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Chip, Implanted in Brain, Helps Paralyzed Man Regain Control of Hand

nytimes.com

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Re: Chip, Implanted in Brain, Helps Paralyzed Man Regain Control of Hand

#4
post #3

This reminds me of the book Interface by Neil Stephenson. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interface_(novel)

Reminds me more of The Turing Option by Harry Harrison and Marvin Minsky, though Interface isn't a bad match either.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1807642.The_Turing_Option

Re: Chip, Implanted in Brain, Helps Paralyzed Man Regain Control of Hand

#9

A roomful of computers modeling a neural network in order to interpret a subset of a neural network.

Not quite, the sensor in the brain is pretty primitive. It's just best picked 96 neurons as opposed to many hundreds really required - and it didn't have a few years to train yet either. They are likely using excess computational capacity to denoise and predict higher order signals from neurons that are connected to the lucky 96.

Re: Chip, Implanted in Brain, Helps Paralyzed Man Regain Control of Hand

#10
I remember an article in the 1980s about a wearable computer on a man's belt with batteries, and he had some wires to his brain to help him see shapes, but I can no longer find the reference or pics. It's amazing to see the progress if you compare the pics of the large device back then to the things they are doing now. That and the discoveries and inventions in computing, chip manufacture, cognitive science and biology that are coming together in so many ways. When I watched the film 'Transcendence' this past year, along with having been a fan of Kronenberg and his movie 'eXistenZ', I really started to think about the overlap and hybridization of technologies: implants, wearable tech, AI, CI, CRISPR, biopunk, VR, AR, etc... I can see a dystopic 'Bladerunner' style future of cyborgs, modified humans and crazy disease and organisms. On the other hand, I can see humanity coasting his way into accepting the weirdness, and the crazy future it will bring.

In the meantime, I hope many who cannot, will get to partake in walking, seeing and living longer due to these discoveries and inventions.

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