Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a surgical procedure involving the insertion of a small electrode into the brain to modulate electrical activity. Over 40.000 patients worldwide have undergone placement of Medtronic Activa, the most popular DBS system.
Brain-Computer Interfaces for Manipulating Dreams
by Michael AnissimovA first-generation commercial brain-computer interface (BCI) is being released by Emotiv Systems later this year. What does the future hold for BCI?
None Dare Call Them Catastrophes: Why We Underestimate Apocalypse
by Milan ĆirkovićIt is strangely underappreciated that when it comes to global catastrophic or existential risks the future cannot resemble the past.
Program Yourself
by Christopher Harris“Most people don’t realize how common brain implants have become in the last couple of years. Every month thousands of patients all over the world have electronics surgically implanted into their heads to treat problems with hearing, movement and pain, and more recently with epilepsy, vision, paralysis, depresssion, compulsive behaviour and loss of consciousness (Perlmutter & Mink, 2006; Lebedev & Licolelis, 2006; Kringelbach et al, 2007). The iPlant is just another implant, aimed at new regions in the brain.”
Electrode implant stimulates consciousness
by Moheb CostandiResearchers report in Nature that they have improved brain function in a minimally conscious patient by implanting electrodes into his brain.
I feel for you
by Moheb CostandiSynaesthesia is a condition in which there is increased connectivity between the areas of the brain that process information received from each sense organ. This leads to a mingling of the senses: for example, sounds may elicit perceptions of colour in a synaesthete who has increased connectivity between the brain’s visual and auditory pathways.
The Three Goals, Game Theory, and Western Civilization
by Phil BowermasterA while back, I wrote about the possibility of updating the Three Laws of Robotics as goals in order to make them a more practical means of getting at a friendly artificial general intelligence.
Can’t Beat ‘Em? Culture Them: Computing with Meat
by Moheb CostandiCultured neurons seem like ants away from their colony: removed from their parent organ, dissociated from their fellow workers and placed into an unnatural environment. But neurons plated onto a culture dish connect to each other, forming simple neural networks that give rise to spontaneous electrical activity.
Why is AI Dangerous?
by Michael AnissimovTo put it in a single sentence, I’d say that it’s because only a minority of cognitively possible goal sets place a high priority on the continued survival of human beings and the structures we value. Another reason is that we can’t specify what we value in enough mathematical detail to transfer it to a new species without a lot of requisite hassle.
Deep brain stimulation could restore vision to the blind
by Moheb CostandiIn an advance online publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from Harvard Medical School’s Department of Neurobiology show that the perception of single spots of light can be elicited in monkeys by electrical stimulation of a part of the brain called the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN).
Alien abduction, reincarnation and memory errors
by Moheb CostandiWe rarely remember things as they actually happened. Rather, as memories are encoded, they are altered in order to be made compatible with our existing knowledge; upon retrieval, memories are reconstructed rather than reproduced. Because the extent to which this reconstruction occurs can vary, some memories are very accurate while others are a mixture of fact and fantasy. Yet others - claims of highly implausible events such as alien abduction and reincarnation, for example - are completely fabricated.
Controlling animal behaviour with an optical on/off switch for neurons
by Moheb CostandiLast week, I wrote about the work of Ed Boyden and his colleagues at MIT’s Media Lab. Boyden’s research group has developed a method by which light is used to control neuronal activity. The method involves the use of a light-activated protein called channelrhodopsin (ChR2), which was recently isolated from the extremophile archaebacterium Natronomonas pharaonis.
A neural substrate for moral decisions
by Moheb CostandiAn advance online publication in Nature shows that damage to a specific region of the frontal lobe alters people’s ability to make moral judgments.
Relative Advantages of AI and Human Brains
by Michael AnissimovAdvantages of computer programs over humans, which some might call, “why we use computers at all”:
Looking for limits to enhancement in a plastic world
by Michael AnissimovDespite being a transhumanist who wants to transcend my boundaries, I agree strongly with the need for limits and constraints as we move towards increasingly transformative technologies. For some, “no limits, yay!” is the rallying call, but I look at the situation from a thermodynamic, not political, perspective.
Exploring Nano-Ethics
by Chris PhoenixThere are two kinds of ethicists. The first kind makes you think about what it is you want, and why. The second kind tells you what you should want. The first kind of ethicist is very valuable. The second can be damaging.
Ageless thinking in the year of the big 3-0
by Simon SmithSo this year, I and many of my friends are turning 30. And don’t think people aren’t noticing. This month and next month alone, three close friends will mark the birthday. And this has brought on the inevitable anxiety about aging, getting older, leaving youthful days behind, and various other manifestations of ageist bullshit that, thankfully, is being driven further and further out of our culture with each new development in antiaging medicine, and each fresh take on what it means to mark birthdays in a transhuman era.
Top Ten Cybernetic Upgrades Everyone Will Want
by Michael AnissimovThe IEET would like to welcome our latest contributor, Michael Anissimov, author of the popular Accelerating Future blog.
Feelings from a prosthetic limb
by Moheb CostandiLast year, ex-marine Claudia Mitchell, who lost her left arm in a motorcycle accident when she was 24 years old, became the world’s second recipient of a “bionic arm” after she had a pioneering surgical procedure performed on her by surgeons at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.
The height of hubris?
by Simon SmithOver the past month, I’ve become obsessed with reading about limb lengthening surgery.
Book review: Mind Wars by Jonathan D. Moreno
by Moheb CostandiThe U. S. government has long understood that its military, hyperpowerful as it is, is woefully inadequate for present and future conflicts. Hence, in recent years, the U. S. Department of Defense has sought a radical transformation of its armed forces, with the overall aim of having an agile and technology-driven army that is better prepared for multiple, simultaneous wars than is the cumbersome leviathan of today.
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