The ethics of neurology/telepathy

Discussion in 'Human Science' started by Bonham, Jun 1, 2010.

  1. Bonham Registered Member

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    This is my first post here, seems like a really nice, intelligent forum.

    The other day I had a thought...
    Doctors recently enabled a 14 year old child to play Space Invaders only using his mind. They did it by invasively placing a BCI adjacent to his brain; they were able to pick up signals from the brain and use those signals to move the ship and fire the guns. The kid learned how to control it almost instantly by associating the movement of his tongue with the ship, and then thought about moving his tongue.

    This intrigued me so much that I've been thinking of making a career of it. As technology advances, I figure we may be able to combine BCI and radio technology to invent a sort of assisted telepathy. If we can break down brain signals, and convert those signals into radio waves, a receiver would be able to pick up those signals, and these receivers could be hooked up to almost anything.

    My main question is, is it ethical to experiment this much with the human brain? Feel free to weigh in as you like though. Is my idea promising? Would it be possible to break down the signals enough to communicate?

    PS: I'm only 16, and I've had minimal classes regarding neurology or anything like that, so be gentle...

    medgadget.com/archives/2006/10/teenager_plays.html

    edit: a BCI is a brain computer interface, essentially just a word for any direct communication technology between the brain and a machine
     
    Last edited: Jun 1, 2010
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  3. Hercules Rockefeller Beatings will continue until morale improves. Moderator

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    What's a "BCI"? And, do you have a link to the study in question? Thanks.
     
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  5. Stryder Keeper of "good" ideas. Valued Senior Member

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    BCI = Brain-computer interface.

    The story of "space invaders" is an old one, there's been alot of development in BCI usage and alot of various projects done ranging from medical research to defense projects. (i.e. in the Eurofighter development I believe BCI was looked into)

    You might query how a computer can pickup something to interact with, well to be honest it can do it by identifying the areas that are stimulated by activity. In the instance of the space invaders the child focused on his tongue, this might seem quite useless but thats because the child wasn't coerced into reasoning "imagine you are playing the game with a joystick".

    For instance it's been observed that many atheletes can simulate in their mind the event they intend to participate in, an example of this is the lead of a toboggan team or a formula one race car driver (or even rally driver). In all these instances the "driver" imagines the overall course prior to the race or timed lap, they do this to get use to the course.

    During this imagination phase they generate neurological stimuli that is actually similar to how their brain would react during an actual race (this has been confirmed via various independent research which you could probably find online)

    The intriguing thing though for the future of BCI though is getting the system familiar enough with a person to understand their stimulation beyond that of just being stimuli.

    For instance imagine an orange, a nice ripe juicy citrus fruit. Imagine peeling the orange, how the zest emits small squirts as the skin is peeled back. Imagine how the segments are filled with an orange translucent liquid and the smell of the overall orange. Taking it further imagine eating an orange segment.

    All those thoughts on the orange are simulation based upon your experiences with oranges, if you've never eaten an orange your imagination would be void of any understanding. However for those that have eaten an orange there should technically be enough stimulation for a BCI to create a completely simulated version of that orange, a simulation that you could "virtually" eat and have the effects of taste, smell and sound from in a virtual environment.
    (If an bidirectional interface is defined)
     
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  7. francois Schwat? Registered Senior Member

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    I'm pretty sure this kind of telepathy is going to happen, probably within 10-20 years. Intel says that considering the progress they're making with BCIs in the lab, we can expect brain implants to allow us to communicate with our computers within 10 years: applications like 'think typing'. They'll be commercially available and people will want them installed. At least that's what they say. They found that our brains produce consistent patterns when we think of objects and things, so it will be possible for us to produce those thoughts, knowing computers will pick up on them. And if we'll be able to 'think type', we'll be able to instant message each other via brain waves, and voila, telepathy--at least of some sort. As it refines, I'm sure it won't differ much from real, true telepathy.

    As for whether it's moral, I don't see anything wrong with it. As long as implants aren't being forced on anybody. Granted, I could see people being pressured into getting them, but that's not really any different than anything else.
     
  8. kurros Registered Senior Member

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    Network security would be interesting, you wouldn't want people transmitting any old rubbish into your head. You'd want to ban advertising for sure. Depending on how sophisticated the technology was (and if it can simulate the taste of an orange it would be fairly amazing stuff, input must be hugely more difficult than output), you could have all sorts of problems. If you can simulate an orange you can simulate getting stabbed, there could be some pretty nasty torture potential. Imagine a virus which spreads around causing extreme agony in everyone.
    Hopefully one can avoid some of this by simply not hooking up the device to certain parts of the brain. Even so, a virus which makes you taste oranges 24/7 would be pretty annoying. Messing with visual stimuli could get even more crazy.

    I imagine we are quite far from having to worry about any of that though. People have enough trouble interpreting output currently, as far as I know.
     
  9. Skeptical Registered Senior Member

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    This sort of technology is one of the great hopes for tetraplegics. If you are paralysed from the neck down, then being able to operate your own motorised wheelchair using your mind would be an immense benefit.

    Because the benefits are so great, the ethics are pretty clear. As long as the people who are worked on are volunteers, thoroughly briefed on any risk, and stand to benefit, then it is ethical. There are an awful lot of tetraplegics out there who will volunteer. Even if it is only to be able to operate a cursor on a computer screen. Something that small would open their world wide.

    As an example, think of what the great British cosmologist Dr. Stephen Hawking has been able to achieve, even though he has minimal muscle control, and can do little more than control a cursor.
     

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