/ News
Brain-controlled flight is now possible
Imagine this scenario: you step onto a plane and sit next to a pilot in the cockpit. There, the pilot has a funny-looking helmet strapped to his head. Although he never touches the controls, the plane begins take-off procedures and launches into the sky, where it proceeds to fly to its destination and eventually land. The pilot flies the plane with just the power of his mind. This might sound like something out of a crazy science fiction movie, but it’s actually now possible.
A group of researchers in Germany have proven brain-controlled flight is now feasible. But not only that, they discovered that brain-controlled flight is also much more accurate than you might think.
Seven pilots took part in the German study, each with differing levels of flight experience, from one pilot with no practical cockpit experience to more seasoned fliers. These subjects wore white caps with cables attached to the cockpit of a flight simulator. The white caps contained electrodes that measured brain waves using EEG. The pilots were told to think their control commands for take-off, for making adjustments while in the air, and for landing procedures. A sophisticated algorithm interpreted their brain waves, and turned thoughts into commands that controlled the simulated airplane.
The test results were astounding. Not only was the accuracy of the commands recognized by the cockpit controls, but several pilots even managed to land their planes with only slight deviations, even in poor visibility conditions.
The idea of using brain waves like this isn’t a novel one, and we’ve experimented with everything from using this technology on skateboards, televisions and wheelchairs. But this is the first time that we’ve taken the concept to the air, and these results are some of the best ever seen.
With their success, the team is now working on figuring out how to implement this system into real airplanes, which often experience steering resistance when conditions push an aircraft too hard. Pilots usually respond to this by using force on airplane controls, so the research team wants to figure out how to get their system to recognize and handle this process that is usually manual.
The researchers hope their system leads to safer flying by reducing the work load of pilots, freeing up the rest of their body to deal with additional jobs they handle while in the cockpit. Of course, it’s probably a safe bet that no one is ready to step into an aircraft flown by brain power just yet, so we probably have a long way to go before something like this becomes standard flight procedure.
Via Technische Universitat Munchen
Source: http://www.dvice.com/2014-5-28/brain-controlled-flight-now-possible
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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