Image: Bill Diodato
In Brief
- Futurists and science-fiction writers speculate about a time when brain activity will merge with computers.
- Technology now exists that uses brain signals to control a cursor or prosthetic arm. How much further development of brain-machine interfaces might progress is still an imponderable.
- It is at least possible to conceive of inputting text and other high-level information into an area of the brain that helps to form new memories. But the technical hurdles to achieving this task probably require fundamental advances in understanding the way the brain functions.
The cyberpunk science fiction that emerged in the 1980s routinely paraded “neural implants” for hooking a computing device directly to the brain: “I had hundreds of megabytes stashed in my head,” proclaimed the protagonist of “Johnny Mnemonic,” a William Gibson story that later became a wholly forgettable movie starring Keanu Reeves.
The genius of the then emergent genre (back in the days when a megabyte could still wow) was its juxtaposition of low-life retro culture with technology that seemed only barely beyond the capabilities of the deftest biomedical engineer. Although the implants could not have been replicated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or the California Institute of Technology, the best cyberpunk authors gave the impression that these inventions might yet materialize one day, perhaps even in the reader’s own lifetime.
This article was originally published with the title Jacking into the Brain.
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20 Comments
Add CommentThis article seems so laden with poorly founded and unfounded speculation that it hardly qualfies as science writing. I thought, after reading the article, that it must have been written by a futurist with an extensive library of pop-cultural references to neuroscience, who may or may not actually know much about the brain. But I see that Gary Stix is a senior editor of the magazine. It still seems like a poorly researched article to me. Maybe if a scientist in the field had written an article on what the future holds for machine/brain interaction, I would feel better about the speculations.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis article does seem to easily dismiss rapid progress in the field of neuroscience, apparently ignoring the rapidly increasing pace of discovery across all fields of science. In another 3 or 4 decades, computers will probably have the capacity to fully simulate how the brain works, right down to consciousness, and such variables as whether one person stores knowledge with a different code/pattern than someone else won't matter... once the underlying process is understood, it is quite possible that individual differences can be sampled and decoded, yielding individual maps for each person. 100 years ago, many would have dismissed as impossible many of the amazing things we can do today, and the pace has only accelerated since then.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis article does seem to downplay the tech's capabilities, but it is trying to convey the valid point that neurotech can only advance as far as our understanding of the organ. It's becoming obvious that no two brains store or code information in the same manner, which is expected, and to engineer a device to physicaly connect to and standardize brain-computer or brain-brain communications (data streams or text) seems to be out of our reach... for now.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAn interesting side note is the technology is not as implausible as it may sound, for the NSA began a program to specificaly monitor the development of this tech. That was before the days of homeland security, its just a guess now as to whos keeping what tabs on the tech.
In addition to that the Department Of the Army is currently funding a reaserch project to develop a cybernetic brain-radio interface (whether it is invasive or not I do not know) for elite soldiers such as the SEALs.
People in industry obviously are taking this tech very seriously and perhaps the latest advancements have been leaps and bounds, being kept only to the developers and the government for 'National Security' purposes, as powerfull as this tech may prove to be.
**Ofcoarse it is merely a poorly supported hypothesis. Not that technology is being kept secret, but rather the 'leaps and bounds' of both our understanding of brain functioning and the technological growth rate.**
I'm a pessimist - I doubt it'll ever have more compatibility then reading brainwaves.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh, and I for got to say that I think there would be an incredible amount of privacy issues if the technology ever does develop, and I'm not really sure I want technology to exist to read my mind.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisbyronsmith2 - Did you actually read the article? Sure the first page was fluffy, but it did debunk a lot of the Cyberpunk pop culture nonsense with actual reasons and the later parts of the article referenced real research being done in this arena.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI would have liked a lot more detailed info but as a high level overview it wasn't bad. Not every article has to be written for experts in that specific field. Science has branched and grown a lot since the 1950s. The target audience is likely to have an interest in superficial knowledge of a widely diverse array of topics. It wasn't that long ago that most sci-fi writers were also scientists and most real advancement came from "unfounded speculation" that lead to real research eliminating the unworkable and identifying the valid.
tharriss - You obviously know nothing about computers. Everything you said about computers is over 4 decades old and the expected achievement timeline is just as long as it was back then. Computers are binary although the Japanese did try ternary (trinary, base 3) for a while. The brain ranges from one or two connections to literally tens of thousands of connections. Each connection may conduct various levels of intensity in an analog system that allows far more flexibility than the merely binary.
Darkmonk - I agree completely with the privacy issues, which is why I dislike RFID outside of the inventory control usage so much.
Touche', Bucketofsquid. the use of RFID technology has gotten out of control. Privacy is an issue stemming from a deeper problem than tech that can read our minds. If the american youth lose their moral base, crime will go up and most likely the united states will become a 'police state' in which the people are observed and manipulated with espionage tactics by our governing bodies.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMore on subject though, the brain certianly is capable of evolving in the orders of magnitude to utilize brain-computer interfaces, and the whole problem may be solved that much quicker if we could establish a geneological line of interfaces based on, well geneology (assuming the minds of offspring are nearly identical to that of thier parents) and made a common communication standard between the bloodlines. All the while subverting our attempts at privacy...afterall its the variations in individuals brain function that keeps our thoughts secret from said machines.
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhoa ! I'm not ready. This is some heavy stuff.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisoh my goodness.. like things in movies.. in the future some people'll be able to move things around with just their mind...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisall wireless.
guys relax this is just transhumanist propaganda. They want a ghost in a shell world .... people will stop them
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe write-up seems more a star wars movie preview!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell, if technologies advance to this level (hopefully it will, to some extent) a world of chaos will be there. I'm not a pessimist but from what I see of my fellow human beings, the chances of negativity are more than its positive impact.
The writer obviously doesn't pay as much attention to this subject as I do.
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Yes you're right guys it's not really nice article..
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTodd DiRoberto
http://www.newsguide.us/art-entertainment/movies/Todd-DiRoberto-of-American-Satellite-Hosts-Independence-Day-Charity-Event-for-Operation-Bigs/
Yes I agree with that guys,but their trying to test what's the capabilities of the human being..
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTodd DiRoberto
http://www.newsguide.us/art-entertainment/movies/Todd-DiRoberto-of-American-Satellite-Hosts-Independence-Day-Charity-Event-for-Operation-Bigs/
Yes I agree with that guys,but their trying to test what's the capabilities of the human being..
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTodd DiRoberto
http://www.newsguide.us/art-entertainment/movies/Todd-DiRoberto-of-American-Satellite-Hosts-Independence-Day-Charity-Event-for-Operation-Bigs/
My company is actually working with Arizona State University right now on a new improved brain interface. It is tremendously exciting work. You can read about our work with at www.mentionllc.com if you are interested.
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