Meet the man with a thought-controlled robotic arm
44 replies, posted
[QUOTE=kirderf;49476577]Except that won't be "you", at least not from your perspective. It would just be a copy that you have no conscious connection to.[/QUOTE]
Theres a lot of future technology that does that, seems like something people will have to deal with someday
[QUOTE=EcksDee;49453320]Worth it.
Eventually transfer consciousness into a computer/robot (if that's even possible in any way) and you'll live long enough for robotic bodies to become indistinguishable from our current ones (if that's also possible)[/QUOTE]
You might enjoy Ghost in the Shell.
[QUOTE=kirderf;49476577]Except that won't be "you", at least not from your perspective. It would just be a copy that you have no conscious connection to.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I know. 99% of my posts on transhumanism in general are all just wishful thinking anyway.
LET ME HAVE MY FANTASIES PLS
Hopefully these things will arrive to legs. I have hope for a friend that was in an accident. Amongst other things he lost a leg and Im wondering if he will ever walk again.
[QUOTE=kirderf;49476577]Except that won't be "you", at least not from your perspective. It would just be a copy that you have no conscious connection to.[/QUOTE]
Not necessarily. If we develop really good brain-machine interface, it would be possible to first augment our mental facilities with computers, then get seamless remote control and feedback of a robotic body, so you end up with two bodies and one mind. One half of your consciousness would "run" on your wetware brain, other half would be computer programs that are so deeply integrated into your thinking process that you can't honestly say they're not part of you. Eventually the machine part would be upgraded to perform larger and larger share of your "thinking", so the brain isn't used much, and could then atrophy. It would be a smooth, seamless transition from flesh to machine where you start with a pure human, replace it part-by-part, and end up with pure machine, without any discontinuity of consciousness and without there ever being more than one "instance".
That might not be how to really goes in the future but it's just a thought experiment to show that mind upload doesn't necessarily mean creating a clone of yourself.
This all kind of relies on us knowing what consciousness is and whether it can be transferred. No one has any idea so this is sci fi talk for now atleast.
If anyone is curious, the black bands around his upper arm are actually a semi-failed consumer product called the Myo. It's purchasable at Best Buy and many other tech retailers. I believe they provide access to their SDK, so if anyone is curious you can pick one up for ~$200. The device works well and is remarkably responsive with its 8 sensors.
And here i tought i wasn't living in XXI century.
[QUOTE=Vodkavia;49475775]Transfering your conciousness isn't a thing, if you tried best case scenario you'd end up with a new individual as well as the original. It'll be good for your legacy having an immortal double, but that's not ethical.[/QUOTE]
Given how little is known about the subject, how can you conclusively claim that if you aren't an expert neurologist. If consciousness is an interlocking reliancy of a lot of different neurological systems, then as long as you could seamlessly replace and emulate each component one by one while still maintaining the whole, then why exactly would it be conclusively impossible to transfer a consciousness?
People always exaggerate the profoundness of consciousness. It's not magic, it's just a very complicated system and could probably be manipulated and altered like any other complex organic system. Not to say that would be anywhere near "easy" but "impossible," I highly doubt.
[QUOTE=hypno-toad;49484761]Given how little is known about the subject, how can you conclusively claim that if you aren't an expert neurologist. If consciousness is an interlocking reliancy of a lot of different neurological systems, then as long as you could seamlessly replace and emulate each component one by one while still maintaining the whole, then why exactly would it be conclusively impossible to transfer a consciousness?
People always exaggerate the profoundness of consciousness. It's not magic, it's just a very complicated system and could probably be manipulated and altered like any other complex organic system. Not to say that would be anywhere near "easy" but "impossible," I highly doubt.[/QUOTE]
I claim no expertise, but I like to compare/theorize the brain as a massive state machine. Not only do you have the neural net of different connections (i.e. Optic nerve #5230 connects to thalamus nerve #4623 connect to etc) but different states in that brief snapshot of a brain operating (fired or not) that make up the mind and consciousness.
Suppose we could take a brief snapshot of the entire neural mapping as well as their different states (Being quite the challenge for hundreds of billions of nerves). It would be practically infeasible but not impossible.
At that point however are we really transferring consciousness? Or are we just copy-pasting it? If we kill off the original and awake the copy, well maybe its now someone else living that life? The original is dead, and the copy is (supposedly) the exact same personality/mental facilities so whats the difference?
Maybe it only really becomes transferring consciousness ('ghost') when the bodies that we erase/copy/paste to/from are rewriteable and not biological. ('electronic shells')
[QUOTE=Satane;49484139]So it's not really thought controlled. I thought they hooked it up to the actual nerves for a second.[/QUOTE]
It sort of still is though, because the nerves he would use to move his lower arm were put in his upper arm, so I'm guessing him moving his hand works the same as us moving our hands?
[QUOTE=boobs;49444278]You would only be as strong as the part that is connected to the mechanical piece.
I.E. super cyborg strength is bogus[/QUOTE]
That is true but if we could build a machine that could represent the efficiency of human muscle tissue, it could be a lot more effective considering humans use about 1/3 of their muscle capabilities when they're not full of adrenaline
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