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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

#81

Post by traverseda »

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…

I have an inner monologue when reading (or otherwise interacting with language), but mostly not when actually doing stuff. There must be some stuff you do where you don't have an inner monologue? I think it's a matter of degrees, like when programming my inner monologue consists mostly of variable names, but not like a procedural "I'll do this, then this, then it will do this".

If you're having a hard time grasping that, try doing or thinking about things while doing a mantra. I think you'll find that you're still able to "think" while the only thing your inner dialogue is saying is some kind of mantra. (It may take some practice)

You can also try speed reading apps which force you to absorb information without the time for an inner monologue.

I find this helps with introspection as you can observe ideas without the (direct) bias of language. Being able to recognize and observe the thing that's making your inner monologue happen is a useful skill, I think. I can't really imagine being bound to language like you're describing, and it often takes me a while to put more complicated ideas into words.

Languages categories are never going to be accurate. Is a whale a fish or a mammal? Well technically a mammal, but if you want to put someone in charge of them it's probably better if it's the department of fisheries than whoever's in charge of buffalo. One of of them has boats. The word is just a word, a pointer at a vague collection of things with similar properties. Being able to think about and work with the things directly without the distraction of language is very important to me.

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

#82

Post by elliekelly »

david-cako wrote: post #29
LadyCailin wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was just thinking about how, once this technology is perfected, at how easy it will be to interrogate high value prisoners. Just pop one of these in their head, and tell them not to think about the top secret or incriminating stuff.

Don't think about top secret or incriminating stuff.

There are some people who, it seems, can “lie” to themselves. They’re so convinced of their own lies they end up truly believing it. Can you imagine a world where people train themselves to be delusional for the purpose of avoiding self-incrimination during this kind of “brain” interrogation?

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

#83

Post by mistermann »

gonehome wrote: post #65
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…

My hypothesis would be yes. You need to establish the initial feedback loop somehow and imagining writing is a good way to do it. But once you have it I’d suspect you could get faster doing what you’re describing.

I agree, and I'm a bit excited/worried if brain interfaces turn out to be kinda like smart handheld devices, years of failures until the essential "recipe" is discovered like the iPhone, followed by a tsunami of innovation, functionality, and power - some realized, some not.

Do we have adequate wisdom to wield the powers we are granting ourselves?

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

#85

Post by desmosxxx »

mimimi31 wrote: post #49
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.

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'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 carefully and sometimes in deep thought with conscious effort, but never minute to minute and definitely not compulsively. I'd describe my minute to minute like you, more abstract and intuitive. Yet at the same time I'm very introspective, it just doesn't happen with an inner monologue.

edit: after reading the study, I think I fall into the not having an internal monologue. Fascinating.

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

#86

Post by gonehome »

jhedwards wrote: post #69
gonehome wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Is it that much different from aphantasia? My sister cannot "see" anything in her mind at all, whereas for me mental images are so strong that I sometimes stop seeing the world in front of my eyes in favor of the one in my head. That's a pretty radical difference in a "base level" feature.

I think it’s different - there was an old post by an early FB employee who has no ability to visualize images after a head injury and has to adapt as a result for that.

Thinking of images is also different than thinking of words (since all of us speak the language).

I’m not saying it’s impossible, but that I suspect its more likely a lack of introspection - I’d need to be persuaded empirically somehow and don’t know how to test it.

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

#88

Post by CapmCrackaWaka »

Interesting that the user has to think of specific letters to spell out a word. I guess the 26 distinct English letters are much easier to parse and separate than the untold thousands of words, especially when those words could be used in different contexts.

I bet the next step wouldn't be to even parse words to make a sentence. It seems to me the next low hanging fruit would be to enable this machine to parse common ideas. I wonder how complex it would be to translate full sentences like "Good Morning", "I gotta take a dump", or "I'm hungry". It doesn't seem like it would be that much of a leap, since the user already has to imagine the idea of different letters. Admittedly I have no idea how different those concepts are, or how they would express themselves in the brain to be interpreted by the machine.

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

#90

Post by doliveira »

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…

Does you inner monologue have an accent? Can you recognize a definite tone to it? I heard someone mentioning "I loved your accent, so I'll imagine you narrating my thoughts from now on" and the idea of your thoughts being pronounced in your mind with accents sounded completely alien to me.
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