/ News
The US military is working on tech that could turn soldiers into cyborgs
The US military has announced it will be developing an implantable neural interface that can bridge the divide between the human mind and computers.
The new program, which aims to achieve dramatically enhanced data-transfer connections between the brain and the digital world, falls under the wing of President Obama's BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies).
The Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) says that the interface, which it envisions as a bio-compatible device measuring no larger than 1 cubic centimetre, would act as a translator that converts between the "electrochemical language used by neurons in the brain and the ones and zeros that constitute the language of information technology".
The ambitious scheme, called the Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) program, seeks to boost the abilities of existing brain interfaces that can link mind and machine. Current devices consist of about 100 channels, but DARPA intends to develop a system that can communicate with up to 1 million neurons at a time.
"Today's best brain-computer interface systems are like two supercomputers trying to talk to each other using an old 300-baud modem," said project manager Phillip Alvelda. "Imagine what will become possible when we upgrade our tools to really open the channel between the human brain and modern electronics."
While it's easy to imagine that one of those possibilities could be the development of cyborg soldiers with battle capabilities enhanced by digital systems, the potential uses for such a neural interface go far beyond military applications.
According to DARPA, the device could provide a foundation for new health therapies, digitally compensating for "deficits in sight or hearing by feeding digital auditory or visual information into the brain at a resolution and experiential quality far higher than is possible with current technology".
In order to achieve its goal, DARPA says new advancements will need to be made across several fields including neuroscience, synthetic biology, and low-power electronics. There's also the software side of the equation, with new neuro-computation techniques required that can accurately transcode and compress high-definition sensory information between digital hardware and the brain on the fly, and all without significant losses in fidelity.
To make this possible, DARPA is reaching out to researchers and companies around the world for their assistance in creating these kinds of technologies – with the carrot that, in later phases of the program, they'll be able to commercialise aspects of what they've come up with. Yes, you too can be a cyborg in the comfort of your own home (at least one day).
It all sounds very mysterious at the moment, but we don't doubt this program could come up with some very far-reaching discoveries, and hopefully they can be used to benefit people away from the military complex. To see other neuroscience programs DARPA is working on as part of the BRAIN Initiative,check out their page here.
Source: http://www.sciencealert.com/the-us-military-is-working-on-neural-interfaces-to-connect-humans-to-the-digital-world
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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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