Interview with Kevin Warwick

nicole pointed out a recent interview with Kevin Warwick, the professor of cybernetics that had a microchip implanted into his arm about a year ago. Cogent comments about cybernetics as well as the whole experience - including his plans for a bigger experiment within the next couple years.

Comments

Implants

[Hermetic]

Why would someone not want an implant? Other than the possibility of my eyes being hacked or something like that, I see no real problems.

I want my cellphone hardwired to my brain.
I want to have Unreal sent directly to my optic nerves.
I want maps, phone directories, news, even /. in my head anytime I need it.
I want a health monitoring system that can e-mail my doctor when I am sick.
I want(need) a blood alcohol checker.


I know some of you are thinking "Dear God, who am I going to let program something that goes INSIDE ME?"
I ask you this: You run buggy software. You have workarounds for your hardware. You complain night and day about the companies that don't do what you want. Would you have it any other way?

No, of course not. You love the technology or would wouldn't be a geek.
Implants are the future.
I wish I had been born later, so that I would be able to see more...

General Thoughts

[Otto]

I dig the ideas this guy has. Of course, right now all he's done is to stick an unpowered transmitter in his arm, so that he can identify himself easily to his computer, but that's still cool. Here's some of the intresting bits...

Warwick is effusive about the possibilities and has even suggested that gun owners could get implanted to keep them from entering schools or other areas where heavily armed people may be unwelcome.

That bit looks rather stupid and is probably taken out of context...

We were never experimenting about the long term medical durability of the implant.
All of our experimentation, which was very successful, was carried out within the 9 days.
The implant was not actually designed to fit into the human body. It was in a glass capsule which could have broken or even exploded. It was, therefore, a trifle dangerous!

And that's why it's no big deal.. What the article says is something about "rejection" by the body... But how the hell is that going to happen in nine days? He even admits that it wasn't long term.. Still cool.

We want to investigate the interaction between signals to and from the human brain and computer. The next experiment will effectively provide an electronic short-circuit between the two. I really cannot see the need for keyboards or a computer mouse when such an implant is in position.

Seriously? In two YEARS? Hmmm.. I'd want more details before I'd believe THAT... Of course, if he's just hooking it in so he can read some brain signals, that's fine. Probably would be unable to decode them or anything, but then again, who needs to? Just learn to control the signal using your brain. Feedback is a wonderful thing.

I do not believe a student of Computer Science typically (there are obviously exceptions) gets a good idea of the true power of computers and how they can interact with the world about them.

As a computer science graduate, I find myself offended, but I see his point. Most CS people don't have a clue, being fit, IMHO, only for data entry. :-)

But the uber-geeks I think are the true pioneers. The guys that hang in the Sun labs all day, who rewire the phone systems to auto-dial pizza joints.. These are the people that really understand the computers interaction with the world around them. Of course, we've always got good ol' Al Gore, the man who "invented the internet." :-)

Do you have any advice for someone like myself who is interested in Biotechnology and Cybernetics?
...
(iii) Buy my book "In the Mind of the Machine".


This guy's practical. I like it. :-)


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Maybe just a touch of hype?

[jflynn]

I'm not in a screaming hurry to get pieces of plastic and metal embedded in my body. Couldn't we work on something a bit less intrusive like induction maybe?

As to interfacing directly to the brain, perhaps, but very possibly won't be much use to any of us. Restoring visual input to the brain in later life does little good, the brain never learns to sort it out and process it efficiently. Works fine if you restore it at an early age when the brain is still growing. Language acquisition is also something that only works well at a very young age. Learning to process high bandwidth input might also need to be done when very young. I'm sure people will be eager to volunteer their very young children for this. Not.

I don't think our technology is up to designing implants that last a lifetime yet either. Upgrades and repairs are unusually painful here. Bit disorienting when reality bluescreens on you while driving...

Maybe I'm just too old or something.

The Current State of Cybernetics

[Crutcher]

Well, since I am planning to enter this field, I hav some thoughts on the matter. For starters, things we have:

A) Video: We have direct cortex implants that supply low res/approx 640x480, and we have the beginings of artificial retinas, which could have video piped into them.

B) Communication: The power requirements/broadcast range of the new ultra-wide spectrum burst tech is perfect for this kind of stuff. Small and Strong.

C) Output: We have the beginnings of direct brain implanted output, though the main researcher in that field understands lots of nuroscience and little CS, so he isn't makeing real good use of the channels he is setting up. We also have implantable "nerve sensors" for lack of a better word, that have been developed to drive prostetics, that don't go anywhere near the brain, and could be put in a healthy system, just to grab its output.

D) Audio: Actually, weve had audio for decades, as it's REALLY easy, just tag a voltage source onto the audio nerve.

We have all the pieces, it seems, but why don't we have cybernetics yet? Well, take a look at What We Don't Have:

A) Power: We need a good implantable power source, be it a long term battery, a really good thermocouple, or an expansion-generating polymer run alongside a muscle to grab a little juice when you extend.

B) Community: THe developers working on the parts in different fields are not yet treating them as "parts" and aren't really talking yet. We need more cross-field communication.

C) Miniturization: While we have all this neat tech, it is simply to big right now to think about an integrated system.

How We Will Get It:

A) The Disabled: As much as I may claim I need a Jack, my doctor doesn't believe me. But Parapalegics have a MUCH better case, and between them and the blind, we have a large population that has a genuine need for this kind of equipment.

B) Insurance Companys: That large population cost certain people a great deal of money, and anything which reduces that cost, is considered a GOOD thing, so insurance companys have and will continue finacning research into this field.

C) The Law: I don't care who you are, you can't say NO to a blind crippled baby and stay in office, so no one will outlaw this kind of tech, and it will mature.

D) Crazy Hackers: And then I will go and get some, and just like the comercialization of breast implants, I will keep going to different doctors until I find one who will say "YES".

-Crutcher

Time to ramble

[anthonyclark]

I feel a rambling session coming on...

If you are "jacked in" and have the sum of human knowledge accessible to you as memory (not manual retrievel, but simply *already* knowing it) and experience the wildest fantasies imaginable, then what precisely will we do?

Will we live for pleasure, forever flipping between more and more exotic porn sessions and ever more fantastic scifi fantasy role-plays? Who wouldn't want to lose themselves in a truly believable Elite scenario?

Or will we live for pure research? Medical, IT, Space or Physics? Like Hell we will

Could you imagine the vast numbers of couch potatoes doing anything other than spending 24 hours inline? (yes, inline, copyright me, friday afternoon just back from the pub) I can't. Will it get to the point where everyone with a modicum of intelligence is obliated under law to maintain the system for the vast, stupid majority? Simply having the sum of human knowledge available isn't enough; you need to be motivated to actually use it.

What sort of people will grow up in this kind of society? Spoilt rotten retards probably.

Who'll pay for all this? You can bet that the likes of the big entertainment companies must be salivating at the prospect of a subscription from everyone on the planet.

What happens to capitalism when noone wants to buy material goods because they can have anything online?

What's the point of living like someone in those pods depicted in the Matrix?

Will anyone spend any time in real life? How many /. readers spend more time socialising offline than online? Show someone the wonders and splendour of jacked-in cyberspace and tell them they can have it 24/7 if they sign over 40% of their brain to MS for use as distributed processing and they would jump at the chance. Everything I want for free? Fantastic, I don't think. (in fact most people won't think)

It'll be a morlock/eloi hell. Don't try to tell me otherwise.