I changed the header of this thread to avoid any confusion with the ethical discussion now turned IQ thread...
Sue: The article I was responding to as referenced by Hal implied an implantable chip/sensor. It seemed remarkable to me when they had done so in chimps a couple years ago, then trained the chimp to move a cursor with the Pavlovian reinforcement of getting food. The sensor actually was surprisingly non-invasive-- just a small number of microfilaments threaded into the brain that acted as antennae. Then a microprocessor/chip actually external to the skull that fed into a computer via hardwire. I would imagine that radio-controlled/wireless interfaces would be easy to achieve. We already use wireless to control spinal stimulators and spinal pumps remotely. Batteries might be a problem, but if most of the power were supplied on the computer end, rather than the chip end, maybe you could get some decent life out of them. I'm sure stimulators or pumps chew up at least as much juice as a brainwave sensor. In fact, it's probably passive, so the internal unit might not need power at all. The chimp was also trained to try and form shapes on a computer screen. So the scientists learned while the chimp did, too, programming their computer to recognize certain brainwave sequences, then translate that into visual feedback for the chimp, then attach that brainwave with visual reinforcement to a reward system like food. My memory fails me, but I think they even got the chimp to play "Pong"-- that game that devoured too many hours of my childhood. It would be interesting to see if someone could be trained to exert a sequence of brainwaves via a surface electrode interface a la EEGs. Maybe a yogi? You would likely have to program such an interface yourself. Making a fist would open a WORD document, for example. I actually don't think it's farfetched how Mr. Dick portrayed computer interfaces in Minority Report, or Prof. Asimov did in Foundation's Edge-- that the hands were in fact the keys. I don't necessarily mean hand sensors as in those works of fiction, but hand movements with scalp electrodes picking up the associated brainwaves might be the thing. The prospect of Virtual People in a MySpace environment adds to the speculation. Do we initiate a 1:1 brainwave association in such an environemtn-- that is, do we say that making a fist in RL should be programmed to move our Sim in the same manner in Virtual Space? But I'm just speculating based on what I saw. The only facts so far are regarding the chimp. -vk > Now can we discuss how our world is becoming more > cyberpunk or something? Vk, you were saying about > neural interfaces.... > I heard that there was a mouse at the U of A that > they connected to a computer, and I also heard on the > radio that they had connected a quadrapelegic to a > brain scanner and had a program that read his brain > scans and translated them to moving a cursor. That's > cool non-invasive "decking".... have you heard > anything about that? > -Sue > _______________________________________________ > GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> > http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
