot as she bites her braided hair between her teeth while doing karate. Very funny stuff.

Re:OK

[Anonymous Coward]

Yo dog, we made you this brain-computer interface, so we can drive you while you drive!

That's Kinda Creepy...

[Stormy Dragon]

Is the "receiver" subjectively aware that the decision to move their hand was imposed from outside, or did it seem like their own spontaneous decisions? (Obviously they're rationally aware it's imposed since they have a giant machine strapped to their head, but what does it "feel like" from inside their mind?)

Re:That's Kinda Creepy...

[turkeydance]

already have a Ouija board.

Re:That's Kinda Creepy...

[iMadeGhostzilla]

I would imagine it feels like the reflex-test kick in the knee -- you feel the sensation but are surprised it is happening since you are not willing it, and you're merely observing the process.

Taking it a step further, I imagine one day when someone else can press a trigger to create a vague thought or image in your mind, you'd feel the same -- feel the mental sensation but since you'd not be willing it, you'd be just observing it. (Perhaps similar with eg. a hallucinations? Also something you did not invite in your mental space, it just occurs.)

Re:That's Kinda Creepy...

[Stormy Dragon]

The article doesn't say though. Some neuroscientists argye that the initiation of action may preceed the initation of the perception of "willing it":

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

If that is the case, it could be there's a method of forcing movement that would be perceived as your own actions.

Re:That's Kinda Creepy...

[Anonymous Coward]

No, the receiving end does not deal with hand movements. The receiver perceives blobs of light induced in their vision (Because vision is an "input" into the brain). The movement nerve signal is used in the sending end, as that is an "output" from the brain.

Re:That's Kinda Creepy...

[doug141]

The article doesn't say though. Some neuroscientists argye that the initiation of action may preceed the initation of the perception of "willing it":

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

If that is the case, it could be there's a method of forcing movement that would be perceived as your own actions.

It could be that every action you've ever taken fits that description of forced movement. Forced by the way your genes built you, or the way your environment influenced the build, or by the resident influence of memes.

From a certain perspective, a social organism is just the interface between genes and memes. Both use you to replicate, both often fool you into thinking a threat to them is also a threat to you.

Person-to-person telepathy is all well and good

[mark-t]

But what I'd really like to control just by thinking about it is my computer. No more wrist RSI...

Also, I can think at least 10 times faster than I can type... so I could get more stuff done in the same amount of time.

Re:Person-to-person telepathy is all well and good

[DigitAl56K]

Also, I can think at least 10 times faster than I can type... so I could get more stuff done in the same amount of time.

Brain-computer demo (internal voice):
"Visit Slashdot"
"Fucking beta..."
"No no no, go back!"
"Damn, Amazon ads are creepy, I was just searching for a new stereo system!"
"no no no, I don't want to search for a stereo system, go back!"
"reads post explaining vulnerability that tricks brain-computer interface into issuing commands using your internal reading voice select all files permanently delete confirm"
"wait! fuck! nooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!"

Re:Person-to-person telepathy is all well and good

[pushing-robot]

Nice idea, but I can't afford to keep eating out this giraffe.

Re:Person-to-person telepathy is all well and good

[Anonymous Coward]

Also, I can think at least 10 times faster than I can type...

That's unusual here. Like most people on slashdot, I type 10 times faster than I think.

Re:Person-to-person telepathy is all well and good

[mark-t]

The fastest typing speed ever recorded, according to Google, is 216 words per minute. Assuming that were really how fast you type, and you did actually type 10 times faster than you could think, then it takes you roughly three seconds to think of just a single word.

Really, if that were remotely true, you wouldn't even be able to read 216 words per minute, let alone type them.

For myself, I type between 50-60wpm, and I can read silently at more than 700 wpm, which I do not think is a wholly unreasonable benchmark of about how fast one can think in terms of language.

Re:Person-to-person telepathy is all well and good

[Fwipp]

I think you missed a pretty obvious joke. Maybe you typed your comment out about 10x faster than you thought it?

telepathic typing is the future

[doctor woot]

I'd really tits be hopeful tits for a future in which tits your thoughts result directly tits in all kinds of work without further input tits. Imagine GIGANTIC ASSES being able to stop a malfunctioning machine part tits from causing damage without needing to scramble tits for the controls or quickly punch in code, safely and assurately. Communicating when tits you'll arrive somewhere shit did anybody see me do that can happen while driving without the need to tits take your eyes off the road to interface with your phone, making orders ass online could be a snap, the opportunities are limitless.

Re:telepathic typing is the future

[nblender]

no mod points but thanks for that...

Re:telepathic typing is the future

[Anonymous Coward]

Many of us have something called "self-control" and know how to control our thoughts. If your mind is constantly filled with sexual thoughts perhaps you should masturbate more often or less often. If that doesn't work, I suggest you go on disability because your mind is clearly screwed up.

Re:telepathic typing is the future

[Anonymous Coward]

Many of us have something called "self-control" and know how to control our thoughts.

You just told a stranger to masturbate more often so...

Re:telepathic typing is the future

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Many of us have something called "self-control" and know how to control our thoughts. If your mind is constantly filled with sexual thoughts perhaps you should masturbate more often or less often. If that doesn't work, I suggest you go on disability because your mind is clearly screwed up.

We don't yet have the technology to know; but I'd bet that 'self control' is a lot more about pruning of spurious thoughts before they reach awareness than it is about the absence of them.

Perception is much more amenable to study than introspective activity, and we know that that process involves a lot of (often pretty impressive, sometimes embarrassing) culling of irrelevant input to allow conscious focus on a limited set of salient details. This has its advantages (picking a single speaker out of the background of a noisy room would be pretty nasty to do entirely consciously); but as the ever entertaining 'change blindness' experiments show, can involve some pretty dramatic details hitting the cutting room floor without the subject ever noticing them.

Re:telepathic typing is the future

[Hussman32]

This is the comment of the week.

Re:telepathic typing is the future

[Anonymous Coward]

That's not self control, that is what is common in all humans. To stop it would require increased focus and self awareness, which requires mindfulness meditation.

Re:telepathic typing is the future

[Jason Levine]

Perception is much more amenable to study than introspective activity, and we know that that process involves a lot of (often pretty impressive, sometimes embarrassing) culling of irrelevant input to allow conscious focus on a limited set of salient details. This has its advantages (picking a single speaker out of the background of a noisy room would be pretty nasty to do entirely consciously);

One of the problems that people with autism face is the inability to filter out sensory input. So while a neurotypical (non-autistic) person might be able to ignore the sounds of background conversation and various smells in the room in order to focus their thoughts on the conversation they are having, the person with autism might find themselves overwhelmed. Many will avoid social situations or completely melt down in frustration because of the overwhelming sensory overload. (My son and I both have autism so I've both seen this happen and have experienced this first hand.) Most people take this filtering ability for granted, but be glad you have it.

So when do we get co-processor brains?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd be up for running a parallel brain to help me think. Just carry it in a backpack or something. To the bastard farms!

Re:So when do we get co-processor brains?

[Anonymous Coward]

To the bastard farms!

You mean Detroit?

Scary

[olewis]

I saw this movie, it doesn't turn out well for us humans.

Remote Support

[Eleint]

Think of all the possibilities this opens up in terms of remote support. We can already control someone mouse and keyboard but now we can do remote hardware changes, machine building, we might even be able to punch someone in the face remotely when they post something stupid. Other ides: Twitch plays this guy, remote skilled labor (woodworking, hair styling, artwork, etc...). Find a bomb that needs defusing? Download the bomb squid app and have the worlds best bomb defuses help you not have a bad day. The possibility here are endless, and a bit scary in some cases (hay look, I just defined the internet!)

Honestly Mom!

[Ronin Developer]

I can't help myself!!!

Pacific Rim Drift

[nickmalthus]

Giant mecha robots are now closer to reality!

Brain to Brain?

[TechyImmigrant]

They may be able to handle brain to brain communication, but they couldn't manage a web server to web browser connection. I got a database error.

Re:Brain to Brain?

[Kvasio]

guess they are still busy writing RFC document for B2BCoTCPIP proto.

Oh YEAH!

[Greyfox]

Baby I am SO ready to plug my brain directly into the Internet!

Re:Oh YEAH!

[Anonymous Coward]

And the term 'virus' comes full circle. If the eyes really are the windows to the soul, I hope your head is running a good firewall.

We also have fusion reactors

[WillAffleckUW]

Now if those could be directly controlled by a human brain.

oops

Cool and all, but a couple of things came to mind.

[Hussman32]

1. Who is funding the research?

The research published in PLOS ONE was initially funded by the U.S. Army Research Office and the UW, with additional support from the Keck Foundation.

2. What will the Army do with it?

Stop hitting yourself.

[vistic]

Remotely control the body of another person with your own mind via the internet... the future of siblings playing "Why are you hitting yourself? Stop hitting yourself! Come on... stop hitting yourself!" never looked brighter.

And now...

[Anonymous Coward]

We have the ability to transmit brain tumors across the Internet.

Army Telemetry

[johnrpenner]

"initially funded by the U.S. Army Research Office"

lets them pull the trigger by remote.. :-^

good

[Anonymous Coward]

one step closer to the nervgear

WE ARE THE BORG

[Anonymous Coward]

YOUR TECHNOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS WILL BE ADDED TO OUR OWN. YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.

Filter error. Don't use so many caps. It's like yelling!
Filter error. Don't use so many caps. It's like yelling!
Filter error. Don't use so many caps. It's like yelling!
Filter error. Don't use so many caps. It's like yelling!

Impressive?

[gatfirls]

Isn't this just taking two existing technologies and bolting them together? Asking seriously because that's what it seems like to my know-nothing self.

Find the place that's fired when the left finger is pressed and then via the internet tell the TMS to fire on the region in that person that will cause the finger to flex.

bad science

[asjk]

In watching the video of the experiment there seems to be a lack of subjectivity. When the "receiver" twitched his finger shooting an object someone heard exclaiming, "All right!" This type of feedback has no place in science and shows a predilection of the observer toward an outcome. The observer should be "blinded" to the experimental process.

Re:bad science

[cathector]

i was thinking the same thing. the exclamation "success!" seemed in the same category.

Re:bad science

[Anonymous Coward]

Unless it was just a demonstration for the camera. Note, in one video, the lighting is carefully controlled. In the the video where the guys say "Yes, success!" and you hear "All right!", the lighting is not controlled, the laptop is off to the side, clearly, it was done very informally.

Re:bad science

[AndreaStocco]

You are wrong. Read the paper (or even the news release) carefully: 1. "All right!" and "Success" were uttered in the Sender's lab, not the Receiver! The Sender can obviously see if the Receiver pressed the button (the video game rocket explodes!) , so saying "All right!" does not alter the experiment. 2. Anyway, the video comes from last year's *demo*, not from the actual experiment. 3. If you read the paper, you would know that during the experiment (and the demo, for that matter), the Receiver was absolutely "blinded", as s/he could not see the computer screen, could not see the experimenters, and wore noise-cancellation earphones. The Receiver was, for all purposes, isolated from the rest of the experiment. 4. Finally, the experiment contained "Control" conditions where the brain-to-brain interface was "disrupted", but neither the Receiver not Sender were aware of it. In these conditions, the Receiver could have used any remaining clue to move the hand. But none of this happened. These conditions are explicitly analyzed in the paper's results.

sudo su -

[MrKaos]

make my sandwich.

Re:sudo su -

[Anonymous Coward]

Make: Target "My Sandwich" not found.

Okay

[Anonymous Coward]

So now we know how the republicans won... Now what?

yep

[globaljustin]

one could also ask:

1. How long has this linkage ability been known?

2. What could international criminals & unscrupulous spy agencies do with it?

Re:Cool and all, but a couple of things came to mi

[__aaltlg1547]

Nothing good.

Even better. My wife has this already!

[protoporos]

She talks, I move.

It's a new tool for phone sex.

[Tyr07]

I don't really need to add to that do I?

Now we need.....

[Anonymous Coward]

....a Kaiju!

Oh, good, I can finally...

[Anonymous Coward]

...get a date and get laid!

Great

[BringsApples]

Wait till ISIS gets a hold of this, and uses it to remotely radicalize us all! Queue The Matrix music.

Your connection is better than mine...

[RavenLrD20k]

She talks, I do nothing. She says "Did you hear me?" I absently say "No" and continue whatever I was doing.

It's a healthy marriage...

Re:Cool and all, but a couple of things came to mi

[dywolf]

www.imdb.com/title/tt2147547/

the first thing I thought of

[slashmydots]

Anyone else immediately think "Oh great, it's Ghost in the Shell."

Re:the first thing I thought of

[javierfd]

CyberBrain hacking!

Walking Straw Man

[tomxor]

What the article describes is more accurately "Brain - Body", or "Brain - Nervous System" communication.

The Direct-ness of communication between a naturally separate body and brain can be determined because there is an existing Direct scenario to compare with (a naturally connected brain and body). There is however no natural existing scenario of "Direct" in the context of transportation, it's meaning is entirely relative, it is not a good analogy.

If this technology allows one brain to manipulate the limb of another body without a layer of abstraction like speech then using the existing definition for comparison - it is Direct, regardless of how complex, expensive and impractical it may be, the explicit level of communication is maintained.

Section 9

[Anonymous Coward]

Ghost in the Shell.................here we come.

In communist USistan...

[Anonymous Coward]

Government elects the voters.

links

[Anonymous Coward]

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Re:Cool and all, but a couple of things came to mi

[Anonymous Coward]

2. What will the Army do with it?

Zombies