B2B

[spectre]

BRAIN-TO-BRAIN TECHNOLOGIES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93p7oDkA5WA
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091006102637.htm
Brain-Computer Interface Allows Person-to-person Communication Through
Power Of Thought / Oct. 6, 2009

New research from the University of Southampton has demonstrated that
it is possible for communication from person to person through the
power of thought -- with the help of electrodes, a computer and
Internet connection. Brain-Computer Interfacing (BCI) can be used for
capturing brain signals and translating them into commands that allow
humans to control (just by thinking) devices such as computers,
robots, rehabilitation technology and virtual reality environments.
This experiment goes a step further and was conducted by Dr
Christopher James from the University's Institute of Sound and
Vibration Research. The aim was to expand the current limits of this
technology and show that brain-to-brain (B2B) communication is
possible.

Dr James comments: "Whilst BCI is no longer a new thing and person to
person communication via the nervous system was shown previously in
work by Professor Kevin Warwick from the University of Reading, here
we show, for the first time, true brain to brain interfacing. We have
yet to grasp the full implications of this but there are various
scenarios where B2B could be of benefit such as helping people with
severe debilitating muscle wasting diseases, or with the so-called
'locked-in' syndrome, to communicate and it also has applications for
gaming."

His experiment had one person using BCI to transmit thoughts,
translated as a series of binary digits, over the internet to another
person whose computer receives the digits and transmits them to the
second user's brain through flashing an LED lamp. While attached to an
EEG amplifier, the first person would generate and transmit a series
of binary digits, imagining moving their left arm for zero and their
right arm for one. The second person was also attached to an EEG
amplifier and their PC would pick up the stream of binary digits and
flash an LED lamp at two different frequencies, one for zero and the
other one for one. The pattern of the flashing LEDs is too subtle to
be picked by the second person, but it is picked up by electrodes
measuring the visual cortex of the recipient.

The encoded information is then extracted from the brain activity of
the second user and the PC can decipher whether a zero or a one was
transmitted. This shows true brain-to-brain activity. Dr James is part
of the University of Southampton's Brain-Computer Interfacing Research
Programme, which brings together biomedical engineering and the
clinical sciences and provides a cohesive scientific basis for
rehabilitation research and management. Projects are driven by
clinical problems, using cutting-edge signal processing research to
produce an investigative tool for advancing knowledge of
neurophysiological mechanisms, as well as providing a practical
therapeutic system to be used outside a specialised BCI laboratory.

CONTACT
Christopher James
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~jamescj
email : jamescj [at] soton.ac [dot] uk

BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACES (BCI)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-computer_interface
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/brain-computer-interface.htm

TECHLEPATHY
http://yuri.typepad.com/yuri_blog/2008/02/lift-conference.html
http://www.ngn.nl/ngn?waxtrapp=tbmxbIsHyoOtvOXEaMzLD
http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Kevin:Warwick.html
Probably the most famous piece of research undertaken by Professor
Warwick is the set of experiments known as Project Cyborg, in which he
had a chip implanted into his arm, with the aim of "becoming a
cyborg".

The first stage of this research, which began on August 24, 1998,
involved a simple transmitter being implanted beneath Professor
Warwick's skin, and used to control doors, lights, heaters, and other
computer-controlled devices based on his proximity. The main purpose
of this experiment was to test the limits of what the body would
accept, and how easy it would be to receive a meaningful signal from
the chip.

The second stage involved a far more complex chip which was implanted
on March 14, 2002, and which interfaced directly into Professor
Warwick's nervous system. The electrode array inserted contained
around 100 electrodes, of which 25 could be accessed at any one time,
whereas the median nerve which it monitored carries many times that
number of signals. However, the experiment proved successful, and the
signal produced was detailed enough that a robot arm developed by
Warwick's colleague, Dr Peter Kyberd , was able to mimic the actions
of Professor Warwick's own arm.

A highly publicised extension to the experiment, in which a simpler
array was implanted into Professor Warwick's wife - with the aim of
creating some form of telepathy or empathyEmpathy is awareness of the
thoughts, feelings, or states of mind of others. When we see another
human or animal experiencing something positive or negative, we
instinctively identify with the other. One must be careful not to
confuse empathy with sympath - was also moderately successful,
although the implant seems to have been less successful at stimulating
signals than at measuring them.

CONTACT
Kevin Warwick
http://www.reading.ac.uk/cirg/
http://www.reading.ac.uk/sse/about/staff/k-warwick.aspx
http://www.kevinwarwick.com/
email : k.warwick [at] reading.ac [dot] uk

TELEPATHY CHIPS
http://hplusmagazine.com/articles/ai/brain-computer-interfacing-prosthetic-limbs-telepathy-chips
BY Ben Goertzel / July 13, 2009

Consider the “telepathy chip” — a neural implant that allows the
wearer to project their thoughts or feelings to others, and receive
thoughts or feelings from others. There seems no in-principle reason
why this can’t be done, but it raises a huge number of questions
philosophically, technically, psychologically and socially. It’s not
clear what percentage of a person’s thoughts and feelings would
actually be comprehensible to another person — in many cases, you
might send your thoughts to someone else only to find them interpreted
as 90% gobbledygook mixed up with concepts and images that are
recognizable to the receiver. It’s also not too hard to envision some
of the social and economic pressures that might arise surrounding
telepathy chips. Would you become suspicious if your husband or wife
didn’t want to do a telepathy-chip mind-meld after coming home late
Friday night? Might you become suspicious of a potential romantic
partner who wouldn’t let you peek into his or her mind? What’s she
trying to hide? Teams of individuals linked via telepathy chips might
achieve far greater efficiency at some sorts of work than any group of
detached individuals with similar skill could. Computer programming
comes to mind, where the hardest part of the job is often
understanding what other people were thinking when they wrote the code
that you have to deal with. Social subgroups rejecting telepathy chips
could become isolated, backwards communities similar to the Amish
today (who, it must be noted, don’t mind their backwardness and
isolation at all).

Ultimately, telepathy chips and related BCI devices could lead to the
emergence of new forms of intelligence, “mindplexes” composed of
independent human minds, yet also possessing a coherent self and
consciousness at the higher level of the telepathically-interlinked
human group. AI systems could potentially join these mindplexes,
reading from telepathy chips and projecting into the user’s minds not
just answers to questions, but also original ideas conceived by the
AIs that they believe could benefit the humans. Humans who reject
telepathic interplay with AIs could be at a significant disadvantage
both socially and economically. Nearly any job requiring insight and
creativity would benefit from a stream of “push technology” input from
a savvy AI. And wouldn’t your date with Jane tonight go better if your
natural charming personality were enhanced by a stream of witty
anecdotes and sensitive, empathic statements supplied by an AI who has
studied Jane’s profile and history in the context of its comprehensive
knowledge of human relationships? Potentially all this could lead to
the emergence of a global brain spanning human and artificial
intelligence.

{Ben Goertzel is the CEO of AI companies Novamente and Biomind, a math
Ph.D., writer, philosopher, musician, and all-around futurist maniac.}

CONTACT
Ben Goertzel
http://www.goertzel.org/
http://goertzel.org/res.htm
http://www.singularitysummit.com/bios/goertzel
email : ben [at] goertzel [dot] org

PREVIOUSLY ON SPECTRE - TELEKINESIS COMES TO MARKET
http://spectregroup.wordpress.com/2009/07/13/telekinesis-comes-to-market/