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"An implanted memory prosthetic would have electrodes to record signals during learning, a microprocessor to do the computations, and electrodes that stimulate

"An implanted memory prosthetic would have electrodes to record signals during learning, a microprocessor to do the computations, and electrodes that stimulate neurons to encode the information as a memory." or in other words -- we record "signals", then compute something, and finally "stimulate" the neurons. I appreciate that this isn't a scientific report but this borders on parody. The magnitude of technical, computational and biological problems to be solved here in order to achieve anything even remotely close to the headline would require 3-4 major scientific breakthroughs. With all respect, you don't publish them in IEEE proceedings.

bognition 10y ago
exactly!
newsbeagle 10y ago
Here's more technical detail from IEEE Spectrum on memory prosthetics, from an article about a similarly ambitious DARPA project: http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/darpa-project-starts-building-human-memory-prosthetics http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/darpa-project-st...
jdpigeon 10y ago
Their early experiments did pretty well with hardly any computation at all -- just recreating previously recorded patterns of activity. They can probably do some pretty cool stuff by adding machine learning (which they're definitely interested in based on who they're hiring)
semi-extrinsic 10y ago
Even assuming we could do a good brain prostethic, with our current computer hardware and software, what would it be able to do? What springs first to mind is remembering lots of data, or doing arithmetic fast. But would such a brain prostethic offer any real-world benefits over a human using a laptop or calculator? OTOH, I suppose you could record signals from someone skilled in something, and then use those to augment training of someone else. Like in The Matrix. But by then we would be bumping into what today are philosophical questions, like "how compatible are different people's mental models of self and of the world"? Also, what would this mean for e.g. eyewitnesses used in court? In a dystopian world, you could always imagine some criminal gang "programming" otherwise reliable eyewitnesses to give them alibis. Or even a shady government implanting memories of a crime into someone's head, in order to make them confess to that crime. Or, suppose that a government could literally read your mind and tell if you did something or not. Would you be protected from that under the Fifth Amendment?

bognition 10y ago

exactly!

newsbeagle 10y ago

Here's more technical detail from IEEE Spectrum on memory prosthetics, from an article about a similarly ambitious DARPA project: http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/darpa-project-starts-building-human-memory-prosthetics http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/darpa-project-st...

jdpigeon 10y ago

Their early experiments did pretty well with hardly any computation at all -- just recreating previously recorded patterns of activity. They can probably do some pretty cool stuff by adding machine learning (which they're definitely interested in based on who they're hiring)

semi-extrinsic 10y ago

Even assuming we could do a good brain prostethic, with our current computer hardware and software, what would it be able to do? What springs first to mind is remembering lots of data, or doing arithmetic fast. But would such a brain prostethic offer any real-world benefits over a human using a laptop or calculator? OTOH, I suppose you could record signals from someone skilled in something, and then use those to augment training of someone else. Like in The Matrix. But by then we would be bumping into what today are philosophical questions, like "how compatible are different people's mental models of self and of the world"? Also, what would this mean for e.g. eyewitnesses used in court? In a dystopian world, you could always imagine some criminal gang "programming" otherwise reliable eyewitnesses to give them alibis. Or even a shady government implanting memories of a crime into someone's head, in order to make them confess to that crime. Or, suppose that a government could literally read your mind and tell if you did something or not. Would you be protected from that under the Fifth Amendment?