Scientists work on backing up human brain with computers
48 replies, posted
[QUOTE]A new state-of-the-art headband is being developed by Tufts University scientists that could help facilitate communication between the human brain and computers.
The new technology – currently being crafted at the university’s Human Computer Interaction Lab – would be capable of scanning an individual’s brain activity, determining whether the person is mentally aware enough to handle the task at hand, fatigued, or even bored with what they’re doing.
According to the Boston Globe, this brain-scanning technology could potentially help humans perform a number of tasks, ranging from simple processes such as recommending movies based on individual reaction to important jobs in air traffic control. As the newspaper noted, the computer could learn “the precise moment an air traffic controller approaches mental overload, and [automatically] reassign some of his responsibilities to a fresher colleague.”
The headband does this by utilizing technology called functional infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), which scans the amount of light being absorbed by the brain. In this way, the headband doesn’t exactly read thoughts, but since the amount of light absorbed by the brain is linked to the amount of brainpower it’s using, the device can gauge fatigue levels effectively through this measurement.
During a test run by Tufts researchers, one graduate student could manage between four and seven airplanes during a simulation, with the headband ensuring his mind wasn’t overexerted at any point in time.
If ultimately successful, computer scientist Robert Jacob and biomedical engineer Sergio Fantini hope to embed the tech in wearable products, such as Google Glass, and pave the way towards a future in which humans communicate with computers through thoughts and not tactile commands.
“Computers have gotten phenomenally better in the last 50 years — faster, more powerful — and humans haven’t,” Jacob told the Globe. “The bottleneck is now with the human, not the computer. So it’s important to put resources into communicating better with computers.”
“We’re basic researchers,” he added. “It would be delightful if these things do filter into the world, but I’d like to believe that’s not our mission. Our mission is to invent new scientific ideas and spread them, and hope they are useful to someone.”
Jacob’s team isn’t the only group looking into brain scanning technology, though. As RT [URL="http://rt.com/usa/darpa-pentagon-reading-brain-860/"]reported last year[/URL], the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announce it will invest $70 million to develop a new implant capable of tracking and responding to brain signals in real time.
The project, called "Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies” (SUBNETS), is aimed at treating and analyzing mental disorders as they flare up in the mind. By creating an implant that can record the effectiveness of medical treatments as they’re administered, the implant could open up new avenues of treatment for patients.[/QUOTE]
[URL="http://rt.com/usa/tufts-university-human-brain-headband-837/"]http://rt.com/usa/tufts-university-human-brain-headband-837/[/URL]
Next step would be reinserting it into clones
You know that technology from the matrix is coming. You can learn kung-fu from Morpheus at any time.
I'm very interested to see what DARPA will come up with this though.
Just you wait till you can glance at your computer; think 'ANTHRO-SHIP PORN' on accident, and see it pop up on the screen for all your friends to see.
[quote]"Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies” (SUBNETS), is aimed at treating and analyzing mental disorders as they flare up in the mind. By creating an implant that can record the effectiveness of medical treatments as they’re administered, the implant could open up new avenues of treatment for patients.[/quote]
This sounds like a godsend for patients AND doctors alike
I don't know how comfortable I am with getting my brain this close to computers, if you get my meaning.
[QUOTE=Karmal Khan;44127672][t]http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120621160331/half-life/en/images/4/46/Cave_Johnson_cropped.png[/t][/QUOTE]
Don't let this man experiment with lemons.
terrible word choice on that headline since 'backing up' has a really specific context in computing when this is about something else
[QUOTE=DOG-GY;44127688]terrible word choice on that headline since 'backing up' has a really specific context in computing when this is about something else[/QUOTE]
Yeah I was expecting to be able to copy my brain onto a hard drive
[QUOTE=DOG-GY;44127688]terrible word choice on that headline since 'backing up' has a really specific context in computing when this is about something else[/QUOTE]
Same exact word choice the source uses so it's not surprising.
Personally I'm still waiting for "nano-conversion" in terms of "backing up the brain", since backing things up only stores the data and doesn't preserve the active subroutines, which is the heart of consciousness.
By nano-conversion, I mean using nanomachines (son) to convert brain cells into biomechanical self-repairing microprocessors, meaning the resultant machine-brain would in theory be able to live forever and not decay like regular meat-brains, in addition to keeping all those subroutines running so that you're you as opposed to a clone that has your memories and personalities and mannerisms but not your "soul".
[QUOTE=Kite_shugo;44127704]Same exact word choice the source uses so it's not surprising.[/QUOTE]
read 'headline', implying im talking about the source not the thread title
Are you backing it up or just cloning it. Think about it.
[QUOTE=Mysterious Mr.E;44127812]Are you backing it up or just cloning it. Think about it.[/QUOTE]
Cloning is copying so it's basically the same thing?
[QUOTE=DOG-GY;44127786]read 'headline', implying im talking about the source not the thread title[/QUOTE]
I see what you mean then; there's not much mention to the headline in the article.
I usually think it's the FP headline if people refer to it on here.
still want the ability to back my brain up in the future.
[QUOTE=fireball397;44127861]Cloning is copying so it's basically the same thing?[/QUOTE]
Yes, it's mental cloning, not transferring your "soul", which is how you PROPERLY attain immortality, not anything like quantum immortality through "infinite yous" or the pretentious "by being remembered you live on in memory" bullshit.
So in conclusion, the right way to become immortal involves nanomachines, son!
I just want to be able to record and playback my dreams! that'd be cool yo
[QUOTE=viperfan7;44127587]Next step would be reinserting it into clones[/QUOTE]
the next step would be developing a way to actually map the neurons of the brain without having to slice it apart or shove an electrode into it
[QUOTE=viperfan7;44127587]Next step would be reinserting it into clones[/QUOTE]
Next step after that: Space exploration.
[QUOTE=ironman17;44127738]Personally I'm still waiting for "nano-conversion" in terms of "backing up the brain", since backing things up only stores the data and doesn't preserve the active subroutines, which is the heart of consciousness.
By nano-conversion, I mean using nanomachines (son) to convert brain cells into biomechanical self-repairing microprocessors, meaning the resultant machine-brain would in theory be able to live forever and not decay like regular meat-brains, in addition to keeping all those subroutines running so that you're you as opposed to a clone that has your memories and personalities and mannerisms but not your "soul".[/QUOTE]
Makes sense, but there's some problems with how exactly you'd ensure that someone's consciousness transferred over. As it is, we've got no 100% surefire way of determining where consciousness resides in the human mind, how it functions on an anatomical level, and what creates or destroys it. The "active subroutines" thing you're mentioning could help solve the problem, but again, we still have only rudimentary knowledge of consciousness in regards to brain anatomy.
I don't know if reliable mental transfer from one brain to another would even be possible, based on currently-known factors of the mind and brain, but there is one idea I have that might work for successfully managing the first stage of a human-to-machine transformation;
Gradual replacement of biological parts with mechanical ones, specifically in the brain. In other words, replacing the organic tissue in the machine with organic-interfacing-capable machines, piece-by-piece.
Considering how the human body replaces all of its constituent cells frequently and individually, to the point where all cells are replaced roughly every 7 years, I don't think it'd be too hard to induce a similar process using machines on the brain itself. Not sure if the brain undergoes this cell replacement process, but I assume it does.
Granted, it'd certainly require an extremely precise understanding of each and every neural pathway and cell in the brain, as well as the technology to accurately recreate these pieces of brain anatomy. However, if such a thing were possible, humanity could convert its brains from organic computers to mechanical ones, using the same gradual process that the human body uses to "refresh" itself.
I don't think it'd be completely impossible to create mechanical brains by using the sort of nanomachines you mentioned in your post to carefully replace every piece of brain structure individually with a mechanical replica. Said replica pieces would contain exact backups of the organic version's data and active subroutines, meaning it would contain the exact same data and perform the exact same function as the piece it replaced.
Done slowly and carefully enough, I imagine this process could create almost- or entirely-perfect mechanical replicas of the human brain, while retaining the owner's consciousness in an intact state. How you'd move that consciousness around from there is anyone's guess, but I think it'd be possible to at least make ourselves into mechanical beings by first gradually replacing the brain.
After resolving organic-to-machine consciousness transfer using this method, I assume the rest would be a piece of cake by comparison.
Of course, there's a decent chance we'll eventually figure out what constitutes conscioussness and how to move said consciousness and constituent parts around. However, I think this method might be a good way to get around that lack of knowledge until we fill the hole, a bridge over a massive pothole in the road to a robotic humanity, you might say.
Then again, I'm just an average joe with no scientific experience whatsoever, so I could easily be so hilariously wrong that the universe implodes, just so I stop existing and thus stop being so damn wrong.
[QUOTE=TestECull;44128063]Next step after that: Space exploration.[/QUOTE]
On that note, how are we actually going to colonize other planets? I mean with Western birth rates as they are we'd barely be able to make a colony with any sort of appreciable growth.
[QUOTE=abananapeel;44128033]I just want to be able to record and playback my dreams! that'd be cool yo[/QUOTE]
Dream playback would be fucking SICK. Being able to view and recall your dreams without mental training and specific dietary balancing is a thing that would be fucking awesome. With all the things I usually think up, and presumably all the things that I failed to recall from some dreams, being able to re-view things that might've faded from memory upon waking up would be a massive help for inspiration.
Also, it'd probably yield sites where you upload your dreams, though I imagine there are a lot of dreams that people would keep to themselves. Not to mention some people might try to steal such "private records" that you don't share but keep for yourself.
When i read the title, i thought you meant that they were actually trying to clone memories into computers. not that people are planning to figure out brain scanning techniques via computers, in the effort to figure out how people's brains work and then putting techniques to work to maximize potential or whatever.
[QUOTE=ironman17;44128143]Dream playback would be fucking SICK. Being able to view and recall your dreams without mental training and specific dietary balancing is a thing that would be fucking awesome. With all the things I usually think up, and presumably all the things that I failed to recall from some dreams, being able to re-view things that might've faded from memory upon waking up would be a massive help for inspiration.
Also, it'd probably yield sites where you upload your dreams, though I imagine there are a lot of dreams that people would keep to themselves. Not to mention some people might try to steal such "private records" that you don't share but keep for yourself.[/QUOTE]
Isn't this basically the plot of [sp]Paprika.[/sp]
[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;44128152]Isn't this basically the plot of [sp]Paprika.[/sp][/QUOTE]
Personally I was thinking more Inception but with data disks.
[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;44128128]On that note, how are we actually going to colonize other planets? I mean with Western birth rates as they are we'd barely be able to make a colony with any sort of appreciable growth.[/QUOTE]
Eastern birth rates?
*Insert question of whether of not the backed up mind is really honestly the you that died, or not.*
[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;44128128]On that note, how are we actually going to colonize other planets? I mean with Western birth rates as they are we'd barely be able to make a colony with any sort of appreciable growth.[/QUOTE]
Depends on where technology leads us. If we can grow shit-tons of clones by that time, we can have organic populations limited only by living space and food supplies. If we all shed our organic forms for mechanical ones, most if not all of the barriers to human survival on other planets would be immediately destroyed, and we'd be as plentiful as the metals used to build our minds and bodies.
Out of these two options, I'd say mechanical transcendence is the better one by far. At the rate we're going, any upsides to organic bodies such as the ability to process dead biomatter for energy, various useful senses and genitals with pleasingly-sensitive nerves will be easily replicated in machine form at some point.
We're already creating touch sensors, various equal or better replicas of human senses such as smell, sight and hearing, and energy-harvesting systems which can break down organic structures for the energy within them like our organic digestive systems do. And the best part is, we don't even have robot-bodies to hook all of this and ourselves up to yet, so imagine how refined all of this organic-replica tech will be once we can make that leap!
On top of all this, machine bodies would be far more durable, long-lived and easily repairable in comparison to organic bodies. Becoming a race of organics-turned-robots seems to be a win-win situation for everyone, with possible temporary downsides that the miracle that is science can solve given enough time.
All I know is, I'm getting myself upgraded to a robotic body ASAP, assuming I'm alive to see it become possible.
i think this is [I]very[/I] related:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg29TuWo0Yo[/media]
I'm certain that it is a copy of a human, perfect copy. Since backing up something is copying just stuff
We backup game save, we got two game saves one is used other one is not if used one breaks or something happens with him the original one we use the backup one
There would be probatly no difference for people around the copied one but for the copied one it'd be probatly death while people would think that backup is certainly the real one
That's what i think i think :v:
[QUOTE=TurboSax;44128442]Depends on where technology leads us. If we can grow shit-tons of clones by that time, we can have organic populations limited only by living space and food supplies. If we all shed our organic forms for mechanical ones, most if not all of the barriers to human survival on other planets would be immediately destroyed, and we'd be as plentiful as the metals used to build our minds and bodies.
Out of these two options, I'd say mechanical transcendence is the better one by far. At the rate we're going, any upsides to organic bodies such as the ability to process dead biomatter for energy, various useful senses and genitals with pleasingly-sensitive nerves will be easily replicated in machine form at some point.
We're already creating touch sensors, various equal or better replicas of human senses such as smell, sight and hearing, and energy-harvesting systems which can break down organic structures for the energy within them like our organic digestive systems do. And the best part is, we don't even have robot-bodies to hook all of this and ourselves up to yet, so imagine how refined all of this organic-replica tech will be once we can make that leap!
On top of all this, machine bodies would be far more durable, long-lived and easily repairable in comparison to organic bodies. Becoming a race of organics-turned-robots seems to be a win-win situation for everyone, with possible temporary downsides that the miracle that is science can solve given enough time.
All I know is, I'm getting myself upgraded to a robotic body ASAP, assuming I'm alive to see it become possible.[/QUOTE]
Cybernetics is one thing, but going full on 100% synthetic isn't something I'd really want to do, to be honest.
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