3 ms·

One benefit of using hardware is not all persons have to be in the same location: "The Senders' decisions are transmitted via the Internet to the brain of a thi

by Gys 8y ago

One benefit of using hardware is not all persons have to be in the same location: "The Senders' decisions are transmitted via the Internet to the brain of a third subject, the "Receiver," who cannot see the game screen."

carapace 8y ago
That's a good point, and it immediately makes me wonder what kind of e.g. camera and monitor might be enough to enable remote synchronization between brains. There are so many options. You could transmit signals carrying things like pulse and breath rate as well as visual and audio. My sense of urgency comes from my desire that folks reading this on HN realize that the "magic sauce" is in the brains not the comm channel. I've been trying to get traction on this idea for years: if you want a mind-machine interface you keep the hardware simple and let the most advanced processor do the tough part of the job. (In case it's not crystal clear, the most advance processor in ANY technological system is the one between your ears, eh?) Metaphorically, the hardware should be seen as one of those cheap, dumb modems that offload most of the work to the CPU on the motherboard. With a little bit of hypnosis and the crudest of GSR (galvanic skin response) sensors you can make a brain-machine interface at home that would blow your mind (not literally.) Anticipating the next question: "If it's so easy why isn't everyone doing it?" Well, smart-alec, it's because it requires a major adjustment of one's self-image, that most people can't handle or even imagine, so (for example) it could never become a mass-market consumer product. We have had the technology for decades. The limiting factor is belief. That's why this "BrainNet" is exciting: not because they used such a crude interconnect, but because they did it in a way that opens a wedge for the idea that this stuff is possible at all. As soon as you grasp that the doors fling open to all sorts of fantastic possibilities. (And pitfalls: you and your brain are not the same thing and will occasionally find yourselves working at cross-purposes. At times like that you'll probably NOT want your brain to be directly wired into your "smart" home and have all your passwords, eh? Like I said, this requires a major adjustment of one's self-image.)

by Gys 8y ago

carapace 8y ago

That's a good point, and it immediately makes me wonder what kind of e.g. camera and monitor might be enough to enable remote synchronization between brains. There are so many options. You could transmit signals carrying things like pulse and breath rate as well as visual and audio. My sense of urgency comes from my desire that folks reading this on HN realize that the "magic sauce" is in the brains not the comm channel. I've been trying to get traction on this idea for years: if you want a mind-machine interface you keep the hardware simple and let the most advanced processor do the tough part of the job. (In case it's not crystal clear, the most advance processor in ANY technological system is the one between your ears, eh?) Metaphorically, the hardware should be seen as one of those cheap, dumb modems that offload most of the work to the CPU on the motherboard. With a little bit of hypnosis and the crudest of GSR (galvanic skin response) sensors you can make a brain-machine interface at home that would blow your mind (not literally.) Anticipating the next question: "If it's so easy why isn't everyone doing it?" Well, smart-alec, it's because it requires a major adjustment of one's self-image, that most people can't handle or even imagine, so (for example) it could never become a mass-market consumer product. We have had the technology for decades. The limiting factor is belief. That's why this "BrainNet" is exciting: not because they used such a crude interconnect, but because they did it in a way that opens a wedge for the idea that this stuff is possible at all. As soon as you grasp that the doors fling open to all sorts of fantastic possibilities. (And pitfalls: you and your brain are not the same thing and will occasionally find yourselves working at cross-purposes. At times like that you'll probably NOT want your brain to be directly wired into your "smart" home and have all your passwords, eh? Like I said, this requires a major adjustment of one's self-image.)