A Brain Implant For Synthetic Memory 87
the_newsbeagle (2532562) writes "People who have experienced traumatic brain injuries sometimes lose the ability to form new memories or recall old ones. Since many veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan suffered TBIs, the U.S. military is funding research on an implantable device that could do the job of damaged brain cells."
Lofty goals: "To start, DARPA will support the development of multi-scale computational models with high spatial and temporal resolution that describe how neurons code declarative memories — those well-defined parcels of knowledge that can be consciously recalled and described in words, such as events, times, and places. Researchers will also explore new methods for analysis and decoding of neural signals to understand how targeted stimulation might be applied to help the brain reestablish an ability to encode new memories following brain injury. ... Building on this foundational work, researchers will attempt to integrate the computational models ... into new, implantable, closed-loop systems able to deliver targeted neural stimulation that may ultimately help restore memory function."
Forget reading, GET AN IMPLANT! (Score:1)
This is awesome. no more need to learn, just get upgrades!
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This is awesome. no more need to learn, just get upgrades!
That is decades away. This research is just the first baby steps of trying to understand how memories are stored in neural patterns. It will be a while before any useful treatments come out of this. It is possible that we will eventually be able to implant knowledge modules instead of reading books and taking classes, but a lot of basic research needs to be done first.
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"a lot of basic research needs to be done first" == "is unlikely to happen in your lifetime"
Re:Forget reading, GET AN IMPLANT! (Score:5, Interesting)
"a lot of basic research needs to be done first" == "is unlikely to happen in your lifetime"
In high school I took a science fiction class, and we read the Foundation Trilogy [wikipedia.org], which contains a description of the Encyclopedia Galactica [wikipedia.org] which was an instantly available compendium of human knowledge. When a student mentioned that it would be cool if we actually had something like that, most people agreed that "it won't happen in our lifetime".
When I first used the Internet in 1982, it seemed almost magical how I could communicate with people and instantly download files from dozens of computers. I mentioned that it would be really slick if everyone had access to something like that. The lab director laughed and said "not in our lifetime".
Most "not in our lifetime" forecasts underestimate the exponential nature of progress. Once a certain critical mass of knowledge has accumulated, additional progress can be astonishingly fast.
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I think you're comparing apples to oranges. For every example like the ones you gave, there seem to be just as many like jetpacks and the flying car that have just never happened long, long after everyone assumed they should.
The way I see it, the difference is all about how clearly dangerous experimentation in a certain field happens to be to human lives and how much infrastructure needs to be built out to make a given iteration of the tech useful. Computer and telecommunications tend to evolve extremely
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Jetpacks and flying cars are already completely possible. It's only cost and practicality that keeps them at bay.
Implantable memory even if VERY expensive would be very useful. Why go to college when you can pay $40k
and have a college degree without also having to give up 4 years of earning potential to get it.
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and have a college degree without also having to give up 4 years of earning potential to get it."
I think you seriously underestimate what "VERY expensive" means. That is what such a technology might cost when at the dirt cheap and commonplace level. Anytime in the first 20 years I doubt you'd see a BLANK implant that wasn't priced in the millions.
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That's assuming you disregard economies of scale.
The only reason prosthetics cost a crapload (sometimes upwards of $100,000) is because each one has to be manufactured specifically to match its intended recipient. Kind of like those concept cars that cost millions even though they aren't that much better than something you can already own. 3d printing is dramatically reducing the manufacturing costs and making mass customization available to more things though, so the price of prosthesis is just now beginni
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That is a factor but not the biggest one. It's about demand. In the US we have a so called medical "free market" so the cost is as much as the market will allow. So, if you are missing a leg, how much is a prosthetic worth to you? You'll find that unlike with say, a stick of gum, the answer will vary dramatically with the key differentiators be
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Even if that was the case (which nothing I've ever seen indicates that it is; again, see my concept car example) I think it's vastly preferable to none being available at all.
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The healthcare market in the United States is an especially horrible expensive nightmare. The tax dollars spent (inclusive of tax breaks) providing no healthcare are more per capita than most nations with nationalized healthcare spend providing total coverage per capita. While the care provided generally isn't sub-par and excels in some areas it really is
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The issue is the energy density of the fuel. If the energy density is low it takes a lot of fuel, which reduces flight time. If the energy density is high, it's a bomb strapped to someone's back, which means adding safety features, which add weight, which reduces flight time.
Jetpacks have been made, and they do work, but only for short times. You'll never fly around in one like a helicopter, the chemistry simply doesn't support it.
Sadly, Robbie Roc
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Why don't we just skip the bullshit and put something with both mesh and infrastructure wireless technology in so that it automatically links both to other modules and to a tunneled network in the internet automatically integrating everyones brains into a massive network of shared memory and artificial memory. We
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To have a prosthetic memory what you need is a computer that can remember stuff - video, audio, photos, text etc. Preferably wearable. Then what you need is to attach a device to appropriate parts of your brain that reads thought patterns that are distinctive depending on what you are thinking (elephants, purple etc). The device does NOT have to decipher or understand what you are thinking. All it needs to do is assoc
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Hit me! (Score:1)
All that's missing is Ice-T, Henry Rollins and a Dolphin with an Oculus rift headset.
Where can I apply (Score:2)
to get one?
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Iraq.
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Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:apply this technology where it counts. (Score:4, Insightful)
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Pigs have neither morality nor ethics although they will espouse both during an election.
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" This next-generation of politician could one day come to understand the moral and sociopolitical repercussions of things like intentionally shutting down the government."
You mean like having successfully pandered to your constitutes so that you'll be re-elected and can continue to profit from sellin
stop going to war (Score:4, Insightful)
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If you want to eliminate military conflict, you have to address the root causes. Simply refusing to participate doesn't make it stop happening.
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War kills/maims a lot of people, yes... but as a species, it seems the majority of our technical innovation has been driven by conflict.
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They're back to fighting each other. Which is the natural state of things.
At this point, all we need to do is ship a few weapons to whoever is losing at the moment.
you must've slept through history class son... (Score:2)
Who the hell invaded who in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Iran and the USSR ?
This book must be out of date: I don't see "Prussia", "Siam", or "autogyro".
Lies, they want to make killer robots. (Score:2)
We are doomed.
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They sure do want to make killer robots but this has little to do with it.
If you want to look into the dystopian aspects of this technology however, consider the effective intelligence boost that would come with high-capacity, high-reliability memory and then consider the cost of elective brain surgery. Right now the rich aren't any smarter than the rest of us, what if they were!?
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Right now the rich aren't any smarter than the rest of us, what if they were!?
If they aren't, how come they're rich?
Download vs indexing (Score:5, Insightful)
All of the schemes to 'download' information to a human brain ignore indexing. That means if you were to say download a german dictionary to someone's human mind, they could NOT just speak german - nor could they understand it.
Instead, they would have to laboriously spend hours thinking about every single german word, and eventually teach themselves german, from the memories they had installed.
Indexing is the creation of relationships. Furthermore memories are not indexed just one way. The word dollar for example is indexed as a currency, as an example of words that begin with the letter d, as a kind of store, as pronunciation, and as rhyming with the word Holler. etc etc. etc.
Memory is not a simple thing, but a very complex web of connections.
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Any effort to emulate or restore declarative memory will obviously include emulating the association and activation networks that drive it. Believe it or not, the people doing this kind of research already realize that.
Nobody is talking about adding a USB port so you can plug a thumb drive into your hippocampus and instantly "know" everything contained on it. That would be great, but there's a lot of other work to do first, as you say.
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That's going to be extremely difficult but less so than implanting memories, especially from a source other than you.
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Instead, they would have to laboriously spend hours thinking about every single german word, and eventually teach themselves german, from the memories they had installed.
This could still result in learning German in a matter of days vs months. Perfect is the enemy of good, even if everything you say is 100% accurate (and I doubt there's any convincing evidence that the brain works like an indexed database) you could still see orders of magnitude improvement in the time it takes to learn new things.
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Hope they've reduced the incidence of iatrogenic schizophrenia...
Dan Aris
Manchurian candidate? (Score:3)
Davros has to be stopped (Score:2)
When the program started, we all thought we working on a way to help the injured be able to learn again. But things have been heading a different direction lately. We have a meeting later, those who agree with us. Don't tell Nyder.
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Would it be possible to book a rendez-vous with the doctor in advance, just in case the operation goes wrong?
Guns, lots of Guns (Score:2)
Who says they need to replace existing memories? Booting up 5 years of flight school after one operation seems like an obvious use of this technology. Downloading a full Chinese or Korean vocabulary would be handy as well. Even if training the muscles took time, having the data local would sure expedite the process. Think of all the roles, military and otherwise that require memorization of facts/processes and the applications of this tech become had to imagine.
SD
I can recall it for you wholesale (Score:3)
Jonny Mnemonic is real. Hack the Gibson. I know how you're wired, cowboy. It was hot the night we burnt Chrome.
Better still (Score:2, Redundant)
Let's apply this towards eventually getting Matrix-styled learning models. Eventually we could implant memories of how to perform any skill. We could enable permanent muscle-memory learning instantaneously. Not only learning karate but being able to apply the lessons with strength and precision. Never having to work out to be in shape. Understanding advanced physics without ever taking a course at a university or even having any partial interest in the subject. That's a step towards singularity.
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"Information is not knowledge." and "Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein.
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*Warning: Dollhouse spoilers ahead*
Meh, if they can replace all memory then the first step will be better hookers. Why settle for a hooker that knows she only pretends to love you when you can order one who doesn't know it's only pretend?
Next step will be programmable assasins.
Third step will be a programmed president. Why bribe the current one when you can replace him with one you own?
Fourth step will be a bigger problem, but it'll take the a while to figure out how to program people over the phone without
Say goodbye to your 5th amendment rights. (Score:2)
Not a good idea (Score:2)
Do we really want to depend on computers for our knowledge [wikipedia.org] and our memories [wikipedia.org]?
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I don't see why not [adamcadre.ac].
Military In Charge? (Score:3)
Fund the research by building in targeted ads! (Score:2)
Google* and others should be willing to pour big bucks into the research. We may as well bow to the inevitable and let them build DRM, mandatory personality profile tracking, and advertising insertion right into artificial memory creation standards.
* New motto: "We'll figure out what 'evil' is and then not do it."
Don't stop there (Score:1)
Works great (Score:3)
But this damned dog [slashdot.org] keeps following me around, barking.
Implications for copyright? (Score:3)
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No you won't be abled to do thought crime, as you will get DRM into your implant. Everything you know will be uploaded to google, and then the "rights owners" can browse through the thoughts of humanity to find and delete "infringing content".
Better put in an "inhbitor chip"! (Score:2)
Just what we needed... (Score:1)
A world where Comcast can slow down access to your Cloud Brain unless your Brain provider pays them for the same file transfer you are already paying them for. Damn you future Comcast! Damn you!
Many uses. (Score:2)
So you can create a chip with a memory of having been waterboarded 176 times plus the usual amount of testicular electrification and use it on other prisoners?
Nice.
Now at crazy bob's (Score:2)
Welcome to crazy bob's cyberspace good stuff emporium where a spot in the matrix will win you one of these awards
Applied use (Score:2)
Healing or making programmable cyborgs ? (Score:1)
This would lead to some highly prospective military applications...
To medicine point of view, I think we may prefer getting regenerative medicine first.
If you intellectually understand *how* memories... (Score:2)
implant signals, and neural interfaces (Score:1)
Is this just a precursor for implanting signals into a brain (totally scifi), but from my understanding encryption and "packet" injection/hijacking is far easier than decryption... so wouldn't it provide "them" the building blocks to push direct data/memories etc into the brain? Just a thought.
The other thought was this tech in combination with reactionary neural sensory tech (currently available off the shelf) would lead to direct neural interfaces for "their" upcoming Mech's - I prefer that term than the