BMI: Brain Machine Interface. Is this the future?

I've recently been checking up on this, and it is really cool.

Basically, they can install a chip in your brain allowing you to control machines with your thoughts.

Imagine the implications. Once mechanical limbs catch up with technology, we could soon be replacing our arms and be able to control them with our minds.

We could directly interfacce with the Internet.

Just think about all that could be done with this technology.

I can finally replace my left arm with something more useful.

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I'm betting the first commercial uses will involve copious amounts of porn/sex.

edited 19th Feb '12 8:46:32 AM by Ekuran

Oh brilliant. Brain controlled VR glasses. Or the metric boatload of other NSFW options you could use it for. The world is officially doomed. xD

But yeah, should we manage to get such machines I'll probably stay away from replacing my arm with a roboarm or having internal implants. Keep 'em external and I'm fine; internal... eh, as a guy who loves machines, I know how prone they are to breaking. If my roboarm malfunctions, it's a little hard to get rid of, it being attached to me and all. If my exosuit arm malfunctions, I simply get it off of me.

This'll be great for disabled peeps though.

First thing I thought when I saw this topic?

One Must Fall.

Fuck yes.

Somehow you know that the time is right.

I would go for a near-full body replacement. Do me up like Adam Jensen from Human Revolution and let me at it. Wouldn't be fussed doing whatever stuff needed to repay ya.

edited 19th Feb '12 11:11:02 AM by TamH70

I wouldn't replace my arm, I'd just have a shell for it.

One that can fire tranquilliser darts.

Also I'd have one eye replaced.

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If you are going cyborg, why not go full cyborg?

I like to be able to go out during the day.

That and I can still call myself a human.

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Implanting a chip in your brain and controlling a machine with it and replacing parts of your body are two very different things, guys. Interrelated, but I think it's going to be a while before this has any noticeable affects on the types of prostetics we use. We'll probably be using robots through this brain chip method before cyborgs are a thing.

Both are a ways off, though.

Never go full cyborg.

Somehow you know that the time is right.

You can get the chip, and an shell for your arm (Basically, an armoured arm) then control other functions of the exoarm while using your biological arm to control movement

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This kind of technology is already available, actually. For paraplegics and the like.

Nerve-controlled artificial body parts are nowhere as sensitive and precise as real ones, obviously, and connecting the brain directly to computers requires, well, implanting sensors in the brain, so it's no surprise that it's not something that otherwise healthy people would generally do; but the technology definitely exists already.

I am generally wary of overly optimistic predictions about technological progress; but I'd be very surprised if widespread, non-intrusive brain machine interfaces were further away than, let's say, 15 years or so.

But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.

What is human? Meat sack surrounding the finest brains ever to evolve on the planet.

Human is just a label we call ourselves because we don't know any better. Much rather be a hanzer. Have eyes that could see in the dark as well as in the day and have perfect distance vision 24/7. Have strength enough to bench press cars, yet enough motor control to hold a quail's egg without cracking it.

Brain chip is just the start. You know it, I know it. Sooner it happens, the better.

edited 19th Feb '12 11:22:29 AM by TamH70

See, fifteen years seems like too optimistic a prediction to me. This seems like the kind of thing that spends years in development before it's both considered an effective medical treatment and is also affordable. (Able to be covered by medical insurance and the like.)

That and I have to say that I am not so unsatisfied with my current condition that I feel compelled to go out and get stuff added to me that ultimately would seem to serve no purpose other than feed my ego.

Making an assumption about what I know, particularly in a subject that is almost entirely about opinions, is rather short sighted of you. I don't think adding machines onto the human body just because it's cool is better or serves any purpose whatsoever. When it comes to the human body and its relative delicacy, I say if it's not broke don't fix it.

edited 19th Feb '12 11:27:58 AM by AceofSpades

Delicacy? Nah, crude is how I describe it. If the human digestive system was more efficient, you simply wouldn't see fat people. You would either burn the excess fat in food away or you would excrete it.

And I am short sighted. Literally. I would rather have bionic eyeballs rather than fart about wearing glasses or contacts.

edited 19th Feb '12 12:38:22 PM by TamH70

This would be the clincher for me. I'm not getting a chip in my head for anything short of fixing quadriplegia — doing it to play solitaire on a palm pilot is right the fuck out.

edited 19th Feb '12 2:19:20 PM by Pykrete

I've been waiting for a Direct Neural Interface since the goddamn 80s. You know, Cyberpunk and all that, with a virtual reality Matrix and so on

edited 19th Feb '12 3:02:22 PM by Octo

Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken. Unrelated ME1 Fanfic

VR Matrix is one of those things that my first thought is "oh, sweet!", but my second thought is "holy shit creepy DX."

edited 19th Feb '12 3:11:19 PM by Pykrete

I think bionic eyeballs are even further away than other prosthesis. Replicating the functions of that and then basically wiring something into your brain has got to be a lot more complicated than learning how to control a metal arm.

Also, that was probably the wrong thing to say about fat people. Add into the fact that given most of our history food wasn't in such supply as it is today, and our system is exactly as efficient as it needs to be; our bodies are designed to store fat for times when we lack a steady food source. And then there's the myriad disorders that can lead to those issues.

In any case, this topic is more about brain machine interface, not turning us into cyborgs. I could see this being useful for things like space exploration; a guy can hook himself into an interface with a whole prosthetic body down wherever it is people can't actually go. Almost like being there yourself. But that's just because space exploration is something that interests me.

I won't deny that the human body is an incredbibly complex thing. Nature is far more complex than our most powerful technology.

However, I don't see that as an excuse to not grant us further control over our technology. If the chip is safe and effective, I see no reason why it wouldn't work.

This isn't about becoming another being, this is about having greater control over what we already are. I fully intend to remain human.

Current "thought controlled" technological developments don't require anything more intrusive than a really big hat and if we have the ability to read the brain from outside then I don't see how the next development is to go inside but to improve the external imaging and understanding that it allows for more precise control. Though there I'm talking just about device control with no stimulation of the user and no feedback. It's something that can beat 15 years, I reckon.

Well done. You've demonstrated a lack of understanding about the importance of storage and the meaning of the word efficiency.

Next week, we'll abuse the design concept of redundancy and the word "precisely".

Backwards actually. My understanding of fat storage is limited as I'm not too familiar with the specific biological processes, but you'd either need to be less efficient (which would raise the base cost of survival), or have a system that just ignores any excess food added. It would be easier to just lower the amount of food craved.

Fight smart, not fair.

The truth is that no amount of augments or technology will solve our real problem.

You can't quit being a member of the human race, no matter how hard you try. If you replace your arms, your body will malfunction. If you replace your heart, your liver can still fail.

We're all going to die. The best we can do in this mortal coil is to make ourselves comfortable in the short existence we live.

All this stuff is cool, but it can't save us.

I hope at some point the military pays for shit like this for me for free.

^

My desire is to live past the expiration date of all of my organs except the brain. When my brain starts to get fucked up, it's time to go. Sort of like a Dreadnaught from 40k..

edited 19th Feb '12 5:45:37 PM by Barkey