Man Uses Chip to Control Robot With Thoughts

[onehandle]

To quote Neo: "Woah."
______________________

A paralyzed man with a small sensor implanted in his brain was able to control a computer, a television and a robot using only his thoughts, scientists reported today.

The development offers hope that in the future, people with spinal cord injuries, Lou Gehrig’s disease or other ailments that impair movement might be able to better communicate with or control their world.

“If your brain can do it, we can tap into it,’’ said John P. Donoghue, a professor at Brown University who led the development of the system and was the senior author of a report published today in the journal Nature.

In separate experiments, the first person to receive the implant, Matthew Nagle, was able to move a cursor, open e-mail, play a simple video game called Pong and draw a crude circle on the screen. He could change the channel or volume of a television set, move a robot arm somewhat, and open and close a prosthetic hand.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/12/science/12cnd-science.html?hp&ex=1152763200&en=e2ad13e9af8d6fc6&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Joanne98]

1. This research project was in that book "Radical Evolution".

This is good news BUT the Pentagon will use it for evil NO DOUBT!

[onehandle]

2. And the GOP.

Why rig the voting machines when they can force you to punch the "right" buttons?

[Nite Owl]

5. OMG!

This is what the GOP will do!

[Joanne98]

9. That's not even funny. I'm gonna have nightmares now.

[brentspeak]

4. I share your concern over this

I'm encouraged that this new technology might help paralyzed people, but there's no question that certain entities would want to exploit something like this for their own ends.

[Joanne98]

10. It's too bad. This could be a nice world, if the "vile" didn't ruin it.

[unpossibles]

3. that is cool, although they could have chosen a better analogy

than the Matrix... lol

"So Mr. Nagle was directly wired to a computer, somewhat like a character in the “Matrix” movies."

[pitohui]

6. this sounds like a great breakthrough

my only concern is cost and would it ever be available to the average joe paralyzed dude or would it only be available to the very rich


i remember chris reeves commented that his costs were over $400K a year just for the tiny bit of progress he saw -- and he well knew that most people can't budget $400K a year

[Vidar]

13. Only if the technology is shared with, or independetly

discovered by, the Europeans, I fear.

[Scribe]

7. It is a step toward the Technological Singularity.

If you are not familiar with the concept, it is worth a look.

Some people believe it is a step toward the end of mankind and that the full singularity will appear before 2030. Appear is the wrong word, I guess, since the Singularity is something we will create.

[leveymg]

8. Only the very rich and the very poor won't be "jacked-in"

This is a major step toward the post-human cybernet, although I think 2030 is a little early for widespread implementation. The first practical transceivers will be prostheses and after that the application will be military.

Eventually, we'll all be borgs. "Prepare to be assimilated"

[Joanne98]

11. "The Singularity". Isn't that when we evolve so fast that nothing

makes sense anymore?

[Crayson]

27. Looking into the future too far rarely makes sense

It will make sense to us THEN.
IF we don't miss the evolution and become obsolete.

Most inventions only make sense when they are done and we find out the use of it.
Like the estimated numbers of computers needed for all the world was: 3 ?
Back then in the cold war in about 1950 or so... ?

Or like agriculture explained to a hunter/gatherer tribe?
Why would they need to plant stuff? They just collect it.

And thus we can't see over the horizon of the next major breakthrough which might give us all new ideas and directions and methods.
But when we're there, it WILL make sense.

[Joanne98]

28. Thanx

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. Are you taking Vernor Vinge stuff?

[Scribe]

21. Exactly! I don't believe it. In fact, I don't believe in much of anything.

One of my favorite quotes is attributed to many people. I first heard it as a quote from Neils Bohr:
"Prediction is difficult, especially involving the future."

The Vinge idea that a super-human intelligence is almost inevitable is intriguing. Some people advance it as an answer to the so-called 'Fermi Paradox'. But, I have no beliefs about any of these things because I don't know enough.

[Crayson]

26. Technological Singularity

Check Wikipedia

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity>

Great comprehensive article.

Synopsis:
Based on the rate of the technological breakthroughs in the past, projected into the future, these breakthroughs happen more and more often and each breakthrough advancing the technology for research and development itself, thus making it even faster.

The logical deduction is that at some point the research will do itself and humans might become obsolete or will have too keep up with the advancement by enhancing themselves.

This of course only if the advancement takes its course and is not hindered by human self destruction urges.

[w4rma]

14. Sweet. This seems pretty simple on the surface if I understand correctly.

You train your brain to send electrical impulses to a certain area and the chip picks up on that and issues the command appropriate to that area of the brain that the impulses were sent to.

5 commands would be enough to command a joystick and a button, which is all you basically need to do anything on any computer, slowly.

[acmejack]

15. Brain sensor allows mind-control

A sensor implanted in a paralysed man's brain has enabled him to control objects through just the power thought.

The experimental set-up allowed the man, who has no limb movement at all, to open e-mail, play a computer game, and pinch a prosthetic hand's fingers.

The US team behind the sensor hopes its technology can one day be incorporated into the body to restore the movement of paralysed limbs themselves.

The group's study is published in the journal Nature

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5167938.stm

[survivor999]

16. Misleading title by the BBC.

Mind-control is generally used when SOMEBODY else controls a subject's mind, without the subject's approval. In this case, the device allows one own's mind (i.e., brain) to control an effector. Very different story.

[acmejack]

18. I agree, but rules being rules...

I was quite excited when I initially opened it, but even so it is great news for those with certain disabilities.

[Deja Q]

17. This is excellent news!

:thumbsup:

Goofy title, though.

[survivor999]

20. LOL: "He could do this simply by using his thoughts"

The writer makes it look like some kind of magic. Don't forget that one's thoughts (i.e., patterns of brain activity) control one's body routinely. "All" this does is decode some of these patterns instead of the peripheral nervous system doing so. Technically very interesting and useful, but not conceptually.

[SoCalDem]

19. Change one letter in the headline, and it becomes more interesting

"Man Uses Whip to Control Robot With Thoughts"

[BushOut06]

22. If it's being directly controlled by a human, is it really a robot?

I was always under the impression that robots were completely autonomous, that they could work off a program without any direct human control. Ie the robots used to manufacture automobiles. It seems like the term 'robot' has gotten so diluted over the past twenty years that practically any machine that looks humanoid is considered a 'robot'.

[leveymg]

23. You're right. That would be a prosthesis, not a robot.

There's no reason why the human brain couldn't couldn't remotely control an array of devices simultaneously. Similarly, no reason why a vast number of human brains couldn't be interconnected so as to control a very complex machine of some sort. On the other hand, the corellary of this is, of course, a complex machine could also control a vast number of human brains.

All depends on how you look at it.

[pokercat999]

24. No matter it's going to be an exciting and interesting

near future.

[Gman]

25. All the more reason to keep wearing my tinfoil

:tinfoilhat: