/ News
Direct brain-to-brain interface between humans improved
Direct brain-to-brain communication has been a long-held ambition of scientists and science fiction fans alike. Recently, University of Washington (UW) researchers brought that ambition a step closer to reality by successfully conducting a direct brain-to-brain connection between pairs of volunteers over the internet by transmitting signals from one person’s brain to another to directly govern the motions of the receiving person’s hand.
Building on initial research conducted in August 2013, where UW scientists first demonstrated direct human brain-to-brain interfacing, the researchers claim to have further developed and improved the technology and proved its worth using volunteer participants. In the latest tests, the team was able to control a subject's hand remotely by having one subject thinking about moving their hand to operate part of a video game and having these signals sent to a remote person whose hand is made to move to actually use the video game control.
"The new study brings our brain-to-brain interfacing paradigm from an initial demonstration to something that is closer to a deliverable technology," said assistant professor of psychology Andrea Stocco. "Now we have replicated our methods and know that they can work reliably with walk-in participants."
Using a combination of two kinds of non-invasive devices and software specifically configured to the task, the researchers were able to hook-up two brains in real time. In essence, one participant has an electroencephalograph wired to read specific brain activity and then send those signals via the internet to a second participant, who has a transcranial magnetic stimulation coil located above the part of the brain that controls hand movements. As such, when one person thinks about moving their hand, a signal is sent to the other person who moves their hand as if it was their thought.
The research involved six volunteers, split into three pairs. These pairs consisted of a dedicated sender and a receiver, each with designated instructions on how to participate. Each half of the pair were in separate buildings and unable to communicate with each other apart from the internet link established between their brains.
Both were seated in front of a computer game where they had to fire a cannon or rockets. However, because the senders were restricted from physically interacting with the game, they could only think about using their hand to fire their weapons. At the same time, the people acting as receivers were housed in a darkened room wearing headphones and with no vision of the computer game.
Their right hand was poised over a touchpad wired into the game and able to fire the weapon. When the brain-to-brain interface resulted in receipt of a successful signal, the receiver’s hand would be commanded to fire the weapon seen in the game on the sender’s computer screen.
Accuracy varied from 25 to 83 percent in between the pairs, but researchers claim that most of the misses were mainly due to a sender failing to execute a timely firing thought to launch a weapon, rather than any inaccuracy inherent in the system itself.
As such, the researchers are confident that this new research shows a marked improvement in brain-to-brain interfaces, as the participants in this exercise were completely unknown to each other, had no previous encounters with such technology, and – most importantly – had no idea of what to expect when hooked-up to these devices.
Unlike other Web-connected brain-to-brain interfaces that require interpretation of flashes of light, this technology may one day assist in such things as transferring motor responses and advanced capabilities to ordinary people from experienced senders.
"Imagine someone who’s a brilliant scientist but not a brilliant teacher," said co-author Chantel Prat, a faculty member at the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences. "Complex knowledge is hard to explain – we’re limited by language."
The research was recently published in the journal Plos One
The video below provides some more of the details behind the experiment.
Source: University of Washington
Source: http://www.gizmag.com/improved-brain-interface-internet-humans/34609/
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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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