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Mark Zuckerberg-Funded Researchers Test Implantable Brain Devices (scmp.com)

Posted by msmash on from the closer-look dept.

Mark Zuckerberg and his pediatrician wife Priscilla Chan have sold close to 30 million shares of Facebook to fund an ambitious biomedical research project, called the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), with a goal of curing all disease within a generation. A less publicized component of that US$5 billion program includes work on brain-machine interfaces, devices that essentially translate thoughts into commands. From a report: One recent project is a wireless brain implant that can record, stimulate and disrupt the movement of a monkey in real time. In a paper published in the highly cited scientific journal Nature on Monday, researchers detail a wireless brain device implanted in a primate that records, stimulates, and modifies its brain activity in real time, sensing a normal movement and stopping it immediately. Those researchers are part of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, a non-profit medical research group within the CZI. Scientists refer to the interference as "therapy" because it is designed to be used to treat diseases like epilepsy or Parkinson's by stopping a seizure or other disruptive motion just as it starts.

"Our device is able to monitor the primate's brain while it's providing the therapy so you know exactly what's happening," Rikky Muller, a co-author of the new study, told Business Insider. A professor of computer science and engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, Muller is also a Biohub investigator. The applications of brain-machine interfaces are far-reaching: while some researchers focus on using them to help assist people with spinal cord injuries or other illnesses that affect movement, others aim to see them transform how everyone interacts with laptops and smartphones. Both a division at Facebook formerly called Building 8 as well as an Elon Musk-founded company called Neuralink have said they are working on the latter.

31 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. Donâ(TM)t use Apple Products by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I donâ(TM)t use them and neither should you.

    1. Re:Donâ(TM)t use Apple Products by RespekMyAthorati · · Score: 1

      WTF?
      What does Zuckerberg and Apple have to do with each other?

  2. A old question by jellomizer · · Score: 2

    How much of your brain can be replaced by parts until you are just a simulation of yourself

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re:A old question by KiloByte · · Score: 4, Interesting

      And that simulation would differ... how?

      It's like running a system on bare metal vs an emulator. Only the hardware differs, the software might be even unaware of anything being "amiss".

      It gets even funnier if the emulator itself is emulated. Like... are you so sure our universe is running on bare "metal"?

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    2. Re:A old question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And that simulation would differ... how?

      It's like running a system on bare metal vs an emulator. Only the hardware differs, the software might be even unaware of anything being "amiss".

      If our brains differentiated between hard- and software, we wouldn't need to sleep. After a few days without sleep, you start halluscinating. Some time later, you die. The hardwire is rewired differently every time we wake up, and the relation between the prevalent conscious self interpretation and the brain's state in its various differently volatile combined storage and processing centers is different every time.

      It's a wonder most of us don't need to be institutionalized permanently, at least if you don't consider society institutionalization by itself.

    3. Re:A old question by olsmeister · · Score: 1

      I think the point he was going for was, if each replacement is a slightly imperfect replica of the original, neither you nor anyone else will probably be able to tell any difference for the first few replacements. But at which point do you stop being 'you' and start being something else? If you could fabricate replacement parts perfect down to the quantum level, of course this isn't a really valid question. But in the real world, it would be. Anyone who uses emulated software knows that it doesn't always behave identically to the original in all situations because it isn't the original.

    4. Re: A old question by aliquis · · Score: 1

      Will UAE on MacOS in ShapeShifter be the fastest Amiga?

    5. Re:A old question by KiloByte · · Score: 3, Insightful

      if each replacement is a slightly imperfect replica of the original, neither you nor anyone else will probably be able to tell any difference for the first few replacements. But at which point do you stop being 'you' and start being something else?

      So it'd be just like human body, then?

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    6. Re:A old question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      But at which point do you stop being 'you' and start being something else?

      Immediately and it has nothing to do with the replacements, and 'something' is the wrong word. Someone else is more accurate.
      Every experience we have makes us a different person that we was before.

      If you create a complete replica of yourself, atom for atom, then this identical clone would be a different person since its experiences diverges from the original immediately.
      There is nothing that makes this clone less of a person or worth less in any way.

      When thinking about issues like this it is very important to differentiate between what a human is and what a person is.
      Most of the time it is the person that matters, not the human.
      If you have a friend at that friends mind was put in a computer and the body became a mindless drone then that body would still be human but completely worthless.
      The computer with the friends mind would be what would have value.

      There is a pretty good computer game/walking simulator called SOMA that helps you explore/organize your thoughts regarding the ethics of transhumanism.
      It is marketed as a 'horror game' but that label doesn't really make it justice.

    7. Re:A old question by mrclevesque · · Score: 1

      I was with you till this:

      "If you have a friend and that friends mind was put in a computer"

      The mind isn't defined as a something that we can consider as the kind of thing we can be put in a computer.

    8. Re:A old question by q4Fry · · Score: 1

      Ask the Tin Woodsman.

  3. I believe you swapped two words by ruddk · · Score: 1

    What they want is to swap commands into thoughts.
    Obey.

    --
    L'Idiot
  4. If I were Zuckerberg by hey! · · Score: 1

    I'd say, why the hell not? Apparently nothing I do skeeves people out, so why not get direct access to their brains?

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  5. I like how the most abuseable devices by Dirk+Becher · · Score: 1

    are always built with the most benevolent intentions.

  6. Re: trump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Damn right! Itâ(TM)s time to let China and Russia take the lead while we focus on denying education and healthcare to every US citizen that isnâ(TM)t a millionaire

  7. Mark Zuckerberg-Funded Researchers by CosineHamster · · Score: 1

    | a wireless brain implant that can record, stimulate and disrupt the movement of a monkey in real time. | Next up: Villains controlling monkeys remotely wherever they are. 100 000 Frank Baum fans "liked" this idea.

  8. So not only humans by aliquis · · Score: 2

    He supports animal abuse.

  9. Re: trump by aliquis · · Score: 1

    LOL at Russia taking the lead.

    How much lead have you taken?

  10. No thanks! by macbass · · Score: 1

    Laudable, if stupid, goal. And just another way for the duo to distract from all the evil Facebook does and will continue to do. And if you think they won't monetize this somehow, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

  11. They already have ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    ... Facebook.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  12. Huh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Where are the animal rights activists? I doubt something like this would ever be accepted willingly by anyone, if it even worked, which I doubt. One thing is for certain though: tech CEOs are officially Josef Mengele, they are not well, and there needs to be some serious monopoly busting in this country.

  13. Implant becoming mandatory by when? by ffkom · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I guess it is only a matter of time by when having yourself equipped with a remote controlled brain-implant becomes a mandatory requirement for use of Facebook... use of the Internet... having a social score above zero... being allowed to do any business... being allowed to lived. And extrapolating from the current development of public opinion, those implants will be hailed as the only one true solution to fight child pornography and terrorism.

    1. Re:Implant becoming mandatory by when? by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      It already is mandatory. Did you think the monkeys were volunteers, or maybe they signed a waiver?

  14. Well by DaMattster · · Score: 1

    I'm sure Mark Zuckerberg was first in line so that his brain could be tested. Actually, I wish he had one that would short circuit and leave him a goddamed drooling vegetable. God I have that man.

  15. Wants Facebook to literally read your mind by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    What Zuckerberg really wants is Facebook to have unprecedented access to your deepest most private thoughts and emotions. Just imagine how much more advertisers, nosy corporations, and even nosier governments will pay for THAT. Fuck you, Zuckerberg. Stay the fuck out of people's heads.

  16. US $5 billion? by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

    Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), with a goal of curing all disease within a generation. A less publicized component of that US$5 billion program includes work on brain-machine interfaces, ...

    Hey! Wait, wait, wait. What are they thinking? We could have part of a wall for that kind of money...

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  17. Wait, what? by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    Facebook developing a brain implant?

    Is it April 1st already??

    PLEASE tell me this is a joke.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  18. We are the ZuckerBorg by gestalt_n_pepper · · Score: 1

    You will assimilate yourselves, and pay us for the privilege.

    --
    Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
  19. Re: First candidate for this - himself by BlueStrat · · Score: 1

    Oh this is literally a comedians dream. Where to begin? Should we starrt with the requisite IÃ(TM)m Mark Zuckerberg and your not joke?

    I think I'll just go with a tried-and-true classic.

    https://youtu.be/s2NNZdigSXg

    Strat

    --
    Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
  20. people will flok to it by sad_ · · Score: 1

    if they manage to make this work, i imagine a lot of people would buy into it.
    just see tfa posted after this one, people won't even leave facebook for $1000.

    --
    On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
  21. Re: First candidate for this - himself by mrclevesque · · Score: 1

    "And we are back to the dark ages..."

    Not according to this:

    https://www.sciencedaily.com/r...

    "These devices can be extremely effective at preventing debilitating tremors or seizures in patients with a variety of neurological conditions. But the electrical signatures that precede a seizure or tremor can be extremely subtle, and the frequency and strength of electrical stimulation required to prevent them is equally touchy. It can take years of small adjustments by doctors before the devices provide optimal treatment.

    WAND, which stands for wireless artifact-free neuromodulation device, is both wireless and autonomous, meaning that once it learns to recognize the signs of tremor or seizure, it can adjust the stimulation parameters on its own to prevent the unwanted movements. And because it is closed-loop -- meaning it can stimulate and record simultaneously -- it can adjust these parameters in real-time."