Hardware Implants Mimic Brain Cells

An anonymous reader writes "PopSci is reporting that Ted Berger, a USC scientist, has been working to engineer a brain implant the mimics the functions of neurons. Early tests on rat brain cells have shown promise, and if successful, Berger's implant could remedy everything from Alzheimer's to absent-mindedness — and reduce memory loss to nothing more than a computer glitch"

Had to be done

[Darth Hubris (26923)]

Press earlobe-eyeball-nose to continue

Re:

[networkBoy (774728)]

Good god a BSOD could be bad.

There is a treatment for Essential Tremor that involves electrical stimulation of the hypothalamus. You can only treat one side of an individual else they may lose the ability to speak. While I would hope this would improve treatment options (seeing as I have a moderate case), I would be fearful of the cpu latching up in some way or another.
-nB

Java?

[HaeMaker (221642)]

Does it run Java?

1.4? 1.5? Colombian?

Re:Java?

[AKAImBatman (238306)]

Does the main bus of your computer run Java? Does it run x86 instructions? Does it run anything of the sort?

This technology appears to be mainly about routing signals, not generating or processing them. It assists with memory by properly storing and retrieving those signals, but it does not interpret them. (As evidenced by his comment, "I don't need to understand music to repair a CD Player.")

The article is correct, however, in that this technology will bring us one step closer to understanding how the brain functions. Since these neurons are artificial, the signals passing through can be sampled and stored on an external device. This would allow researchers to reverse engineer many signals in parallel rather than trying to trace one or two signals through the brain as they've been doing.

Unfortunately, I doubt this technology will outright unlock the secrets of conciousness. Remember how neural networks were intended to be an invaluable research tool into self-awareness? Well, the resulting networks ended up working in a similar but fundamentally different way from the organic brain. That fundamental difference prevented the networks from fully simulating the human brain.

So we'll take the next step forward, and learn where our previous mistakes were. Not to mention, uncover thousands of new questions. :)

Re:

[MillionthMonkey (240664)]

IIRC the Java spec requires a 32-bit von Neumann architecture supported by a filesystem that can support long filenames. If you're smart enough, in principle you can (inefficiently) simulate all these features yourself with a pencil, lots of scrap paper, the information in library JAR files, and the JVM spec. So if the artificial neurons can implement the functionality of the natural ones in intelligent people, you get Java support "for free" and you can avoid "reinventing the wheel" (investors love to hear

Re:

[Ced_Ex (789138)]

Cuban. But it's not open-source just yet.

Time to recycle the MS-Borg icon

[davidwr (791652)]

Methinks it's high time to make a generic borg [slashdot.org] icon for cyborg-tech stories.

Is "PopSci" the old Popular Science mag?

[xxxJonBoyxxx (565205)]

Is "PopSci" the old Popular Science mag? The one with the futuristic scramjets and flying cars on the cover and pages filled with useless gadgets? (I think half its readers went to Wired and the other half went to SlashDot.)

Re:

[Yetihehe (971185)]

Yes, but it's actually updated once a week (so like in real magazine, there are 4 mediocre articles a month (no, i didn't RTFM))

unless you are testifying to congress...

[johnny cashed (590023)]

Then it becomes, "I do not recall" this and "I don't remember" that...

Re:

[Opportunist (166417)]

No, it becomes "Sorry, had a HD crash".

Re:

[Divide By Zero (70303)]

General error reading drive C.
Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail? f
C:\>

I'm sorry, Senator, I seem to have developed some bad sectors.

Windows

[Jason1729 (561790)]

It will run windows and the TOS will say MS owns all your thoughts and you can't think bad things about MS.

Engineered humans?

[Checkmait (1062974)]

I am torn over this idea because clearly it represents a potential major advance in science and a cure to several insidious, incurable (as of today) diseases. We could probably extend the life expectancy of humans by a decade or so.

However, it also presents some less optimistic possibilities: for example, someone might be able to "program" humans as we program computers today. Imagine some terror organization such as Al Qaeda creating a fearless, seven-foot, feel-no-pain specimen....

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[D4rk Fx (862399)]

feel-no-pain specimen....

Well, I hope that they do leave the pain part out. Otherwise there will be a bunch of robots running around screaming:
'Why was I programmed to feel pain!'

Re:

[jfdawes (254678)]

Uhm, maybe because pain is the body's way of telling you that something you're doing to it is causing damage?

Without a pain analog, you get robots that are unable to respond to damage that they did not detect with whatever other senses they have available.

i.e. Just because you didn't feel yourself get shot in the back, doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Re:

[future assassin (639396)]

>However, it also presents some less optimistic possibilities: for example, someone might be able to "program" humans as we program computers today. Imagine some terror organization such as Al Qaeda creating a fearless, seven-foot, feel-no-pain specimen..

Or imagine someone local and maybe you know creating a device that takes you out and then they rob you or even better cause the chip to kill you.

Re:Engineered humans?

[badboy_tw2002 (524611)]

A decade? That's much to short sighted. Something like this could eventually enable immortality. Think about it - if you replace enough neurons, pretty soon most of who you are would live inside the machine. At that point, who's to say where your consciousness lives? Whats to stop you from transferring to a completely electronic brain and living on as long as you have juice? Of course, there's a lot of metaphysics around this - would "you" still be "you", what if you made a copy, etc. etc. Fascinating stuff. Of course, we're a long ways off from it, but if you look where transistors and such were 50 years ago, its not such a stretch to think this will be a possibility in the next few centuries.

Dr Korby?

[XanC (644172)]

Is that you?

What Are Little Girls Made Of? [memory-alpha.org]

Re:

[badboy_tw2002 (524611)]

Heh, its definitely not a new idea. I think TNG had an episode along the same lines. :)

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[Mr Europe (657225)]

Imagine some terror organization such as Al Qaeda creating a fearless, seven-foot, feel-no-pain specimen....

That's why we must immediately start creating patriotic, eight-foot, feel-no-pain fighters !

Same as it ever was

[hypermanng (155858)]

The "software" of the mind isn't the sort of thing you can sit down and code any more than our genes code for basketball skill. I'm sure they could teach people with hardware brains to be all sorts of things, but that's nothing new [amazon.com]. The brain may be suitable for Von Neumann implementation, but the mind can't be written in C++. Or LISP, for that matter.

Minds have to write themselves [ed.ac.uk], or they don't work.

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[Half a dent (952274)]

"Imagine some terror organization such as Al Qaeda creating a fearless, seven-foot, feel-no-pain specimen...."

Unfortunately Al Qaeda didn't need this kind of technology in order to "program" their followers, they did a horribly effective job using traditional methods.

Re:

[Dr. Eggman (932300)]

...and Corporations, Governments, Parents. I think it unfair to only metion religion when talking about 'human programming.' This isn't something that only certain organizations do; all people do it. There is a saying that says people are separated from animals by their desire to control their environment, in reality we are separated by our desire to control everything, including each other.

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[Lord Ender (156273)]

However, it also presents some less optimistic possibilities: for example, someone might be able to "program" humans as we program computers today.

We already have this. It's called "religion," "nationalism," or "racism," depending on the form.

Note: If this seems offensive to you, and you have no doubts (faith) that your religion is the the one true religion, and your country is the best, surely you must admit that those other people over there have been "programmed" into falsely thinking that their religion

Let's do it RIGHT this time!

[StefanJ (88986)]

Let's build DRM into those artificial neurons, so that the Man of the Future loses bladder control and convulsively vomits if he tries to access pirated media.

Re:Let's do it RIGHT this time!

[MoodyLoner (76734)]

I must be running a beta.

Or do American Idol and Survivor do that to everybody?

Re:

[networkBoy (774728)]

Only those above the sheeple advertiser intelligence index.
(they still on the air even? I remember watching survivor but man it was a long time ago (first season))
-nB

You know.....

[LordPhantom (763327)]

I, for one, welcome our new hyper-intelligent engineered-brain rat overlords! I've also invested in cheese futures.

Is absent mindedness something you can "cure"

[antifoidulus (807088)]

or is it just part of being human, and more importantly, a part of who you are as a person? I exhibit all the signs of adult ADD(lets not go into the debate of whether it is really a disease or not) but I refuse to take personality altering drugs. I may wind up more successful etc. but I lose a fundamental part of who I am. I won't take anti-depressents for the same reason. So I personally fail to see how absent mindedness is something different. Its part of who you are, embrace it!

Re:

[Shados (741919)]

Yeah, I agree with you (and I'm about as far from ADD as it gets, so I'm not biaised). The thing really, is that most mental "issues" are simply defined as "Problem XYZ, when XYZ starts being problematic in the person's everyday life". Very, very vague, with no black or white, just an ocean of gray area.

Really, someone with ADD is just someone normal, whom's "Uniqueness" (for lack of better word) is incompatible with sociaty as it is now. The drugs and stuff can be useful, but only in extreme scenarios (in

Re:

[qwijibo (101731)]

Any quirk's need to be "cured" depends on its impact on the individual. If you have a bunch of symptoms that don't impact you severely enough to be willing to try the drugs, you don't need it. Other people could have more or less severe symptoms, but have a much more negative impact on their lives.

If your absentmindedness can be compensated for by checking several times if you locked the door, turned the water off, etc, it's not a big deal. If you are driving, go to change the radio station and get so ca

Re:

[192939495969798999 (58312)]

Having seen Alzheimer's in my family, I can tell you that anything that might cure that would be worth it for me. It is the most horrible tragedy to see someone lose a lifetime of memories, it is unthinkable until you see it for yourself how devastating it really is.

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[mdielmann (514750)]

Seconded. Before I started taking my little white pills, I had more difficulty managing stress, and losing control if stress got too high. I'd been managing this for years without medication, with little success. I was doing things that I didn't want to do. Then the stress point would pass, I'd feel bad, redouble my efforts, and it would happen again sooner or later. Now, I lose control a lot less, when I lose control it's not as bad, and it doesn't last as long. So, depending on how you define it, my

Raises some interesting questions

[Orange Crush (934731)]

I find the philosophical issues especially interesting. How much of the brain can be replaced before the original "self" no longer exists? I guess it doesn't really matter in the scheme of things so long as the pattern is replicated . . . I guess our brains are constantly gradually replaced throughout our lives--the molecules we were born with aren't necessarily the molecules we're currently made out of.

Re:Raises some interesting questions

[Tipa (881911)]

It's that old thought experiment -- if you have an axe and you get a new head for it and then later replace the handle, is it the same axe?

Re:

[brunascle (994197)]

it's more than that, it's also a question of when/if someone loses their sentience/conscious self/soul/whatever you want to call it.

Great mambo Chicken

[bigattichouse (527527)]

See: The Great Mambo Chicken [amazon.com] explores this somewhat.

At what point are you more machine than person?

Re:Great mambo Chicken

[ciaohound (118419)]

At what point are you more machine than person?

Well, if Obi-Wan is any authority on this, I guess it's when you have both arms and legs cut off and you can't live without a breath mask and respirator.

Re:

[Orange Crush (934731)]

This makes me wonder how they'll address the chemical interactions in our brains. What'll happen when large portions of bio-brain have been replaced or augmented by hardware that doesn't respond to or produce neurotransmitters like seratonin or hormones? No sense bolting on silicon if it just turns us into bipolar schizophrenics.

Bender Quote on Considering Move.

[srobert (4099)]

"I have a lot of great memories about my place (presses button) and now they're gone."

I can have dead brain cells repaired?

[Azathfeld (725855)]

YES! Time to go back off the wagon!

At what point do we cease being human?

[Giometrix (932993)]

At what point are we no longer human? Our thoughts stem from the firing of neurons. If half of those neurons are computer chips, was it a human thought or a computer generated though. I'm all for finding cures to Alzheimer's disease, but I do not want to be a glorified computer case. I did not read the article (yet), and I realize that the part of the brain discussed in the article is probably different than the creative parts of the brain, but I still think its a valid question; at what point do we stop being human (as we know it)?

Playing the Alzheimers card to get funding?

[KokorHekkus (986906)]

I don't thing this could be useful for any Alzheimers treatement in a very long time if ever (and we've probably solved it in another way even if it ever gets there).

As I understand it Alzheimers is basically a case of protein misfolding creating amyloid plaques on the neurons and that really screws up the functions (perhaps some with actual medical/biological knowledge can expand on that). Anyway, it's not just one part that you can hot-swap to use a computer term... it's happening all over the affected area. So you're not going to just plop in a new frontal lobe and call that a cure are you?

And yet the researcher goes on and makes a big point of this:

Today an estimated 4.5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's, at an annual cost of some $100 billion, according to the Alzheimer's Association and the National Institute on Aging. "And those figures are just going to climb as my generation gets older," says Berger, who can rattle off the grim statistics from Alzheimer's and other brain disorders that disturb memory. Another 5.3 million Americans are victims of traumatic brain injuries

I do belive that this technology could have many many wonderful uses but that Alzheimers isn't one of them... and by using on of the scariest biggest diseases just to flag down some interest he's doing not only himself but the whole research area a disfavour.

immortality and identity

[harlows_monkeys (106428)]

Suppose you add artificial neurons to a brain, and remove natural neurons as they die. Eventually, you end up with your mind running entirely on artificial neurons. Is your mind now effectively immortal?

And is it still you? Or a copy of you running on the artificial brain? If it is a copy, when does it cease to be you?

If they can act like neurons....

[PotatoHead (12771)]

then, we've got an interesting interface here. Sprinkle a few of these into the motor cortex, then have the person work with feedback systems to learn to differentiate those controls from the natural ones. From there, all sorts of potential exists for communication.

Instead of the computer being an active part of the brain, it becomes more like a PDA that you don't have to carry. Motor feedback signals, generated from the neurons would then become something like morse code.

Would be damn nice to be in a job interview, using Google in real time, while answering the questions with ordinary speech!

Interesting Timing

[jfdawes (254678)]

This guy is making chips that can "talk" to the brain in signals the brain can understand, even if he doesn't know what the signals mean. Pure mimicry.

Oddly enough, the people mentioned in Hacking Our Five Senses (Apr-03-2007) [slashdot.org] are using similarly arbitrary but mechanical means to also send signals to the brain (admitedly using existing pathways).

Would it be possible to combine these two techniques, as well as a few miniturization techniques (and perhaps standard "ports") to enable people to not just replace storage capacity but indeed "add" senses?

Instead of using a belt to buzz "north", use implants to send one of a set of predetermined signals. It won't matter what the signals would originally mean (if anything) - because if Hacking Our Five Senses is any indication, the brain is capable of creating maps for the the new signals anyway.

Borg indeed.

Re:

[D4rk Fx (862399)]

I'd had to lose my mind as often as the average PC loses it's.

I'd say you already do.

Re:

[Elemenope (905108)]

No, no, no! Obviously it's the new and highly successful shotgun approach to English grammar! Shotguns are the wave of the future in lingustics; don't you forget!

I'd call that a feature

[Opportunist (166417)]

Imagine you're led to believe to see some nice hot babe reclining on some car and instead you get to see some rather grossly overweight woman (you know, the one you have to roll in flour to find the wet spots)...

Wouldn't it be really a feature if you could simply eliminate that picture from your memory with but a click?