Brain Versus Computer?

**Maggy J** · 05-12-2004, 20:00

I don't think this has been mentioned anywhere here.

Here

Utterly fascinating.

Incog.

**Paul M** · 05-12-2004, 20:04

Wow

punky · 05-12-2004, 22:53

Absolutely amazing.

I so hope the manage to refine it and make it mass-market feasible.

MadGamer · 05-12-2004, 23:04

OMG

ZrByte · 05-12-2004, 23:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by punky

Absolutely amazing.

I so hope the manage to refine it and make it mass-market feasible.

I imagine the final poduct before it becomes feasable for home use would be wireless capability. Imagine being able to enter a room and put on a headset (a bit like a bluetooth headset) and be able to control everything in the room. Or even something more amazing like a brain implant, the potential for this is fantastic though, you could do almost anything with it, from using the microwave to driving a car.

danielf · 05-12-2004, 23:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by punky

Absolutely amazing.

I so hope the manage to refine it and make it mass-market feasible.

I suppose something like that will come out in the future, but for now it involves drilling holes in the skull, and sticking electrodes in the brain. Not something I'd be looking forward to. This is something that could greatly benefit people that suffer paralysis from brain damage/strokes etc. It is not (yet) a new gaming tool.

punky · 06-12-2004, 00:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielf

I suppose something like that will come out in the future, but for now it involves drilling holes in the skull, and sticking electrodes in the brain. Not something I'd be looking forward to. This is something that could greatly benefit people that suffer paralysis from brain damage/strokes etc. It is not (yet) a new gaming tool.

I am wondering if in time it can be done without drilling into the skull. If devices can sensative enough to detect energy through the skull. I think they can detect brain activity already from outside the skull (MRIs?), just scale it down and make it portable?

**Maggy J** · 06-12-2004, 00:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by punky

I am wondering if in time it can be done without drilling into the skull. If devices can sensative enough to detect energy through the skull. I think they can detect brain activity already from outside the skull (MRIs?), just scale it down and make it portable?

I thought the most interesting part was the description of 'how' the one patient tried a variety of mechanism to get any movement in the curser.

Quote:

"The most effective way was for me to scrunch my body really tight and (think) about yelling,"

Pretty much what I find myself doing already with my PC.

bopdude · 06-12-2004, 02:29

Another fantastic bit of science fiction becoming science fact, it might sound daft but, all those comics i used to read as a kid, ( 2200 A.D. etc etc ) they all seemed so fantastic as to not be possible, now, a lot of the ' gizmo's ' in the comics are here or nearly here, where will it end

**Maggy J** · 06-12-2004, 07:50

Well in the past 5 years I've read how they have grown circuits into brain cells and about the researcher who plugged his arm into a computer and used typewritten commands to move his arm.Add to this stem cell research and the research Christopher Reeve was helping in,I think things are looking up for those who are partially or totally paralysed.This can only add to the arsenal available to such people.

I wonder if Anne McCaffery's Brainship stories seem so fantastic anymore.

Incog.

bopdude · 06-12-2004, 08:04

It won't happen in my lifetime ( I think ) but wonder if teleportaion will / can ever happen, and time travel.... ok ok don't get me drooling

mmmmmm cryogenics

Richard M · 06-12-2004, 08:18

Teleportation exists already Bopdude, goes off to find link...

Teleportation:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3576594.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3811785.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2049048.stm

danielf · 06-12-2004, 10:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by punky

I am wondering if in time it can be done without drilling into the skull. If devices can sensative enough to detect energy through the skull. I think they can detect brain activity already from outside the skull (MRIs?), just scale it down and make it portable?

Oh yes, that's been possible for decades. EEGs and MRIs do just that. The trouble I suppose is that it will pick up all the brain signals, when you need it to train/latch on a specific signal generated somewhere in a volume of brain tissue. Sticking an electrode in the brain will allow you to do just that, as you can pinpoint the region. Being able to do that from outside the skull is a different matter.

Earl of Bronze · 06-12-2004, 18:22

I remember reading about the use of electrodes to alleviate severe epalepsy (sp?). Basically the doctors inserted the prongs of an electrode into a patients brain, as a 'breaker' to prevent severe fits.

Personally I cant see real applications for cerebral interface's until we perfect nanotechnology. By that stage of technology, growing an artifical neural-network interface at an atomic level, inside a living brain would be relatively simple.

paulyoung666 · 06-12-2004, 18:37

i read something today about a rats brain that had managed to learn how to fly in a flight simulator enviroment , now which paper was it in , the sun , mail or express , dunno my memory aint what it used to be