Brain chip reads man's thoughts

[Sir Isaac Lime]

Brain chip reads man's thoughts

A paralysed man in the US has become the first person to benefit from a brain chip that reads his mind.

Matthew Nagle, 25, was left paralysed from the neck down and confined to a wheelchair after a knife attack in 2001.

The pioneering surgery at New England Sinai Hospital, Massachusetts, last summer means he can now control everyday objects by thought alone.

The brain chip reads his mind and sends the thoughts to a computer to decipher.

Mind over matter

He can think his TV on and off, change channels and alter the volume thanks to the technology and software linked to devices in his home.

Scientists have been working for some time to devise a way to enable paralysed people to control devices with the brain.

Studies have shown that monkeys can control a computer with electrodes implanted into their brain.

Recently four people, two of them partly paralysed wheelchair users, were able to move a computer cursor while wearing a cap with 64 electrodes that pick up brain waves.

Mr Nagle's device, called BrainGate, consists of nearly 100 hair-thin electrodes implanted a millimetre deep into part of the motor cortex of his brain that controls movement.

Wires feed the information from the electrodes into a computer which analyses the brain signals.

The signals are interpreted and translated into cursor movements, offering the user an alternative way to control devices such as a computer with thought.

Motor control

Professor John Donoghue, an expert on neuroscience at Brown University on Rhode Island, is the scientist behind the device produced by Cyberkinetics.

He said: "The computer screen is basically a TV remote control panel, and in order to indicate a selection he merely has to pass the cursor over an icon, and that's equivalent to a click when he goes over that icon."

Mr Nagle has also been able to use thought to move a prosthetic hand and robotic arm to grab sweets from one person's hand and place them into another.

Professor Donoghue hopes that ultimately implants such as this will allow people with paralysis to regain the use of their limbs.

The long term aim is to design a package the size of a mobile phone that will run on batteries, and to electrically stimulate the patient's own muscles.

This will be difficult.

The simple movements we take for granted in fact involve complex electrical signals which will be hard to replicate, Dr Richard Apps, a neurophysiologist from Bristol University, the UK, told the BBC News website.

He said there were millions of neurones in the brain involved with movement. The brain chip taps into only a very small number of these.

But he said the work was extremely exciting.

"It's quite remarkable. They have taken research to the next stage to have a clear benefit for a patient that otherwise would not be able to move.

"It seems that they have cracked the crucial step and arguably the most challenging step to get hand movements.

"Just to be able to grasp an object is a major step forward."

He said it might be possible to hone this further to achieve finer movements of the hand.

Matthew Nagel's story is featured in a Frontiers programme on BBC Radio Four on Wednesday 13 April, 2005, at 2100 BST
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4396387.stm

[jimkopelli]

Ah, I remember that they tried this on monkeys last year... and they're already doing the same for humans? That's progress.

[j4ck]

That's progress.

Sure is. I seem to remember less exciting experiments being done in this area a couple of years ago. Sounds like a very cool technology. I wonder how much progress is being made with artificially reproducing sight for the blind.

[BHZA]

Progress is relative and subjective; it may be progress for us now but somewhere down the line we may have to face the consequences of this innocent little technology. If only we would stop at medical application, but that is not going to happen.

I am not saying that the technology itself it evil but that humans are; they are sure to exploit this or a emergent technology some time in the future and use it for self gain (on an individual or global scale)

[MasterMerk]

At least now he can watch television by himself.

[PiccoloNamek]

All right! Now where's my cyberbrain?

[Arcades]

Iv alwase liked the field of Cyberkinetics. neat stuff

[YardGnome]

You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.

Wow, I read this article about a week ago and was thinking to myself the possibilities for application of this sort of device. I'd love to have one. I could impress all of my friends and fool them into believeing that I had the force like Luke Skywalker or that I had telekenetic abilities... I WANT ONE!!!

Imagine playing a video game without lifting a finger... Or being able to adjust the thermostat without leaving the couch... Or maybe if two people were outfitted with the devices you would be able to communicate with one another without speaking (queue eerie sci fic music)... I forsee people becoming even more lazier than they already are...

[crofbe]

isn't this the end?

["InsertNameHere"]

Progress is relative and subjective; it may be progress for us now but somewhere down the line we may have to face the consequences of this innocent little technology. If only we would stop at medical application, but that is not going to happen.

I am not saying that the technology itself it evil but that humans are; they are sure to exploit this or a emergent technology some time in the future and use it for self gain (on an individual or global scale)
Totally agree

[Sally]

DARPA's already working on military applications.

[Black-Master]

We have gone too far I think. Reading minds and shit. God will have to do something soon I think. Btw, possible end of the world in Des. 2012.

[euterpenc]

It's abilities are still limited. I've always wanted telekinetic powers. This device would not do that. I do however think that Telekinesis may be possible, but it will take a lot more work and time to develope. If man and universe are one, and everything is united, than lifting a car would be like moving your fingers.

[Black-Master]

It's abilities are still limited. I've always wanted telekinetic powers. This device would not do that. I do however think that Telekinesis may be possible, but it will take a lot more work and time to develope. If man and universe are one, and everything is united, than lifting a car would be like moving your fingers.

Your I and E are 50x50 are not they. Telekinetic powers are ENTP`s wishes..

[Arcades]

Telekinetic powers are ENTP`s wishes..

Im not an E by any standerd.. and I want Telekinetic powers...

[coffeezombie]

We have gone too far I think. Reading minds and shit. God will have to do something soon I think.

You mean like how he's already doing something about all the people killed in wars right now, and how he did throughout all of history?

[BHZA]

You mean like how he's already doing something about all the people killed in wars right now, and how he did throughout all of history?

Poor arrogant souls; for some reason they / we just can not accept that they may just be expendable. No - we deem ourselves much too important; almost as if God owes us something in return for our uselessness. What a pitiful existence...

["InsertNameHere"]

We have gone too far I think. Reading minds and shit. God will have to do something soon I think. Btw, possible end of the world in Des. 2012.
it will not be the end of the world, just a new era.

[Biff_Loman]

Progress is relative and subjective; it may be progress for us now but somewhere down the line we may have to face the consequences of this innocent little technology. If only we would stop at medical application, but that is not going to happen.

I am not saying that the technology itself it evil but that humans are; they are sure to exploit this or a emergent technology some time in the future and use it for self gain (on an individual or global scale)

This, coming from someone with the Borg queen as an avatar. :lol:

[trendal]

I am impatiently waiting for "cyborg" implant technology to begin in earnest, and I plan on hopping on this band wagon (though I detest the phrase) as soon as is humany possible!

I seriously wouldn't mind a math-coprocessor or memory upgrade ;)

[lexiphanic]

isn't this the end?

No, merely the beginning.

:sobs:

[trendal]

Forward, transhumanity!

[lexiphanic]

I expect great things from life when I am old and decrepit.

I plan on being one of few fogies in teh virtual world.

[rwp18]

and used the existing technology to study the further possibility of a fully prosthetic body. perhaps man is on the verge of evolution yet again.

any thoughts

[thenightwasglory]

i've often thought that i would much enjoy telekinesis.

black-master/coffeezombie/BHZA -
i find it interesting that any of you presume to understand God or his order and reasoning.

[xavierd]

and used the existing technology to study the further possibility of a fully prosthetic body. perhaps man is on the verge of evolution yet again.

any thoughts

This is my thought as well. I find it amusing that some people view human technology as unnatural when the only thing we are doing is taking resources from the environment and molding it to fit our needs. Something every living organism does on some scale. Even the cells and DNA in our bodies do this.

This type of technology is jsut another step the human organism is taking to connect and become a single living organism. Kind of like the first one celled organisms grouped together to form the first multicellular organism, etc. Well...at least that is one of the many theories running around in my head. :)

[rwp18]

ahh i just realized something if fully prosthetic bodies becomes real the next step
from that would be getting those brains the ability to explore the internet and from there science fiction becomes real to an extent.

:) how cool would it be to be able to surf the internet without the need for a computer

:cool: another step would be joint thought or pooling the thoughts of a bunch of people into one area, and the military applications for that technology could be very useful.

thoughts anyone?

[PiccoloNamek]

and used the existing technology to study the further possibility of a fully prosthetic body.

This is my dream.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v135/PiccoloNamek/Motocom.jpg

[macr0]

ahh i just realized something if fully prosthetic bodies becomes real the next step
from that would be getting those brains the ability to explore the internet and from there science fiction becomes real to an extent.

:) how cool would it be to be able to surf the internet without the need for a computer

:cool: another step would be joint thought or pooling the thoughts of a bunch of people into one area, and the military applications for that technology could be very useful.

thoughts anyone?

Sounds like you would love Ghost in the Shell.

[NoahFence]

Or DrWho...the Cybermen showed up again last night, coincidence?

[Ellipsis]

Man for some reason this thread made me laugh....some of the things mentioned are really cool yet also hopelessly funny...don't ask why, they just are...I agree with all of you saying this is part of human evolution though I recommend limiting it to a certain extent eg. fire walling the brain

Also to those of you saying this will end the world...who cares...nukes will do it first....And those arguing from the the opinion of God...God didn't tell us not to do this did he? Did not Jesus himself do unnatural things such as heal the blind and other things. (Some things that modern medicine is already doing are we supposed to stop them because it is too "God like")

The fact is that new technology/ideas are always seen as sins for one reason or another because they give humans the possibility of doing "unnatural" things, yet this always leads to the question of what is a human anyway?
Is it not our creativity, our adaptability and our intelligence that make us humans in the first place?
These technologies are nothing more then extensions of the human hand, nothing more.

And I ask all those who disagree: Is it wrong to help those who need this technology in order to truly live or shall we deny it to them because we want to uphold out own self image.

P.S. I want to experience mmorpgs in a a new way....man games would be awesome if you could connect to it like that....Also put be down for a CPU mod and some extra ram...maybe a couple Gigs of flash memory too...

[rwp18]

with you
:)

nukes will destroy the world first
and technology is merely the extension of human adaptability and creativity

:D i also realize that i am thinking outside of the box and 500 miles down the road


ps: :think: telekinesis is not possible until after people master control over gravity (in theory at least)

[rwp18]

Sounds like you would love Ghost in the Shell.

i have seen the movies and the tv series(in Japanese and English) but look closely and think for a moment don't you think this technology is taking humanity down that highway? (granted i am thinking 500 miles ahead) it will be many eons
before humanity even comes close to looking like ghost in the shell

[NoahFence]

Jesus can get away with healing people because his dad's the principal.

I don't think eons is accurate at all. If this technology becomes viable, I'd say more like a century, if that. Never underestimate the craving of money.