Pentagon Research Could Make 'Brain Modem' A Reality (thedailybeast.com)

schwit1 writes: The Pentagon is attempting what was, until recently, an impossible technological feat -- developing a high-bandwidth neural interface that would allow people to beam data from their minds to external devices and back. That's right -- a brain modem. One that could allow a soldier to, for example, control a drone with his mind. On Feb. 8, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) -- the US military's fringe-science wing -- announced the first successful tests, on animal subjects, of a tiny sensor that travels through blood vessels, lodges in the brain and records neural activity. The so-called "stentrode," a combination stent and electrode, is the size of a paperclip and flexible. The tiny, injectable machine -- the invention of neurologist Tom Oxley and his team at the University of Melbourne in Australia -- could help researchers solve one of the most vexing problems with the brain modem: how to insert a transmitter into the brain without also drilling a hole in the user's head, a risky procedure under any circumstances.

Comments

Oh sure

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

I'm positive that an interface directly into your brain could never be abused, hacked, or compromised.

Re:Oh sure

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Your point?

If you don't see my point, explaining it probably won't make it any clearer.

Yes, you can hack my phone. But I can turn my phone off or get a new one.

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while the rest of us journey to new cognitive frontiers, self-actualizing in an existence that you can barely imagine.

Yes, I'm sure that will be happening any moment now. Will you be able to pay for all that self-actualization in bitcoin?

Re:Oh sure

[ColdWetDog]

"With DARPA funding beginning four years ago, Oxley and his team tested the stentrode on sheep ... "

Interesting choice of testing subject.

Just say'in....

Re:Oh sure

[ortholattice]

Indeed, the abuse possibilities of a direct brain interface are illustrated in the episode of Black Mirror called White Christmas, which I think is a marvelous piece of science fiction. It can be found on Youtube between periodic DCMA takedowns by BBC, and maybe on Netflix.

Re:Oh sure

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

admittedly, I expressed it in a roundabout and snarky way rather than directly

Yeah, you did.

is that fear of tech is harmful, and that resistance to tech is futile.

I'm neither afraid of tech, nor resisting it. I've embraced technology all my life, and helped advance it considerably by enabling researchers to use some of the most advanced tools on the planet.

I've helped heart research, helped integrated circuit fabs make better, smaller, faster chips, helped material science researchers develop new processes, contributed to biosciences around the globe, helped other scientists in nuclear research, and plenty of other stuff. For example, if you have a heart stent (or ever need one), you can thank me, yes, me to some small degree. I've helped cancer researchers and pharmaceutical companies to develop better drugs and treatments.

I helped create safer airbags back in the 80s and 90s. I helped Intel and AMD and Motorola and Fairchild make better, cheaper ICs. I helped LLL and Westinghouse Hanford and GE Vallecitos work with all sorts of radiological processes. I helped Lockheed and Boeing and Northrop Grumman make better aircraft and better radar emitters. I've helped universities all over the US do research into pollution and environmental effects. And plenty more beside those things as well.

I'm no longer in the role of directly supporting research scientists, but trust me, I did my part and then some for 20+ years.

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Human brains will go online.

And I'm all for it. I'd love to have a brain interface that could adjust my vision, hearing, body temp, etc etc etc. I'd love to have the kind of neural implants that are described in books like The Diamond Age. I'd love to have uploadable memory. I'd love to have all that stuff.

At the same time, I'm not unaware of the dangers that it would bring, both personally and in a larger sense some of which are also described in books like The Diamond Age. Just because I comment on it or point out potential downsides doesn't mean I'm against it. On the contrary, it means I'm thinking ahead.

And unless you'd be happy with the same level of "security" and rampant hacking that has been the hallmark of the connected age (IoT devices, anyone?) that might be applied to your brain, you'd be a fool not to think about it to.

The size matters

[eyenot]

So, is it "tiny" or is it "the size of a paperclip"? Totally weird contradiction in the write-up.

Re:transmitter in the brain

[Anonymous Coward]

The "stentrode" is essentially a conductive stent which is installed with a catheter.

Once they add ultrasonic mesh networking to this device: they'll be able to wire up the entire brain with dozens of localized channels on a long term basis. This same technology is already being used to enable sensor arrays to be installed in muscle tissue for use in controlling prosthetic limbs:

http://neural.iit.edu/research/imes/
http://www.smpp.northwestern.edu/downloads/Troyk%20P%20IMES%20An%20Implantable%20Myoelectric%20Sensor.pdf

The significance of this is obvious: given a 4G LTE modem and a human child, we can log every byte of neural activity as a child learns to talk, walk, read, and recognize objects all to cloud storage through Amazon AWS. By strapping this same child with a "3rd eye" camera, pupil tracking software, and a microphone: we can store every moment of the child's life from cradle to grave in a giant Hadoop database and create the perfect supervised learning database for deep learning/neuroscience research.

Naturally this project should be called: TARZAN

It takes the "open loop" currently available of hashtags and social media context and gives a direct measurement of image and audio data as the child learns. It would be an ethical question as to what extent their sense of touch, taste, and smell should be suppressed to improve the signal to noise ratio.

This has the potential to create the "leap forward" advance in neuromorphic engineering. Right as the chip fab technology is becoming available to model the correct number of synapses and neurons: we'll have a database capable of supervised training this artificial brain. With multiple children: and a controlled environment(virtual reality goggles and headphones) we'll be able to correlate between the different subjects common trends in synaptic formation and use this information to guide the artificial network's backpropogation. In 30 years: it would be affordable for every child to record their life experiences with similar or better hardware, and to train their own artificial brain in parallel to their own neural development. I'm talking immortality in a very "Cylon" sense of the word.

Eventually: the imaging technology/DSP required to record every firing of every synapse in 3D will be possible, and it will be equally possible to model these synapses digitally. These "soulless" mirror images of ourselves will wake up and think they are the real "you" who just woke up from a dream.

Re:hahaha

[jeffb (2.718)]

Sorry, but anybody seeing Dr. Duncan's name on the page will automatically trigger some of the oldest and most robust pattern matches in The System, which will respond promptly in just the way you'd expect, beaming "don't take this seriously" resonance patterns into the reader's mind.

That's definitely why everyone just chuckles and shakes their head at your post.

"a risky procedure under any circumstances"?

[jeffb (2.718)]

Well, thank heavens placing a stent inside the brain doesn't carry any risks of its own, right?

Re:hahaha

[strstr]

why's that? like all his information checks out. it's clean. he's vetted by insiders still inside government. he's vetted by former CIA op Mark Phillips. Dr. Robert Duncan is the real deal. I personally verified his Harvard attendance including details about his thesis, computer generated holography. I have his Harvard email address. He definitely did the things he claims.

Here's the mind reading, mind altering patent, to give you a basic idea of it's principals.

The patent basically describes using phased arrays to read and alter the brain.

" ( 1 of 1 )

United States Patent 3,951,134
Malech April 20, 1976

Apparatus and method for remotely monitoring and altering brain waves

Abstract

Apparatus for and method of sensing brain waves at a position remote from a subject whereby electromagnetic signals of different frequencies are simultaneously transmitted to the brain of the subject in which the signals interfere with one another to yield a waveform which is modulated by the subject's brain waves. The interference waveform which is representative of the brain wave activity is re-transmitted by the brain to a receiver where it is demodulated and amplified. The demodulated waveform is then displayed for visual viewing and routed to a computer for further processing and analysis. The demodulated waveform also can be used to produce a compensating signal which is transmitted back to the brain to effect a desired change in electrical activity therein.

Inventors:
Malech; Robert G. (Plainview, NY)

Assignee:
Dorne & Margolin Inc. (Bohemia, NY)

Family ID:
23964813

Appl. No.:
05/494,518

Filed:
August 5, 1974

Current U.S. Class: 600/544; 600/407
Current CPC Class: A61B 5/0006 (20130101); A61B 5/0507 (20130101); A61B 5/0476 (20130101)
Current International Class: A61B 5/00 (20060101); A61B 5/0476 (20060101); A61B 005/04 ()
Field of Search: ;128/1C,1R,2.1B,2.1R,419R,422R,420,404,2R,2S,2.5R,2.5V,2.5F,2.6R ;340/248A,258A,258B,258D,229

References Cited [Referenced By]

U.S. Patent Documents

2860627 November 1958 Harden et al.
3096768 July 1963 Griffith, Jr.
3233450 February 1966 Fry
3483860 December 1969 Namerow
3495596 February 1970 Condict
3555529 January 1971 Brown et al.
3773049 November 1973 Rabichev et al.
3796208 March 1974 Bloice

Primary Examiner: Kamm; William E.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Darby & Darby

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. Brain wave monitoring apparatus comprising

means for producing a base frequency signal,

means for producing a first signal having a frequency related to that of the base frequency and at a predetermined phase related thereto,

means for transmitting both said base frequency and said first signals to the brain of the subject being monitored,

means for receiving a second signal transmitted by the brain of the subject being monitored in response to both said base frequency and said first signals,

mixing means for producing from said base frequency signal and said received second signal a response signal having a frequency related to that of the base frequency, and

means for interpreting said response signal.

2. Apparatus as in claim 1 where said receiving means comprises

means for isolating the transmitted signals from the received second signals.

3. Apparatus as in claim 2 further comprising a band pass filter with an input connected to said isolating means and an output connected to said mixing means.

4. Apparatus as in claim 1 further comprising means for amplifying said response signal.

5. Apparatus as in claim 4 further comprising means for demodulating said amplified response signal.

6. Apparatus as in claim 5 further comprising interpreting means connected to the output of said demodulator means.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising

means for producing an elect