Words

This Wired article talks about a brain-computer interface that allows a man with a severed spinal cord to beat people in Pong, operate various devices in his room, and use the Internet. BCIs examine neural activity to learn how to interpret certain impulses from the human brain - “raise my left arm,” “lower my left leg,” etc. The interface used by this particular individual monitors many neurons in the motor cortex and sends the data to a powerful computer via optical cable.

One of the cool things that could be done with this technology, aside from helping people with brain or spinal cord injuries to gain more independence, might be figuring out how to decipher signals from the human brain in general. Let us say that we implant these devices into the brains of a hundred people, and get a profile for how each person’s brain composes control signals. Let us then analyze each profile, and try to figure out the strength of correlation between profiles. What would we come up with? How much variance would be introduced by differences in placement of the electrodes? Would the profiles be nothing but noise compared to each other, or would there be similarities? What would that similarity be? 10%? 47%? 99.7%?

As this technology advances, it isn’t inconceivable that we could learn how to make it work in two directions. Neural pacemakers are already used by many epilleptics to help control brain activity. A BCI could be used to transmit data into the human brain, which could then synthesize it into useful information, in much the same way that it synthesizes analogue signals from the senses into sound and vision. The deaf might hear, the blind might see, and the paralyzed might get “force feedback” from their own limbs. The brain is capable of adapting to the implants; after a while, it figures out how to move the cursor around by thought alone, without involving the metaphor of moving one’s limbs.

Advances in this field could provide an incredible yield in the coming decades - and not just for people with brain injuries, or rich technology enthusiasts. I’ll probably write more on that in a future article.