Imagine you can fly with your car using only thought. You can’t see any buttons in cockpit. Only you can see some screens that you friends told you that there are unnecessary.
It’s not science fiction. This interface can be build now. We can also retrieve images and sound from our deepest dreams and even when we are awaken.
In future we can decode our brain and used it to create future internet called Brainnet an control our Surrogates on another planets staying in our homes on Earth.
Please read article from link bellow and provide answers for the few questions.
files.pwojcik.pl/decodingbrain.pdf
1. Do you think our brains are similar and can be decode using same algorithm?
2. What appliance would you control using only thought and what size of equipment would you accept for the device attached to your body?
3. Is there are any safety or ethic issues concerns you about developing such technology?
Hey, thanks for the post and article suggestion. There is a sci-fi movie about what you talk in the 3rd paragraph, I guess you have seen it. ;)
ReplyDelete1. Do you think our brains are similar and can be decoded using same algorithm?
I am not a neuroscientist but I think that brains of all the people function in a similar way. The things that are different are the number of connections of neurons that form memories. Probably you could make a universal algorithm that copies all of that data (neural connections) and then decodes the meaning. I don't say its an easy task, but I believe it is possible.
2. What appliance would you control using only thought and what size of equipment would you accept for the device attached to your body?
Any interactive appliance would be great to control, why should we limit ourselves. Of course the interface should be engineered in such a way that it allows simple control of even complex appliances with many moving parts. But I can imagine software that supports control (just like in video games, eg. aim or steering assist). The size should be as small as possible, basically feeling natural like cloths we wear everyday.
3. Are there any safety or ethic issues of developing such technology that you are concerned about?
I think the main issue here is the possibility of illegal access to ones thoughts. I remember a similar topic (even two) from last semester, where we discussed interactive interfaces in virtual reality.
Michio Kaku in his recent book The Future of the Mind (pl. Przyszłość umysłu) sugest that in near future fMRI devices will be small enough to fit in the mobile phones. So wearing them won't be uncomfortable. And I truly have no idea about movie you mention at the begining of the comment. Only Matrix comes to my mind. :)
Deleteyeah this one could be too, but I meant Avatar ;)
DeleteI thought you menat 'Surrogates' with Bruce Willis, so I guess it's a popular concept :)
Delete1. Do you think our brains are similar and can be decode using same algorithm?
ReplyDeleteApparently not, because according to the article "not all brains behave alike". The EEG software must use machine learning to process signals and interpret different brain waves resulting from individual neural patterns of each person. But you could say it is the same heuristic and the article also mentions universal brain decoders, which may be possible.
2. What appliance would you control using only thought and what size of equipment would you accept for the device attached to your body?
Perhaps it would be useful to be able to control a browser just with thoughts. For example: navigating a webpage, clicking links, entering information in a text box.
I'm not sure what an acceptable size of such a device would be, but it should be wireless.
The articles gives an example of software that is capable of displaying an image of a face that someone is looking at. It's hard to tell what the usefulness of this is, but it is quite impressive.
3. Is there are any safety or ethic issues concerns you about developing such technology?
The article mentions unauthorized thought reading, which is a concern. Another concern is that once reading memory is possible, then maybe writing to memory is just one step away?
Hopefully we won't have to wear special brain-wave blocking helmets in the future!
There was experiment with mouse with implanted electrodes in the hippocampus. Mice have a task to figure out how to exit a labyrinth and when she did it all brain signals from hippocampus ware recorded. Next using some specific chemicals all recent memory where erased. Mouse didn't remember how to exit labyrinth but when you stimuli hippocampus with recorded signal mouse was able to exit labyrinth lots faster. So perhaps it saddens you but some research in that field are in progress.
DeleteThat's a great progress, I didn't think that was possible. I wonder if erasing the hippocampus deteriorated general path finding abilities of the mouse or just made it forget that one labyrinth? Either way, restoring the erased memories is the big achievement here.
DeleteHi, it’s a very interesting topic!
ReplyDelete1. Do you think our brains are similar and can be decoded using the same algorithm?
The article states that ’[…]Not all brains behave alike, so the software must process reams of neural data before it can identify patterns in brain activity, a process known as machine learning. Once the system is up to speed on a particular person’s neural network[…]’. So based on this article, I think that brains are quite similar (soft and squishy), but not the same. We can use the same, shared learning algorithm, but for each individual brain we have to provide it with some training data first. This way it can learn how to interpret information from a particular brain. According to the article some researchers are already working on a Universal Decoder, which would be able to interpret data from any brain without the extra training, but it’s still years away.
2. What appliance would you control using only thought and what size of equipment would you accept for the device attached to your body?
I think that humanity would benefit greatly from brain-controlled phones, dimmer switches, keyboards and tv remotes. Those devices would improve our quality of life by eliminating the most tedious tasks that we’re all forced to perform almost every day.
I must admit I didn’t like the idea of a ’brainflight’ - steering a plane or maybe driving a car with my brain. If someone asked me not to think about driving off the road, I don’t think I would be able to think about anything else. With manual controls I can separate my thoughts from my actions. On the other hand, such interface would enable me to text and play games on my iPhone while driving, so I guess there are both pros and cons.
Regarding the equipment, a top-hat with no more than two antennas would be an acceptable equipment for me, although I would prefer a regular cap. I’m assuming we’re talking about devices attached to my head, as attaching an EEG to my elbow would be pointless.
3. Are there any safety or ethical issues?
Our smartphones, computers, and neighbours are already gathering a lot of information about us, usually a bit more than we’d be willing to share. Fortunately we’re among the lucky few who are protected by the cookie law. So there’s a lot of of both ethical and safety concerns. It doesn’t change the fact that such technology is necessary and would be very helpful, but it should be handled with great care.
Thank you for your comment. There are already on market simple, compact and wireless devices as for example NeuroSky or Emotiv.
ReplyDeleteOne of them I plan to buy in Summer when the new version appears. :)
Thanks, have you considered OpenBCI? I don't know if it's any good and how it compares to Emotiv.
ReplyDeleteActually I prefer out-of-box solution. I would rather focus on software development than hardware configuration but perhaps in future.
Delete1. Do you think our brains are similar and can be decode using same algorithm?
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the general functionalities of healthy brain are the same. There are the same brain fields as frontal lobe, temporal lobe, etc. which are responsible for the specified functionalities. On the other hand I believe that the level of every human brain`s field development and its net as well is unique. Coming back to the question we can use the same algorithm but it depends on its complexity.
Studying those algorithms is my next step in research. Brains are build from repeatable modules but with time connections between neurons becomes quite unique. In this century we probably understand this development.
Delete2. What appliance would you control using only thought and what size of equipment would you accept for the device attached to your body?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lukasz point of view. Each kind of remote-controlled devices as TV, Radio, mobile, iPhon, cooker, microwave, wash machine could be control using only thoughts. Let`s imagine the situation that you are laying on the bad and your partner don`t fancy to pass you remote control. Wouldn`t it be fantastic to switch a TV channel by your thoughts? Of course, I am far away of controlling for example a plane, a train or a car. It is too dangerous.
Maybe you right about risk but unfortunately this vechicles would be the first devices adapted to be controlled by thought. :)
Delete3. Is there are any safety or ethic issues concerns you about developing such technology?
ReplyDeleteFor me question there is a correlation between Q3 and Q1. Let`s imagine that we are trying to use the same algorithm in two similar but not the same brains. What happens with the brain`s functionalities if something goes wrong? What will happen with our memory and memories? Are you able to CTRL+Z? We are not allowed to use this technology until we are sure that it works properly.
I will soothe your anxiety. The encephalographs are mainly passive devices. They collecting electric waves emitted by your brain. So if something goes unfortunately wrong you can remove this device from your head or simply switch it off and back to more old fashion way to control for example your car.
Delete1. Do you think our brains are similar and can be decode using same algorithm?
ReplyDeleteI think that our brains are built on the same pattern and differences lay in sizes and shapes of particular brain regions. There must be also general difference between human’s brain sizes and shapes, but I don’t think it can stop science from developing brain activity model common for all humans. Even now, there are lot of experiments being made on Macaque monkey’s visual perception, where outputs can be related to human’s brain. So it might be possible that we develop brain pattern common for all primates.
2. What appliance would you control using only thought and what size of equipment would you accept for the device attached to your body?
I would chose only simply devices that don’t require sensory feedback to my body. I don’t think I could always fully control my thoughts and also I’m not finding attractive to be concentrated on device all the time. I’m still preferring classic keyboards over touchpads or voice commands and I think same would go for thought-driven text inputs. However this feature might be very useful. Let’s imagine that you think a melody and it is being automatically transposed into notation. So such technology might help people in activities that are difficult to perform in “classic” way.
3. Is there are any safety or ethic issues concerns you about developing such technology?
Every new technology brings new vulnerabilities that can be used by malevolent people. I can also imagine some state department scanning citizen’s brains before elections or corporations that regards to sign clause in your agreement which allows them to permanently track your mental activities during office hours. Let’s say, this way for sure they would know how long you’re concentrated on your work. They might even base your yearly pay rise on such condition.
Yes it's really disturbing than someday corporations can force you to use such device to measure quality of your work. About retrieving music from our thoughts there are already lots of experiments made and even there are practical appliances. I recommend this article: http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/10-pieces-of-music-created-by-brainwaves.
DeleteDo you think our brains are similar and can be decode using same algorithm?
ReplyDeleteContemporary neuroscience suggests the existence of fundamental algorithms by which all sensory transduction is translated into the specific code intrinsic to the brain. Direct stimulation of these codes within the human temporal limbic cortex or by the application of electromagnetic signals may require energy levels within the reach of both geomagnetic activity as contemporary telecommunications networks. A process coupled with the narrow band of brain temperature would affect all normal human brains with a harmonic in the frequency at around 10 Hz only vary by 0.1 Hz.
So all the normal human brains are similar.
I agree with you. Brain construction is coded in DNA which is build with repeatable modules. Everything else is called memory.
DeleteWhat appliance would you control using only thought and what size of equipment would you accept for the device attached to your body?
ReplyDeleteBecause I'm so lazy, and I watch all the time the TV . I would like control the TV using only thought. but the problem, I can't accept whatever device attached in my body, for any reason
I prefer not to attach any device to my body neither. All the appliances form cyberpunk novels would not fit to reality in my opinion. But as I see it electronic in our clothes witch gather signals from our body which we can buy now will be popular in the future.
DeleteIs there are any safety or ethic issues concerns you about developing such technology?
ReplyDeleteFrankly speaking, I don't know for this moment my opinion, if I'm for or against this technology. so sorry,I can't tell you anything :(
Thank you for comment.
DeleteI will try to answer your question as long (literally) as possible :)
ReplyDelete1. Do you think our brains are similar and can be decode using same algorithm?
> God. I have no idea. Yes maybe. It's funny though. Every single of us believes how special we are and a guy comes and says okay this is the tool that I can crack all of your intelligence. Not cool. :)
2. What appliance would you control using only thought and what size of equipment would you accept for the device attached to your body?
> I would benefit the cheap flights all around the world. This is definitely something I would like to do. Take the flight and travel. My 'robotic' version could sit and develop software all day and night while I'm cycling in the gym. Such a short handed use of a remarkable tech right ?
3. Is there are any safety or ethic issues concerns you about developing such technology?
> We are going to hack into your brain. Do you have any concern because of that? Hmm.. Let me think for a second. Maybe.. :)
What I can say more.. Interesting topic. Thanks!