Touch screens, voice recognition, and systems that track eye and muscle movements all offer efficient ways of communicating, but transmitting thoughts directly to machines, without any implant in the brain could affect our lives more than any other technology under development today.
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh have teamed up to work on Intel's Human Brain Project that involves the transmission of human thoughts directly to a computer. Over the next 10 years, scientists hope to create an unobtrusive brain-scanning headset that will allow users to operate wheelchairs, prosthetics, voice synthesizers, and computers, with just their thoughts.
This research boasts incredible potential. For example, instead of Googling for facts and manually typing my weekly articles, I would simply don a headset and think about what I want to say. The machine would scan my brain, search the Internet for relevant content, then create a perfect piece for my approval.
Would this automated system then steal my job? No, it would just improve on the details for each piece. My brain would still be necessary to select and approve the articles.
Some believe this technology could one day convert thoughts and send them through the Internet to another brain, creating brain-to-brain thought talking.
Renowned author Freeman Dyson believes the biggest game-changing science will be what he describes as "radio-telepathy," the direct communication of feelings and thoughts from brain-to-brain.
Genetics and molecular biology may be the dominant science in the 2010s and 2020s, Dyson says, but the 2030s belong to neurology. In Dyson's proposed scheme: "We would invent two new technologies, the direct conversion of neural signals into radio signals, and the placement of microscopic radio transmitters and receivers that could remotely penetrate the tissues of a living brain.”
One would simply think of a person's name, and with their approval, the connection would be made. In addition to exchanging thoughts, memories, and feelings, people could also gaze through each other's eyes. Imagine experiencing a beautiful sunset or heated romantic encounter through another's eyes.
It's easy to envision thought talking from one human to another, but positive futurists predict we could also extend this technology to other species. We could feel the joy of birds flying or the terror of a deer being hunted. With brain-to-brain communication, we will experience life in many new and amazing ways.
By late 2030s or early 2040s, computers are predicted to surpass human intelligence, an event that some believe will result in the development of wireless interfaces that connect brains with machines, allowing an information flow to control activities between the human mind and its machines.
However, before we can reach this level of expertise, science must first unravel the mysteries of human consciousness. How does an "I" arise from a clump of biological neurons? Could the answer be found in how our 100 billion neurons connect with each other?
The National Institutes of Health hopes to foster research that will one day solve this eternal puzzle with the Human Connectome Project, a $30-million research effort to promote major leaps in understanding brain functions. Researchers want to determine how brain activities translate into mental function.
Other advantages expected from this technology include a better insight into the mind, which could lead to eliminating much of the evil found in criminals, sociopaths, and others that would harm society.
As we move through the last half of the 21st century, each decade will see humanity shedding more of its biology, and replacing it with powerful non-biological materials that can automatically self-repair when damaged. Transitioning into this new body material will signal the end of most of today's human deaths.
Free from concerns over dying, humanity can now grasp the true meaning of humanness while enjoying the benefits of an indefinite lifespan. Some predict we will become a ‘cosmic species' scattering our populations to the stars; and one day, more humans will live in space than on Earth. Comments welcome.
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I think it’s a good thing that, while I have chosen to pursue a career in cognitive science with precisely these applications in mind, I find the prospect of immediate brain interfacing not just extremely enticing, but also quite scary. This technology - if at all feasible - has a tremendous potential for misuse. Today, we’re fighting for the freedom of the internet and the security and privacy of our data and devices. In two or three decades, we may have to fight for the freedom of our very thoughts, for the security and privacy of our minds.
Notably, as the opportunities will likely be mind-bendingly great, the technology will likely be adopted regardless of the risks. The more important, then, to identify these risks ahead of time and deal with them as early as possible!