How is it possible that this is scanning my mind?

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How does brain sensing technology work?

Am i endangering myself by partaking?  Is it zapping electricity into my head?

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As you know, if you’ve been keeping up with my previous blog posts, I’ve been delving deeper into the topic of neuroscience and what advances have been made towards them.  This week, I’ll be giving updates on how your brain is being tied into technology.  And no I do not mean with smartphones and tablets.  I’m talking about connecting your brain to a computer interface.  Check out my previous article to find out what’s in “the works” right now.  It’ll blow your mind!  But, here, we’ll be discussing how all this brain-to-interface technology works.  What’s the science behind it?

It’s no secret that there has been new technology going around that connects tons of sensors to your head and back into the computer. As seen below:

Man with Electrode Wires on Head — Image by © Adrianna Williams/Corbis

This scientific advancement has helped many paralyzed patients become better communicators, through neural stimulation.  This journal written back in 2002 further explains this.  It discussed how interest in creating a BMI, a Brain-Machine-Interface,  was gaining popularity at the time.  Look at us now.  It’s 2017 and that device is here.  Today, BMI’s are being implemented in so many different ways, like through brain implants, head band technology, electrode wires etc.,  and by so many different companies that I took it upon myself to seek out how all this new technology works.  I wanted to know how it was possible for a computer interface to read brain signals from only a wire connected outside your head.  Iot for All, a technology media site, was there for my answer.

Iot for all wrote an article this past week about how brain sensing technology works.  They began with how the brain even receives action signals and worked up from there.  A lot of scientific jargon was used during the explanation and was a little drag to keep up with, so here’s my breakdown.  Hopefully it helps, and I don’t lose you here:

1.  This entire process is called signal transduction: This is a signal that tells a cell to do something.  Think of transduction as the BOSS.  The cells are its workers.
2.  When a ligand, a small molecule that acts as a signal, binds to a receptor, whats receiving the signal, a series of pathways occur within the cell that help activate a target protein or molecule.  So, the ligand is the Boss’s messenger in this equation.  Once the messenger delivers it’s message it opens up a series of pathways.
3.   Signals are then continuously passed along, turning on other target molecules and proteins until the designated signal is produced.  Once it is, that signal shoots up the spine to your brain, and straight to the neurons.  The neurons in this equation lives in the “headquarters”, these are the CEO’s.
4. [Sidenote] Your brain is home to approximately 100 billion neurons, nerve cells that allow you to react to signals, which is why actions occur so quickly without second thought.  How can you miss?  Unless you get distracted from a task.  “Is that pizza I smell?”
5. [Continuing] The signal (messenger) that is being sent to a neuron (CEO) is in the form of an electrical impulse known as an ‘action potential’ (he might make it).
6. The action potential causes the nerve cell to release neurotransmitters (signaling molecules) which then bind to the receptor on the next neuron (another CEO).
7. Once these two CEO’S meet (two neurons) the space between them is called the synapse.  If the electrical charge on these neurotransmitters being released into the synapse is above the threshold (the amount needed for a certain result to occur), then an action potential (top messenger that get’s the job done) will be fired.  BUT, if it falls under the threshold (tensions aren’t rising between these CEO’s), then nothing will happen and that will be the end of the signal transduction.
8. An example would be: If you were trying to catch an incoming ball while playing catch but a cute man or woman walked by, you looked, and the ball came back and smacked you in the face because you were distracted.  That would be an instance of falling under the threshold and signal transduction.  “On to the next one”.
9.  [Continuing]  When a group of neurons experience this change in electrical impulse, they generate an electrical field which resembles a small vibration which can then be detected on the scalp by an EEG sensors.

BOOM! There you have it folks!  That is how brain sensors pick up your brain activity, measure your state of being and figure out what feeling you’re trying to ignite.

Perhaps these devices are able to send a signal back.  As shown in the above picture.

Go check out the Muse Brain Sensing Headband, now that you have some background info on how this stuff may work and how it’s picking up brain signals.  Go on their page and read about this new piece of technology.

Additional Sources:

1. Connecting cortex to machines: recent advances in brain interfaces
2.  Example of a Signal Transduction Pathway- 6 minute Video

 

Will your brain need “scheduled updates” in the future?

Elon Musk wants to link your brain to your computer

Preparing humans for the rise of artificial intelligence

Photo cred: futuristgerd.com

What does the future behold for brain vs. AI technology?

The time has come.  It is 2017 and we are trying to connect computer technology innately into our brains, to keep up with robot intelligence.  Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX CEO, has developed a new company called Neuralink, a brain-computer interface company, that is working on “neural lace” implants, to turn “cloud-based AI into an extension of the human brain”.  Yes, you heard it right.  The future may hold hyper-intelligent people.  Or simply, people with computer technology in their heads.  Talk about Netflix, Black Mirror, season 1, episode 3.  The time for advanced innovation is now.  Wired.com posted an article about Musk’s new and developing company.  Musk explains in an interview with Wait But Why, that this new technology will not only allow you to access and understand new information, but also help patients with severe brain injuries caused by stroke, cancer lesion, epilepsy and others, repair cognitive function, in the next four years.  He says that with the help of brain implants directly linked to computers, humans may be able to improve their brain function, or even one day download their thoughts, or upload the thinking of others onto a computer.  Yes, it sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi movie, doesn’t it?  But, it is in the process of development.  This micron-sized device is expected to keep humans on the same playing field as advancing artificial intelligence.

Currently, there are implants out there that link to the neurons in our brain, strictly used for those with disabilities.  So, this isn’t too far off the radar.  There are people with pacemakers in their chest, those with wired neuron technology to link prosthetic limbs to touch senses, and so forth.  Musk predicts that neural lace could take about eight to 10 years to become usable by people without disabilities and would still then have to be approved for safe implantation.  It also depends on how well the devices worked on those people with disabilities.  The wired article delves deeper into  this idea of “transhumanism”, the enhancement of humanity’s capabilities through science and technology.  They discuss the living reality of many people, today, who already have technology within them.  A very interesting example that was given, was of documentary-maker, Rob Spence, who replaced one of his own eyes with a video camera in 2008.  Talk about crazy!  Can you imagine what that looks like, let alone, feels like?

Rob Spence; Photo cred – buzznigeria.com

Rob Spence Camera Eye

According to wired.com, Elon Musk said, earlier this year, at a conference in Dubai, that the science behind neural lace is “mostly about the bandwidth, the speed of the connection between your brain and the digital version of yourself, particularly output.”  He says that we already have a digital and physical version of ourselves.  One that we see physically and the online version of ourselves that we display through email and social media.  But the real question that no one seems to be asking is, “How much will this thing cost?”

CNBC said it best in their article, How Elon Musk’s Neuralink  could end up hurting average Americans,  the “one question Musk hasn’t answered (and in fairness, it may not be his responsibility to answer) is who will have the privilege of getting a neural lace?”  Prices have not yet been released, but it can go without saying that Elon Musk’s neural lace transplant probably won’t be covered by your typical insurance plan.  In other words, it looks as if this will be a rich persons advantage.

It reminds me of the movie “Repo Man”.  If neural lace is to be offered to the middle and lower class, can/will it be in the form of monthly or yearly payments?  And what if you don’t make that payment?  What is the penalty?  Will they take away your implant forcefully like they do when repossessing your TV’s, couches, or cars?  If you don’t pay up will you have to fear for your life?  The way people are attached to HANDHELD technology now,  you can only imagine how attached they will be to something that enhances cognitive function, and allows you to download memory.  They’ll feel “less” of a person if they don’t have it.  Imagine saying in ten years time, “Hey man, did you get the new neural lace update?”  and your friend responds, “Aww, no.  Maybe that’s why my eyes been twitching all day”.