Comments on: Brain-computer interfaces: Input/Output vs Read/Write

By: Igniting a Brain-Computer Interface Revolution – BCI X PRIZE | Singularity Hub

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:37:21 +0000

[...] main challenge we would need to overcome to enable augmented learning is that talking to the brain and purposefully altering the brain to implant a memory or a skill are two fund… and we currently lack significant understanding of how to manipulate neuronal topology in a useful [...]

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:28:35 +0000

Nice post. I think we will have a connectome (wiring diagram) of the human brain within 4-7 years. Once we have that, it will become easier to construct better brain computer interfaces. A BCI could communicate with brain cells using optogenetics or perhaps ultrasonic neuromodulation. Modifying consciousness with neurotechnology should be awesome as well (Paradise engineering). I did a post about BCI’s and the wireless neurosociety a while back on my own blog that covers related material.

By: Dr. Yitzhack Schwartz, MD

Dr. Yitzhack Schwartz, MD — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:10:45 +0000

Nice (!) up-to-date post Rod, but… even judging by the number of patent filings dealing specifically with BCI it seems that the hype in the media is much bigger than the true hope. The numbers of relevant published US patent applications were merely 23, 11 and 13 for 2009, 2008 and 2007, respectively. This represents mostly technological imaturity. One may claim that most researchers nowadays believe in open sharing and don’t even bother filing for patents. I still think the numbers are so low because nothing much is actually happening and the significant breakthroughs we are all awaiting are yet to come. As the comercial impact is going to be huge I’m certain companies as well as universities will protect the IP by all means and thus IP is a good indicator. BTW, are you aware of a serious (evidence-based) forecast that aims to project when we’ll truly be utilizing BCI in big numbers? I’m not referring to the rather ‘low-hanging-fruits’ but to more complex applications that would revolutionize our lives. I tend to agree they will arrive but later than most ‘futurists’ predict.

By: Collin Bockman

Collin Bockman — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:53:04 +0000

Great post Rod. The thing about I/O, though, is that output is typically much easier than input. We see this with modern robotic prostheses. Getting a person’s nervous system to move a robotic arm around is easier to do than getting the person’s brain to recognize where the arm is located in space and whether it is touching anything, is hot or cold, etc. I think we will have reliable output devices–things like the “interceptors” in Ghost in the Shell, devices that tell whether a person is recalling or fabricating a “memory,” etc–well before we have reliable input devices. Indeed we already have lots of pretty good output devices while inputs like bionic eyes are coming along more slowly and inputs to non-sensory functions such as language are basically still on the drawing board.

Not that this is a terrible situation, I think we can get a tremendous amount of usefulness from output devices alone, especially output devices that let us study brain data in real-time. I’m currently obsessed with the research being done on monks who have practiced many thousands of hours of meditation and how their brains are different. Also think output combined with feedback through a traditional computer screen might enable an entirely new method of learning things and, if capable of outputting what a person is imagining in her “mind’s eye,” a way of helping people learn how to visualize things better. Anxiously waiting for my ACME home brain scanning device.

By: Tweets that mention Brain-computer interfaces: Input/Output vs Read/Write « BitCortex -- Topsy.com

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:23:07 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Richard Leis, Jr., Bruce Klein. Bruce Klein said: http://www.bitcortex.com/2010/01/03/brain-computer-interfaces-inputoutput-vs-readwrite/ [...]