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It’s Now Possible to Telepathically Communicate with a Drone Swarm
- foobarbecue 8y agoHow's the TX link back into the brain supposed to work then?
- crooked-v 8y agoVery carefully, of course.
- FLUX-YOU 8y agoProbably a raw feeling in the brain instead of something intuitive like having a HUD with green numbers representing pitch/yaw/roll/velocity/etc. suddenly painted over your field of vision. There's likely an encoding step that you have to teach the person before you can interpret the signals from the aircraft. I bet the process is similar to learning Morse code, but with tingling feelings instead of beeps. Even the idea of transmitting strings to a person's brain is a massive step forward. We're likely dealing with "is this a 1 or 0?" and it takes seconds to decide that. Bandwidth is likely really low still.
- mullikine 8y agoI got my EEG to run emacs commands a couple years ago. Long story short, the company I worked for was full of people with no faith or imagination -- automatons. Imagining the future and acting in faith is not easy. You'll be ostracised by your friends and collegues. It is the most frustrating feeling seeing someone else invent the thing you imagined a couple years ago. Too many time-burgelars and traffic lights in this world
- DoreenMichele 8y agoYup. And I'm given hell for getting healthier because that's Verboten and crazy-talk. No clue how one gets past that nonsense.
- laserBro13Fcali 8y agoI quit a six figure job, and that was a tough decision, but paycheck or no, I look back on what would have been, and this month of unemployment is miles, and miles, and miles happier than the same amount of time that would have been spent in service to a machine of cognitive dissonance, cowering at the feet of scrum master goons, boot-licking their rituals like a servile worm. I spent a few weeks kicking myself, because I have to loot various sources of static savings accounts, to make ends meet, until they run dry, and I have no idea what happens after that. But I dug up some old email chains, and they had some videos of the recorded planning sessions, retrospectives, dailies, and conference calls, and it all came flooding back. With every fiber of my being, I know for sure that quitting was the right thing to do. No matter what kind of hell I catch for it. Die on your feet. Never serve on your knees.
- mingee 8y agoA little cynical, but I enjoyed reading this lmao
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- piazz 8y agocowering at the feet of scrum master goons, boot-licking their rituals like a servile worm Truly cinematic imagery, bravo
- DoreenMichele 8y agoIn my quest to get well, I walked away from a corporate job and slept in a tent for nearly six years. Rest assured, I've got the "die on your feet" part down pat. That in no way gives me a path forward for figuring out how to effectively communicate in a meaty way about health topics with knowledgeable people. Though, as others have noted: Wonderfully entertaining comment.
- laserBro13Fcali 8y ago
- tomcam 8y agoI learned working at Microsoft that it's not enough to be ahead of things. You also have to be good at pushing your agenda (I was terrible at it while there). I've decided it's a little like running for political office. Popularity contest? Sure. But it also means that your ideas have to run a gauntlet. You have to defend and reshape them in sometimes-hostile circumstances. Not a bad thing, I now feel.
- ridgeguy 8y agoEEG to machine interface has a long history. Here's a brief article about a 1975 DARPA/SRI program that used EMG and EEG to identify words human subjects were thinking. [1] Computers were a CDC6400 and a LINC-8. The article has a link at the end to the original report (.doc download warning). [1] https://sigint.wordpress.com/2008/01/09/lawrence-pinneo-and-early-brain-computer-interface-research/ https://sigint.wordpress.com/2008/01/09/lawrence-pinneo-and-...
- reaperducer 8y agoProbably a better method than the Atari 2600 version, which gave game testers headaches, so it was cancelled. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Mindlink https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Mindlink
- exikyut 8y agoApparently because of the shape of the headband and not any ill effects of the techniques the device used (just voltage analysis).
- jsjohnst 8y agoHere’s[0] a toy from the late 80s or early 90s that used an EEG like interface to let you control moving a foam ball around an obstacle course. You can see it over in Oakland at MADE. [0] https://instagram.com/p/BZr6F0snJrG/ https://instagram.com/p/BZr6F0snJrG/
- antt 8y ago1). That very cool. 2). There is a huge difference between a prototype that works with the inventor around and several industry experts babysitting it and a working mass market device. Did you ever put up your code?
- mullikine 8y agoDamn. So many hates. Well, very few people will be able to relate to this post I made. I hope I garnered some respect from those clone-humans for people who actually provide entropy to the world though. New information is important
- tjr225 8y agoI wouldn't be too concerned with what other people think. Be honest and move on. I read it, after all.
- laserBro13Fcali 8y agoWell, the unfortunate aspect of HN's ranking system, is that downvotes aren't actually an expression of hate, or even reproach. The reality is, that the motive for any given vote is that of a sort algorithm. Which, you may recognize as: Object.sort(function(a, b){ return (a - b); }); So, what people are really doing is moving things around, strictly with respect to the contents of the thread, as applicable to the conversation at hand. So, even if you are on topic, within some threshold, if you are not the most relevant response, but you're pinned to the top by default, people with the option to move you downward will do so. This is purely a function of rearrangement, in the minds of the downvoters, not unlike moving icons around on the desktop. But of course, for you, the icon in question, to be brushed aside like this, is most certainly an emotional event. Alas.
- anonytrary 8y agoYour holier-than-thou attitude probably put off people who read your comments.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoOh, I got downvoted for replying sympathetically and I think mine was the first reply. I sincerely would be interested in discussion of how one gets past that. I don't know how that's done. I meant that. But it doesn't look like sincere interest in having a meaty discussion. It looks like low substance whining. On HN, if you don't know the right question to move forward, you can get ROFLstomped for opening your mouth at all. Sometimes, you find the right question by trying to talk about it anyway and accepting some downvotes in the process.
- anonytrary 8y agoPeople have been thinking about using EEG signals to control computers for decades. The problem with EEGs is that their bitrate is too low. The skull destroys a ton of high frequency information that prevents EEGs from relaying little more than an "up, down, left, right" level of complexity.
- brennebeck 8y agoDo you mean, essentially, running different commands/runbooks based on the wavelength readings? Am I understanding correctly?
- comboy 8y agoWhat hardware did you use as an inferface? How many different commands where you able to call and how long did it take to execute them? > It is the most frustrating feeling seeing someone else invent the thing you imagined a couple years ago Don't be. Even in much less connected world it was already obvious that inventions are based on what's already out there and are usually not all that unique. This one has documented research from before 1975.
- xrayzerone 8y ago"Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." - Ian Malcolm
- entwife 8y agoPerhaps the only advantage of being paralyzed is that these a surgically implanted direct brain interface is ethical. It's an invasive and risky surgery, but with rewards if the individual can then operate a prosthetic hand.
- sitkack 8y agoEpilepsy patients with in brain electrodes are a hot commodity. Maybe try being a postdoc or grad student in China?
- brennebeck 8y agoEven as an epileptic I am not aware how common this is? Though, it also seems primarily related to EEG capabilities rather than seizure-control. Edit: minor grammar/tense
- a-dub 8y agoAt the very least it is part of the standard treatment protocol for those who have surgical resection. (implant electrodes, remove drugs, wait for seizure, use recording to guide resection). Although it seems that the typical grids, strips and laminar electrodes that are good for research are disappearing in favor of stereo-eeg which is much less invasive.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- anta40 8y agoImagine controlling weaponized drone swarm with this. Probably something like Magneto would do. Scary? :D
- A2017U1 8y agoGiven the state of computing, no. I'd be more worried about my brain chip having poorly implemented crypto with legally mandated backdoors from 7 different countries and security updates requiring surgery. A simple radio transceiver will probably hold it's own for the near future. Weaponised drones wielded by violent individuals scares the shit out of me.
- freshhawk 8y agoNever mind that I can perform fast and accurate manipulations with my hands better than anyone will be able to learn to manipulate their brain chip any time soon. Hell, I'd put money on someone using their feet to operate a radio transmitter over the brain chip given equal amounts of time to practice. And I think I would win that bet for the rest of my life at least. Of course, we all agree there is definitely a coolness factor at play. It is undeniably cool.
- leggomylibro 8y agoI think it's important to note the, "A person with a brain chip" part of the article. Don't get me wrong, if I had a condition that required brain surgery I'd jump at the chance to get an electrode mat placed on my brain. But it's a very invasive procedure, similar to deep-brain stimulation; it sounds like we're still a ways from high-quality transcranial BCI despite the article's header image.
- nanna 8y agoMore info here on brain computer interfaces here in the linked article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165027014002702 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016502701... Interesting to read that its history goes back to Grey Walter, the British cyberneticist most known for inventing the robot turtles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Grey_Walter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Grey_Walter
- amelius 8y agoProbably can do something similar with fMRI.
- jpalomaki 8y agoInteresting if you could feed information from drones and various other sensors directly into soldiers brain. Maybe this information, with enough practise, could merge in brains with data from your own senses.
- jcelerier 8y agowhy the hell are we still searching for aliens when we are clearly the freakin aliens of every SF book
- serversystem 8y agoDon't forget, all our books are written in our image
- 3chelon 8y agoIsn't that one of the main points of sci fi?
- cx_in_the_chat_ 8y agoAvatar from 2009 anyone? Seems like James Cameron keeps getting things right again and again. Events from the Terminator are also right behind the corner from taking place.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoBefore humans actually set foot on the moon, we first wrote stories about traveling to the moon. We did this for a couple hundred years or more before making it a reality. We dream the future into existence. Solution: We need better dreams, because these outcomes aren't inevitable.
- rebuilder 8y agoNo mention of what type of operation this enables, what kind of input the user is able to experience etc. In other words, I wouldn't take this article very seriously.
- tempodox 8y agoI'm curious to see how long it will take us to go full Deus Ex from here.
- 3chelon 8y agoI reckon quite a while.
- stupidcar 8y agoNever mind a swarm, what about controlling just a single drone? There are people in persistent vegetative states who can be communicated with via MRI scanners and appear to be essentially conscious but locked into their body. What if, with consent gained via MRI, you implanted this chip into them, and trained them to remotely control an always-on drone, which had visual and audio sensors streaming to a VR HUD and headphones on the vegetative person? Could this let these people continue their lives in a new, drone body? How would society deal with that? Over time, it would be difficult to deny these drone avatars the same kinds of rights we award to physical citizens, e.g. to travel freely and not to be unduly harmed. Could the same be done with people suffering full-body paralysis? Or by people in wheelchairs to go to places otherwise inaccessible? Once society became accustomed to drone avatars interacting with physical humans, might rich-enough, able-bodied people start to also use them in some circumstances. After all, there are advantages, not least the safety factory of not putting your physical body and mind at risk. Eventually, could this lead to a class of citizens who interact only via drone avatars?
- beaconstudios 8y agothere's a film about this concept - Surrogates.
- technotony 8y agoWe can do better than MRI and VR HUD's. There's already active research based on this which is working[1]. That's the basis for Neurolink's R&D too[2] [1]https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wireless-brain-implant-allows-ldquo-locked-in-rdquo-woman-to-communicate/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wireless-brain-im... [2]https://www.neuralink.com/ https://www.neuralink.com/
- xkcd-sucks 8y agoOh there's a really good film about this: "Sleep Dealer," a Mexican film.
- childintime 8y agoOne might say the device only does "signal inference", as opposed to telepathy. But interestingly, maybe a telepath does the same thing (thus requiring ability), but at a distance, and via a different (as yet unqualified) medium.
- peter_d_sherman 8y agoCerebro 1.0! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebro
- bitwize 8y agoThe Microbots from Big Hero 6 sprang immediately to mind.