Tiny tech, big signals: the future of brain-computer interfaces
Interesting Engineering - 13-Apr-2025Georgia Tech's wireless brain sensor detects neural signals with 96% accuracy
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Whether to improve our cognition or as a lasts desperate attempt to survive while waiting for better bodies to replace our ailing ones, brain interfaces which allow us to communicate directly with technology are already on their way. Experiments have been performed with monkeys thousands of miles apart with one brain controlling the other monkey's actions. At the moment it takes months of training and computer learning to determine which signals do what, but with the ever exponential increase in computing power that time will be significantly reduced in future.
So rather than asking Siri out loud how many calories in a banana, perhaps one day just thinking the question will be enough for a flood of information to appear in your mind ready for you do dive into and review?
But brain to brain communication will not be as straightforward as computer to computer messaging. Even between different manufacturers and operating systems, transferring an image file from one to another results in identical bits (in the form of a jpg or png file) being stored in exactly the same order on the target machine as on the original. However, transferring an image from one person’s mind to another – as well needing thousands, if not millions, of neuron interfaces – would need us to understand what the connections and firing patterns in the first brain represent (the image) and then determine which neurons needs simulating in the target brain to see it. Every brain in different, built up on a lifetime of experiences, so images and ideas cannot be simply copied – neuron for neuron – between two minds.
This section will keep you up to date with the latest developments and real world examples of the continuing blurring between man and machine.
Georgia Tech's wireless brain sensor detects neural signals with 96% accuracy
AI neuroprosthesis turns brain signals into voice, offering hope to those who can no longer speak
Nanoparticles power a new era of brain-computer interaction
A brain implant lets a quadriplegic man control a computer—sparking both hope and concern
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More Than Human is about our growing power to alter our minds, bodies, and lifespans through technology, written by Ramez Naam
Chairman of Blackrock Neurotech and Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Utah
Company enabling neuroscience research with tailored non-invasive brain stimulation and brain imaging solutions
A thought-provoking book with the same thorough detail given to the near future as Iain M. Banks does to the far future culture universe.