Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/04/24/brain-computer-interface-succe.html
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Can it work in the opposite direction?
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No it doesn’t. BCI successfully predicted intended speech from activity of speech motor neurons (sometimes, after a lot of individual training). I get this is from the article author and not BB, but in no way should that research be thought of as recording “thoughts”. Its recording activity patterns of neurons.
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I, for one, welcome our new brain-computer interface overlords.
Wait - who said that?
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yet
(9 chars)
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Their YouTube video is thought provoking, to say the least: https://youtu.be/kbX9FLJ6WKw
“I have no mouth and I must scream*…”
“Problem solved… but please, can you now stop screaming, dude; its getting on my nerves.”
*I’ve never got around to reading the story, though I’m familiar with the title from my childhood. Having read the synopsis on Wikipedia, I don’t think I’ll bother with the original. It sounds like some classic, late 60’s mysoginist-racist-homophobic bullshit. If anyone has read it and feels that this is an unfair assessment, please feel free to set me right.
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Okay, so it can help people who cannot communicate at all, to communicate badly. That would be an improvement, albeit a frustrating one.
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(Any male test subject puts on the helmet)
Machine: SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX…
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I’m translating thoughts into synthesized speech right…now.
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The intended future application of this would be for patients that can’t speak or write but are mentally sharp (such as locked in patients) that currently communicate slowly with tremendous frustration and manual assistance. With the trained BCI they would have a partially automated (though still needing manual assistance) method of communication, thereby reducing the frustration level slightly.
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I think, and my thoughts cross the barrier into the synapses of the machine - just as the good doctor intended. But what I cannot shake, and what hints at things to come, is that thoughts cross back. In my dreams the sensibility of the machine invades the periphery of my consciousness. Dark. Rigid. Cold. Alien. Evolution is at work here, but just what is evolving remains to be seen.
- Commissioner Pravin Lal, “Man and Machine”
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But it could record sub-vocal thoughts. Like when I think things to myself, and maybe move my mouth, etc, but I am not really making sounds.
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We can’t call them microsofts any more.
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Today I recorded neural activity from 5 animals. From previous research I know that some of that activity is very predictive of behavior. In today’s experiments the animals were restrained so there was no behavior, but from the neural data I could reasonably predict what they would have done. I in no way would say that I recorded their thoughts.
In the present study they recorded mostly random signals from areas where some of the activity plans and initiates speech. Then a computer was trained to best decode which of the signals were predictive. But I think there is a big difference between recording thoughts and neural activity, even if some of the neurons influenced the thought.
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He emphasized that his approach cannot be used to read someone’s mind… his subconscious translated to $$$$Cha-ching Cha-ching $$$$
