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Brain implant translates paralyzed man's thoughts into text with 94% accuracy

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Re: Brain implant translates paralyzed man's thoughts into text with 94% accuracy

#161

Post by rileyphone »

dqpb wrote: post #142
Waterluvian wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like if we got a perfect transcript of our internal monologue, we’d all be shocked at how much we think but instantly forget.

I used to worry about this a lot, particularly when brainstorming. I found that I would start with a breadth-first search for ideas, but then as soon as one was moderately appealing, I went into depth-first mode and not only did I stop the breadth first search, but I also forgot much of the initial set of ideas. I created a tool for myself to avoid this pattern, which is effectively a kind of interactive map-reduce s…

lesswrong maybe? And I'm curious about your tool - I've been thinking about making something in the same vein via continuous speech recording.

Re: Brain implant translates paralyzed man's thoughts into text with 94% accuracy

#162

Post by mhcolburn »

Waterluvian wrote: post #17
savant_penguin wrote: post #13

> (Don't think this nurse is hot! Don't think this nurse is hot! Holy shit she's hot.) > (You can do this) > (OMG, is it on already?) > (You can do this) > (What a nice bottom) > (Don't think bottom you idiot) > (She's entering the room, think something else, now, fast, bunny bunny) > (Bunny) > (Bunny) > (Bunny, you got this)

I feel like if we got a perfect transcript of our internal monologue, we’d all be shocked at how much we think but instantly forget.

Or instantly regret and choose to forget.

Re: Brain implant translates paralyzed man's thoughts into text with 94% accuracy

#163

Post by mdp2021 »

gonehome wrote: post #60
mimimi31 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly there are people like myself who don't have an inner monologue (some people supposedly even have a constant dialogue with themselves) at all. The only time I experience something like an inner voice is when reading. My normal thoughts are more abstract I guess, I'm just sort of aware of what I want to do, how I feel etc. It's hard to describe.

I’m pretty skeptical of people that make this claim. It’s just surprising to me that a base level feature would work so differently. I’d expect some variation in models (like that old Feynman video about counting), but if you can speak and use language it’s hard for me to accept literally no internal voice is going on. I’ve always kinda suspected people making this claim are lacking introspection to such an extreme e…

It is not surprising. That you can use verbal language does not mean something inside must use it continuously. In fact, it makes sense that it is used only when relevant. That you can move your hand does not mean you continuously use them. If an «internal voice is going on», you are somehow letting it. This is especially valid for people with heightened introspection (owing to the higher control that internal assessment gives).

Re: Brain implant translates paralyzed man's thoughts into text with 94% accuracy

#164

Post by Verdex »

Waterluvian wrote: post #17
savant_penguin wrote: post #13

> (Don't think this nurse is hot! Don't think this nurse is hot! Holy shit she's hot.) > (You can do this) > (OMG, is it on already?) > (You can do this) > (What a nice bottom) > (Don't think bottom you idiot) > (She's entering the room, think something else, now, fast, bunny bunny) > (Bunny) > (Bunny) > (Bunny, you got this)

I feel like if we got a perfect transcript of our internal monologue, we’d all be shocked at how much we think but instantly forget.

Feels almost like the setup for a horror story. It turns out everyone's inner monologue is saying absolutely terrifying things, but then we just immediately forget. Schizophrenia turns out to just be the ability to remember and notice the things we're all saying.

And with that thought, I wonder if this sort of technology might be really useful for people with intrusive thoughts or schizophrenia, etc. Being able to objectively measure how well any given medication or therapy is working feels like a win to me.

Re: Brain implant translates paralyzed man's thoughts into text with 94% accuracy

#165

Post by GhettoComputers »

I've spoken to Abe Caplan, one of the Braingate researchers a few times online on clubhouse. https://clubhousedb.com/user/abecaplan https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Abraha... He said it did not need a high resolution to work well off the top of my head (it did not need to be very accurate, it does not have to be a single method of working, there are many places it can be linked and still work, this refers to the signal processing on the BCI), companies like neuralink often repackages these research projects with slick marketing as original but it was simply rebuilding this project with another interface (they used clunkier probes while neuralink wants to do an implant, but that was before they filed a patent for an implant as well).

This says it requires an implant, but I am not sure if its true, his contributions are much older though and they might not be the same as the current Braingate research, but they were also for aiding with disabled people with controlling prosthetics, and also with signal processing and calibration to the user, they have made text input before inplants were required, so I don't see why its required, its benefit is being more convenient than setting up the probes or as a wearable. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2012.0007...

Re: Brain implant translates paralyzed man's thoughts into text with 94% accuracy

#166

Post by excalibur »

ceejayoz wrote: post #44
clircle wrote: post #36

How do you measure accuracy? Is there another way the man can communicate? edit: The researchers compared the BCI output to a prompt that T5 was supposed to restate. I was thinking that T5 was communicating without prompts in the experiment. This isn't my idea of translation accuracy, but you've got to have some baseline.

"A man paralyzed from the neck down due to a spinal cord injury" typically can still talk. If not, there's blinking/mouth controls like Stephen Hawking.

Surprised at how far I had to scroll to find Hawking's name. If he were still with us I bet he could type circles around this guy.

Re: Brain implant translates paralyzed man's thoughts into text with 94% accuracy

#167

Post by logosmonkey »

doliveira wrote: post #107
desmosxxx wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always been a bit perplexed by the claim of not having an inner monologue, but after reading the replies to your comment I wonder if I'm closer to not having an inner monologue than having one. I thought it was about not being able to summon an inner voice at all. Regardless, it's fascinating to read peoples descriptions and see that it lies on a spectrum. I definitely experience it when reading & writing carefu…

May I ask you if your inner voice has an accent, can you recognize a tone to it? It was very weird when I realized that other people can imagine their thoughts having a physical voice.

Yeah, mine is my voice. When I was thinking rather or not to reply and what I would reply with it was just my voice - as it sounds in my skull, not as it sounds in recording - just talking through the details as if I were speaking out loud to myself.

Re: Brain implant translates paralyzed man's thoughts into text with 94% accuracy

#168

Post by Ajedi32 »

striking wrote: post #23
GOONIMMUNE wrote: post #10

> In tests, the man was able to achieve writing speeds of 90 characters per minute (about 18 words per minute), with approximately 94 percent accuracy (and up to 99 percent accuracy with autocorrect enabled). I'd be interested in knowing how this metric changes over time as the user gains more experience with the BCI device. The article mentions that researchers recorded his neural activity while he was thinking abou…

The article mentions that > electrodes implanted in his motor cortex recorded signals of his brain activity so I'm assuming other thoughts and interactions had little to no effect.

This makes me wonder if "thinking about writing letters" is really an accurate description of what's happening. Was the subject merely thinking about writing letters, or was he actually trying to write them, such that if he weren't paralyzed his muscles would be moving to perform that task?

Re: Brain implant translates paralyzed man's thoughts into text with 94% accuracy

#169

Post by bmn__ »

Waterluvian wrote: post #17
savant_penguin wrote: post #13

> (Don't think this nurse is hot! Don't think this nurse is hot! Holy shit she's hot.) > (You can do this) > (OMG, is it on already?) > (You can do this) > (What a nice bottom) > (Don't think bottom you idiot) > (She's entering the room, think something else, now, fast, bunny bunny) > (Bunny) > (Bunny) > (Bunny, you got this)

I feel like if we got a perfect transcript of our internal monologue, we’d all be shocked at how much we think but instantly forget.

https://www.insidemymind.me/blog/brain-stuff/today-i-learned...

Check previous HN discussions of the broad topic, nice rabbit-hole.

https://hn.algolia.com/?query=internal+monologue

Re: Brain implant translates paralyzed man's thoughts into text with 94% accuracy

#170

Post by progman32 »

mywittyname wrote: post #158
desmosxxx wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always been a bit perplexed by the claim of not having an inner monologue, but after reading the replies to your comment I wonder if I'm closer to not having an inner monologue than having one. I thought it was about not being able to summon an inner voice at all. Regardless, it's fascinating to read peoples descriptions and see that it lies on a spectrum. I definitely experience it when reading & writing carefu…

In one of Feynman's books, he discusses and experiment that he did with people keeping time in their heads (count 30 seconds) while simultaneously reading a passage of a book. Some people had absolutely no issue with doing this, but many people found it impossible. When he asked people how they kept track of how much time had passed, he found that people who pictured a number in their heads were able to keep time and…

Just tried it on this thread. I speak the time to myself and had no problem reading this comment and formulating a reply while keeping time.
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