4 ms·

If I understand correctly, this allows nerve-to-digital and digital-to-nerve conversions. This means that we're soon able to replace our bodies with robotic one

by Geee 3y ago

If I understand correctly, this allows nerve-to-digital and digital-to-nerve conversions. This means that we're soon able to replace our bodies with robotic ones. The remaining problem is to figure out how to keep a brain alive in a vat, and making the life-support devices small enough to fit inside the body. It's probably not too difficult; you need to circulate blood, remove carbon dioxide, add oxygen, add glucose. You could probably keep the brain alive indefinitely.

euroderf 3y ago
A recurring theme in science fiction. See for example "They Saved Hitler's Brain".
lordnacho 3y ago
Why? Find a way to distil whatever process the brain does, emulate it on a computer.
- spoiler 3y ago
  That's very "draw the rest of the owl"!
- Geee 3y ago
  You can do this with atom level simulation and growing the brain all the way from DNA, but it needs a lot of compute (> 50 years). However, and in the end you'd be bored, because you could get rid of all of your human flaws, which is what makes life interesting. It'd be really depressing and boring to be a superintelligent computer.
  - lordnacho 3y ago
    Yeah exactly. You would never do an atom level simulation, you would distill the model of whatever you think people are. And then that would live on in a new environment, becoming something entirely different.
  - d-lisp 3y ago
    Being flawed is the new being sentient.
  - kwhitefoot 3y ago
    > you could get rid of all of your human flaws, I take it you have never written any large applications or simulations.
  - Shorel 3y ago
    There's absolutely no basis for the affirmations made in your last paragraph. None at all. And if we think about it, it is very scary.
- taway1a2b3c 3y ago
  Never wish for this. The amount of (emulated, but still real to the emulatee) suffering has no practical limit. Emulation/Uploading is every sadists wet dream. The only way to stay free is to live your life in the real and embrace (and hope for) the permanence of death.
momento 3y ago
> This means that we're soon able to replace our bodies with robotic ones. Talk about jumping to conclusions.
- nehal3m 3y ago
  Jumping using high performance hydraulic actuators instead of legs, of course. Flesh is a prison!
- Savely 3y ago
  Robotic body replacement is some 20 years away!
otikik 3y ago
My hopes are smaller in scope. I hope this helps people with severed nerve damage, or perhaps to implement better prosthetics for people with missing limbs (perhaps with motion and tactile sensors?) One that I would personally be very interested in would be improving human-computer interactions. Preferably with no quirurgical procedures, or something extremely non-invasive and quick.
- Geee 3y ago
  Helping disabled people is probably the most important near-term application of this. I just like to ponder about long-term "sci-fi" implications, in terms of how and when these kinds of ideas will become actually plausible. Some applications, like digital eyes, which connect directly to the optic nerve, would be first used to cure blindness, but soon people would start replacing their functioning eyes too, if it allows feeding pixels directly into the brain. Same with prosthetics, if they'd be better than biological ones. Then if you have cyborg eyes, arms and legs, why have a biological 'core' which is pretty much useless at this point. Storing the brain in the body would actually be a bad idea. Human brains could be stored in a warehouse and they'd control robotic bodies remotely. You'd be able to jump into different bodies all over the world, and choose from different form-factors (ant, whale, dragon, etc.) This would actually be easier to implement, because the life-support system for the brain could be larger and consume more energy and other resources. You'd also be able to choose whether you want to live in a simulated world or a physical world through robots. I think this is where we're quite realistically heading in less than 50 years.
  - mindstorms6 3y ago
    I've interviewed with / been to the facility of this place: https://science.xyz/products/vision/ https://science.xyz/products/vision/ They're exploring the "digital eye" concept you mentioned. Really cool stuff. Probably less than 50 years for the fixing some types of blindness.
    - Geee 3y ago
      Really cool. Glad to see someone is already working on this.
sumeno 3y ago
> If I understand correctly This always seems to be followed by something that demonstrates that the poster did not understand correctly
lm28469 3y ago
> This means that we're soon able to replace our bodies with robotic ones. "We have a computer that can play chess, which means we'll soon be able to replace humans by AIs" - someone in 1970 > You could probably keep the brain alive indefinitely. > It's probably not too difficult Why do 1/3rd to half of people above 85 have Alzheimer's/Parkinson's/Dementia then ? Software developers have very simplistic and optimistic views about these things, we're very far away from anything remotely close to have you're talking about. The human body is infinitely more complex than what your comment hints
make3 3y ago
"This means that we're soon able to replace our bodies with robotic ones." Come on man, I can't believe people do these wild extrapolations out of nothing like this, when every two days an article on HN and a hundred on reddit claim to definitely cure cancer and aids and whatnot

by Geee 3y ago

euroderf 3y ago

A recurring theme in science fiction. See for example "They Saved Hitler's Brain".

lordnacho 3y ago

Why? Find a way to distil whatever process the brain does, emulate it on a computer.

spoiler 3y ago
That's very "draw the rest of the owl"!
Geee 3y ago
You can do this with atom level simulation and growing the brain all the way from DNA, but it needs a lot of compute (> 50 years). However, and in the end you'd be bored, because you could get rid of all of your human flaws, which is what makes life interesting. It'd be really depressing and boring to be a superintelligent computer.
- lordnacho 3y ago
  Yeah exactly. You would never do an atom level simulation, you would distill the model of whatever you think people are. And then that would live on in a new environment, becoming something entirely different.
- d-lisp 3y ago
  Being flawed is the new being sentient.
- kwhitefoot 3y ago
  > you could get rid of all of your human flaws, I take it you have never written any large applications or simulations.
- Shorel 3y ago
  There's absolutely no basis for the affirmations made in your last paragraph. None at all. And if we think about it, it is very scary.
taway1a2b3c 3y ago
Never wish for this. The amount of (emulated, but still real to the emulatee) suffering has no practical limit. Emulation/Uploading is every sadists wet dream. The only way to stay free is to live your life in the real and embrace (and hope for) the permanence of death.

momento 3y ago

> This means that we're soon able to replace our bodies with robotic ones. Talk about jumping to conclusions.

nehal3m 3y ago
Jumping using high performance hydraulic actuators instead of legs, of course. Flesh is a prison!
Savely 3y ago
Robotic body replacement is some 20 years away!

otikik 3y ago

My hopes are smaller in scope. I hope this helps people with severed nerve damage, or perhaps to implement better prosthetics for people with missing limbs (perhaps with motion and tactile sensors?) One that I would personally be very interested in would be improving human-computer interactions. Preferably with no quirurgical procedures, or something extremely non-invasive and quick.

Geee 3y ago
Helping disabled people is probably the most important near-term application of this. I just like to ponder about long-term "sci-fi" implications, in terms of how and when these kinds of ideas will become actually plausible. Some applications, like digital eyes, which connect directly to the optic nerve, would be first used to cure blindness, but soon people would start replacing their functioning eyes too, if it allows feeding pixels directly into the brain. Same with prosthetics, if they'd be better than biological ones. Then if you have cyborg eyes, arms and legs, why have a biological 'core' which is pretty much useless at this point. Storing the brain in the body would actually be a bad idea. Human brains could be stored in a warehouse and they'd control robotic bodies remotely. You'd be able to jump into different bodies all over the world, and choose from different form-factors (ant, whale, dragon, etc.) This would actually be easier to implement, because the life-support system for the brain could be larger and consume more energy and other resources. You'd also be able to choose whether you want to live in a simulated world or a physical world through robots. I think this is where we're quite realistically heading in less than 50 years.
- mindstorms6 3y ago
  I've interviewed with / been to the facility of this place: https://science.xyz/products/vision/ https://science.xyz/products/vision/ They're exploring the "digital eye" concept you mentioned. Really cool stuff. Probably less than 50 years for the fixing some types of blindness.
  - Geee 3y ago
    Really cool. Glad to see someone is already working on this.

sumeno 3y ago

> If I understand correctly This always seems to be followed by something that demonstrates that the poster did not understand correctly

lm28469 3y ago

> This means that we're soon able to replace our bodies with robotic ones. "We have a computer that can play chess, which means we'll soon be able to replace humans by AIs" - someone in 1970 > You could probably keep the brain alive indefinitely. > It's probably not too difficult Why do 1/3rd to half of people above 85 have Alzheimer's/Parkinson's/Dementia then ? Software developers have very simplistic and optimistic views about these things, we're very far away from anything remotely close to have you're talking about. The human body is infinitely more complex than what your comment hints

make3 3y ago

"This means that we're soon able to replace our bodies with robotic ones." Come on man, I can't believe people do these wild extrapolations out of nothing like this, when every two days an article on HN and a hundred on reddit claim to definitely cure cancer and aids and whatnot