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Early days, only mice so far, etc. etc. but this is pretty exciting. However ... One of my greatest fears is that my body will outlive my brain function. Hop

Early days, only mice so far, etc. etc. but this is pretty exciting. However ... One of my greatest fears is that my body will outlive my brain function. Hopefully research into various forms of senility will keep pace with longevity research so I don't wind up buff and spry at 120, completely unable to recognise my friends and loved ones. I have a family member in that state currently and it is heartbreaking to watch; I know that I'd prefer to die than live like that.

lsc 14y ago
meh, just in my lifetime, I've seen the outsourcing of memorization. Would you be able to do your job without a search engine? I wouldn't. Facial recognition (if you limit it to a limited number of faces) is already pretty good. I mean, yeah, my cognitive abilities degrading is also about the scariest thing I can think of, too, but eh, we are developing new crutches at a reasonable rate.
- duncan_bayne 14y ago
  Have you ever witnessed senile decay of that sort? I mean, said family member won't be helped by something / anything like Google or a notes app on a smartphone. She fails the three-word senility test, wherein you ask her to remember three simple words, distract her momentarily, and they're gone. Every. Single. Time. In addition, she thinks her dead husband is overseas checking out a property, doesn't recognise her grand-children, has no idea what year it is, and can't hold down a conversation. Outsourcing of memorisation is only helpful if you've sufficient marbles left to use the tools. This sort of problem needs a hardware fix - medical, cybernetic, you name it.
  - 001sky 14y ago
    yes, this is a great point. raises the issue about experience: 10 years experience? or 1 yr experience repeated 10 times. Not the same thing at all. Do you really want to extend the latter ad-infinitim as 1 yr becomes->1 day->1hour repeated N times etc
  - throwaway1979 14y ago
    I don't want to dismiss your comment. The three-word senility test is pretty hard to get over. That said, I was very impressed by the work on SenseCam from Microsoft Research. One of their original papers showed much promise in a person with a specific memory impairment. I forget the details :-p Here is the link: http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=132537 http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=1325...
DennisP 14y ago
As long as you don't get Alzheimer's or some other brain-specific disease, I would think anti-aging would keep your brain as spry as the rest of your body.

lsc 14y ago

meh, just in my lifetime, I've seen the outsourcing of memorization. Would you be able to do your job without a search engine? I wouldn't. Facial recognition (if you limit it to a limited number of faces) is already pretty good. I mean, yeah, my cognitive abilities degrading is also about the scariest thing I can think of, too, but eh, we are developing new crutches at a reasonable rate.

duncan_bayne 14y ago
Have you ever witnessed senile decay of that sort? I mean, said family member won't be helped by something / anything like Google or a notes app on a smartphone. She fails the three-word senility test, wherein you ask her to remember three simple words, distract her momentarily, and they're gone. Every. Single. Time. In addition, she thinks her dead husband is overseas checking out a property, doesn't recognise her grand-children, has no idea what year it is, and can't hold down a conversation. Outsourcing of memorisation is only helpful if you've sufficient marbles left to use the tools. This sort of problem needs a hardware fix - medical, cybernetic, you name it.
- 001sky 14y ago
  yes, this is a great point. raises the issue about experience: 10 years experience? or 1 yr experience repeated 10 times. Not the same thing at all. Do you really want to extend the latter ad-infinitim as 1 yr becomes->1 day->1hour repeated N times etc
- throwaway1979 14y ago
  I don't want to dismiss your comment. The three-word senility test is pretty hard to get over. That said, I was very impressed by the work on SenseCam from Microsoft Research. One of their original papers showed much promise in a person with a specific memory impairment. I forget the details :-p Here is the link: http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=132537 http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=1325...

DennisP 14y ago

As long as you don't get Alzheimer's or some other brain-specific disease, I would think anti-aging would keep your brain as spry as the rest of your body.