9 ms·
Scientists 'Inject' Information into Monkeys’ Brains
- tabtab 9y agoCan this be used to make lazy and clueless politicians smarter?
- dang 9y agoPlease don't post like this here. We're trying for at least a little higher quality than internet-standard.
- jakeogh 9y ago"Now, imagine that you had a device implanted in your brain that could shortcut the pathway and “inject” information straight into your premotor cortex." "you" just "imagine" Like "you" made it and had top-to-bottom control if it's makeup. Does it come with encrypted microcode updates? The NYT keeps writing better distillations of itself; clinging the idea that they [frame] tomorrow. https://i.imgur.com/VUdcIou.jpg https://i.imgur.com/VUdcIou.jpg I should stop, it's just for stroke patients and people who need it anyway. Why worry? Litho masks are a trade secret. Only technophobes want disabled people to have outdated chips.
- musage 9y agoThis is the only worthwhile comment IMO. This is where discussion that isn't a joke would begin. We can't even hold people who start wars of aggression accountable, we'd rather destroy food to keep prices up than feed the world, but brain/machine interfaces? That's all for helping people. Yeah, right. People who believe that have lost the plot on such a fundamental level that you don't even have to criticize them for them to be offended; you just have to not fall for it to have their insecurity come gushing.
- bfuller 9y agoThe monkeys reported after the procedure that they now knew kung fu
- wadkar 9y agoI fail to see how this helps the discussion on the topic. Perhaps I am taking your comments too seriously.
- kruhft 9y agoIt's a Matrix reference. /woosh
- bespoke_engnr 9y agoExplanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vMO3XmNXe4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vMO3XmNXe4
- Klasiaster 9y agoScience should foremost follow a moral and ethical attitude instead of just trying out what seems to be possible. Who gives them the right to destroy the brain of an ape for dubious activities. More empathy please if science should take us somewhere better.
- jakeogh 9y agoFire good, explosions bad?
- runesoerensen 9y agoThis isn't really responsive to grandparent's comment, which seem more concerned with the scientific process than the actual findings. Also, explosions can be good, too. The Nobel prize wasn't named after a terrorist :)
- jakeogh 9y agoSure it is, the point is you cant separate discovery between good and bad until after the fact with an opinion. GP thinks morals should guide self censorship of discovery before the discovery, like somehow discovers know repercussions beforehand and should avoid particular avenues because that will somehow stop others who ignored the review board. It wont happen. Someone will try it. What does saying "dont look here" do?
- runesoerensen 9y agoThat depends entirely on the ethics and morals you choose to adopt. There are certainly ethics that allow you to assess the moral worth of an action prior to knowing the result. For instance, deontologists like Kant would not care about the outcome to determine whether an action is right or wrong. "Act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law" Utilitarianists such as Mill would seek to maximize utility and would very much factor in the end result.
- notsgnik 9y agoit seams that the brain game is starting, computer/brain interaction here we go :d
- matte_black 9y agoPretty soon companies will only want to hire developers augmented with brain interfaces. And why wouldn’t they? Such developers could build entire systems at the speed of thought.
- beebmam 9y agoAre you being ironic? This won't be available to the public, much less even invented for at least a generation or two.
- tim333 9y agoAnd the developers will have been replaced by AIs by then.
- nnq 9y agoExactly this. The order in which technological advances will take place as we approach whatever the "singularity" will be will not match our intuition at all! Imho the future will surprise the shit out of us, despite our ability to anticipate some of the advances... The order shit will happen in will surprise everyone and lead to really unexpected events. Hopefully we can handle at least some of the things right and steer stuff towards a "successful merge" ( https://medium.com/wordsthatmatter/merge-now-430c6d89d1fe https://medium.com/wordsthatmatter/merge-now-430c6d89d1fe )
- pault 9y agoIt better get sorted out before the oceans turn to acid and everything south of Greenland becomes uninhabitable.
- 9y ago
- allenz 9y agoSummary: Two monkeys were able to learn to perform specific movements in response to microelectrode stimulation at corresponding (arbitrarily chosen) loci in the premotor cortex. The stimulation was too low to directly drive muscle movements. The brain can learn to recognize signals from cochlear implants and other neuroprosthetics, and this study shows that monkeys can also learn to recognize signals from deeper implants. Note that previous studies have suggested that the premotor cortex has a role in associating stimuli and movements: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premotor_cortex#PMDr(F7) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premotor_cortex#PMDr(F7) The researchers speculate that the stimulation "may have evoked somatosensory and/or visual percepts, desires to move particular body parts, or other internal urges or thoughts, any of which the monkeys could have used as instructions".
- Balgair 9y agoHow long did the experiment last for? Were they able to replicate the results in the same monkeys at a later date, or was this only for a month or so?
- allenz 9y agoThey only say that they performed nearly 200 sessions per monkey, where each session involves multiple movement task trials. You would have to contact the author for details: mschiebe@ur.rochester.edu They don't report testing whether the learned associations persist, although that would certainly be interesting.
- Balgair 9y agoI was more interested in the 'decay' of the electrodes over months, i.e. can these be chronic implants that work. Still, thanks for the info!
- dep_b 9y agoOh what don't they invent to make me watch ads!
- luk32 9y agoI think the title is misleading. Quite highly. They didn't inject information. They injected stimuli for some sensation, and monkeys learned how to interpret it. So, what they did is they gave monkeys spidey senses, which they could trigger. And would make equally catchy title.