Dr. Parmentola mentioned this video a colleague of his sent to him the other day, so I tracked it down and embeded it here for DT readers.
I just got finished reading an excellent SciFi book titled “Old Man’s War” (I had already read the “Ghost Brigades”) and it talks about a brain-embedded computer called a “brain pal.” Well, it looks like we’re closer to that than many had once thought.
– Christian
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Note that the brain pal was often named “asshole.” :-)
LOL
imagine if we could fly fighters or drive tanks with these.
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/ocz_peripherals/nia-neural_impulse_actuator
Imagine the Hope this could give those like say paralyzed Soldiers sent home from Combat or One who lost major limbs or the the ability too speak? there are so many people around the world this could help and I am not even going too try come up with military applications as that would in my opinion be like that baby flying the predator joke some where around here.
I’m a phd student in a lab that does this stuff too. We were being funded by darpa for a while, goal was for amputees to have control of robot arms but could be used for flying jets, etc. We’re currently working on electrically stimulating the brain to create artificial sensations to ‘close the loop’ of these systems (i.e. give the person something other than visual feedback, like ‘touch’ sensations etc). My research focuses on manipulating circuit formation in the brain to create customized circuits capable of new functionality.
You’re behind on your reading Christian! ‘Zoe’s Tale’ is the latest in the series. I agree with your estimation of Scalzi: his series is ALMOST as good a treatment of the immortal warrior theme as Haldeman’s ‘Forever War’ writing.
Ill go for wearing a skinnet under helmet to control devices vs surgery unless use microneurosurgery for implamnts BUT that takes time to do vs some skinnet with neurosensors.
Thus GIs can mind control weapons etc at will.
Radical, Terminator Machine Wars are here.
Ok, something to realize is that the cybernetic apocalyptic visions, whether Terminator or something else, has more to do with the human fear of the OTHER than it does with reality. In point of fact, a successful brain/machine interface is much more likely to make AIs as envisioned in such stories less desirable, or at least, less likely to be able to compete with us. Call BMI work the equivalent of an “arms war”, or more accurately, “control war”, with synthetic, or processor-based intelligence.
This is especially true since currently the only way we know of to even try to create an AI is by mimicking the human brain, which doesn’t work so well, and may not even have applications outside the lab, as the requirements to emulate a human brain, when it comes to silicon, are staggering.
http://www.singinst.org/overview/whatisthesingularity