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Hypothetically, if I can hire a PhD candidate and give him a million bucks to tweak the sensors for my brain specifically. Could he or she then make this like a

Hypothetically, if I can hire a PhD candidate and give him a million bucks to tweak the sensors for my brain specifically. Could he or she then make this like a joystick. Is the issue that there's so much variation between people.

anonymouse008 5y ago
That's more of a profession of faith in what a 'good' BCI will be, than a critique of the science -- There are many ways to get high fidelity 'joystick' level control out of a brain, especially if given one-on-one training. The problems for Neuralink will be the same with any implant - immune responses and infections - and in a sensitive area no less.
- offtop5 5y ago
  No way in hell I'm letting anyone stick something in my brain, I thought there was a wireless way to do this. In a very dystopian way I could imagine shopping centers scanning the brain waves potential customers and taloring ads to them
  - mattkrause 5y ago
    Neurosurgeons live in a very weird bubble around elective surgery. I was at a conference where people were debating the merits of non-invasive vs. invasive neural interfaces. A surgeon argued that people would obviously never accept non-invasive ones...ON COSMETIC GROUNDS: EEG caps (and similar) look dorky. Many people do go to great pains to hide disabilities, but I was (and still am) really skeptical that this totally trumps fears around highly-invasive neurosurgery!
    - offtop5 5y ago
      I could see this being something that gets implanted towards the end of your life. Hypothetically let's say I'm 90, I'd love to be able to jack into the matrix to play with my grandkids.
      - mattkrause 5y ago
        Maybe.... Even though it's an incredibly effective treatment, surgeons are pretty reluctant to do DBS implants on older patients with Parkinson's Disease because of the risks of the surgery itself. That's with a pretty clear medical case too.
mattkrause 5y ago
Controlling a 2D cursor is a pretty standard task. If you’ve already got an implant, I would be happy to take your million bucks. If not, you’d need an EEG rig first (I’m not going to jail over this!), but it’s still very doable. Wolpaw et al. had 1D EEG controls working 30 years ago.

anonymouse008 5y ago

That's more of a profession of faith in what a 'good' BCI will be, than a critique of the science -- There are many ways to get high fidelity 'joystick' level control out of a brain, especially if given one-on-one training. The problems for Neuralink will be the same with any implant - immune responses and infections - and in a sensitive area no less.

offtop5 5y ago
No way in hell I'm letting anyone stick something in my brain, I thought there was a wireless way to do this. In a very dystopian way I could imagine shopping centers scanning the brain waves potential customers and taloring ads to them
- mattkrause 5y ago
  Neurosurgeons live in a very weird bubble around elective surgery. I was at a conference where people were debating the merits of non-invasive vs. invasive neural interfaces. A surgeon argued that people would obviously never accept non-invasive ones...ON COSMETIC GROUNDS: EEG caps (and similar) look dorky. Many people do go to great pains to hide disabilities, but I was (and still am) really skeptical that this totally trumps fears around highly-invasive neurosurgery!
  - offtop5 5y ago
    I could see this being something that gets implanted towards the end of your life. Hypothetically let's say I'm 90, I'd love to be able to jack into the matrix to play with my grandkids.
    - mattkrause 5y ago
      Maybe.... Even though it's an incredibly effective treatment, surgeons are pretty reluctant to do DBS implants on older patients with Parkinson's Disease because of the risks of the surgery itself. That's with a pretty clear medical case too.

mattkrause 5y ago

Controlling a 2D cursor is a pretty standard task. If you’ve already got an implant, I would be happy to take your million bucks. If not, you’d need an EEG rig first (I’m not going to jail over this!), but it’s still very doable. Wolpaw et al. had 1D EEG controls working 30 years ago.