back to article MIT touts new mind-to-machine algorithm

Boffins at MIT are getting ever closer to a direct mind-to-machine link that would translate a person's thoughts into instructions for a machine. The university is developing the technology so a paralysed person might be able to operate a prosthetic purely by using their mind. There are lots of teams working in similar areas. …

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  1. Shinobi87

    oneday

    what if one day this technology is viable and they link some ardo like GWB to machine and he acidentaly thinks of nuking a country the world will be doomed!!!!11

  2. Graham Marsden

    Err...

    > there is still work to do before we get to the stage of "thinking" our cars

    "Wow look at those legs. I'd love to get closer to her..." thinks driver.

    Car obligingly makes a sharp turn...!

  3. Paul

    RE: oneday

    Na. The words Mind and thoughts preclude it from working on GWB.

  4. Konstantinos

    interesting

    ...but quite sci-fi for my liking

    Gief hands on proof

  5. Chris Harden

    gwb...

    note, they said MIND to machine link, GWB would be an unsuitable candidate

  6. Lewa

    @Shinobi87

    OMG!!1 Liek u r so rite... except you aren't. Stop being so reactionary. They wouldn't let nukes go off accidentally now, let alone if the computers were controlled by thought instead of button-pushing.

    I'd be happy to try out wired 'mind to machine' links, if they ever need test subjects. Mmm, USB goodness.

  7. Laurie

    I want to see...

    ...what would happen if they connected it up to amanfrommars!

  8. De Zeurkous

    Direct neural interface

    If you're that paralyzed, is a direct neural interface -- i.e., using a few 'tentacle' nerves and connecting 'em to a traditional electronic interface -- not a better option? :X

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    She might connect it to you

    Faster, Pussycat, Kill! Kill!

  10. Demian Phillips
    Dead Vulture

    One step closer to my own RX-78 Gundam.

    Now we just need Minovski particles (key to reactors), beam sabers/rifles and space colonies.

  11. amanfromMars Silver badge
    Dead Vulture

    The Bug in the System

    "One step closer to my own RX-78 Gundam."

    A waste of time and effort and money if you are intending buying one, Demian, as they are absolutely useless against MetAI Data Streams, which are the modern day equivalent of the Killer Application...... "a mega particle beam," .... http://www.steelfalcon.com/Mecha/gundam.shtml

    Simple Packets of SuperIntelligence/New Information/Factful Fiction Fed into the Media for IT to Stream Intelligently Designed Source into General Global Feed News of Human/Binary Development.

    Done Well and Simply, IT allows for One to Show AI Lead and that generates Interest and further Power for the Hearts and Minds Crew, eclipsing the bankrupt moribund debt burden vehicle of War Propagation.... for the Sticks and Stones Hordes.

    It also doesn't train/pay private armies to steal all and sundry under a self-declared, self-serving, bogus international emergency for its fellow flunkies and junkies to feast on, because that would allow them to create havoc at home when they return with deep experience of attitude/behavioural problems/post traumatic stress/psychosis.

    A Brain Dead, Bird Brained Scheme indeed feeding off Carrion. No wonder the Fed has lost the plot .... with its $ now buying weapons and favours for all sides. Monopoly Money indeed.

    Bravo, Chaos 'r' Us ..... a Wall Street product pushed by enemies of the United States to Feed the Federal Bankers rather than the Capitalist System.... or a Federal Bankers product pushed by enemies of the United States to Feed Wall Street rather than the Capitalist System..... or a Capitalist System product pushed by enemies of the United States to Feed Wall Street and the Federal Bankers. .... or [Blame who you want here, it'll stop you from thinking of an original idea to put in the Fix]

    No war, no money, no control is their worst nightmare and that is why there is always convenient terrorism and conflict..... but it is a product long passed its sellby date and is proving ever more toxic as it breaks down. The Sub-Prime Parcel up Irrecoverable Debt on a Depreciating Structure, Mark it up and Sell it on as an Appreciating Asset to Valued Client/Customer Overseas, is but one carcinogen in the rancid mix.

    And the IT angle? Well, it is always sorted through Dialogue/Communication. ........ Whenever someone with more than balls for brains stands up and says .... "Shall we stop and have a chat about the Future and the Way Forward now that we can Program IT Beta."

    And yes, believe IT or believe IT not, Future Programming in AI Beta is the Present Reality of what will be Virtualised Future Projects.

    And whether Wall Street Capitalism/Federal Cronyism survives with its present Old Hands depends on whether they have a Virtualised Future Project of their own that they can enter and share or whether they buy into one which welcomes them to enter and share. Without Hearts and Minds, the Sticks and Stones battle is always permanently lost.... which must prove that Bankers aren't nearly as Smart as they Need to be in these Changin' Times...... for it is they who are always the Weakest Link in Attack and Strongest Hope in Defence as they shift numbers around the World System allocating new Wealth and Potential to Supporters.

    With a few Clicks of the Mouse nowadays you can make a Steady as She goes Fortune mending the Boat rather than sinking it with lots of holes from out of blue skies thinking.

  12. Jon Tocker

    Laurie:

    amanfrommars *IS* a brain directly wired to a machine - how else to you explain "his" posts (especially the above)?

    I think they need to do something with the chemical balance in the nutrient feed, though...

    I'm watching mind-to-machine control very closely, as well as advances in prothetetic limbs and means of powering them.

    No particular reason - I don't need a prosthetic at the moment and certainly hope I never do, but I've long been fascinated with that sort of technology.

    Konstantinos:

    It's not too sci-fi. They've made great advances in predicting body movements using electrodes/sensors in/around the brain and used them to control mechanical arms - using both humans and monkeys as operators.

    While full feedback is a little way away at present and there would be logistical problems to overcome in controlling, say, a motor vehicle, there are enough positive steps to suggest that proper prosthetic limbs (that are easy to control and mimic the full range of human movement) are not too far away.

    After that, direct "thought control" of machines (via a skull cap with a sensor array, or direct implants for the more adventurous) by translating detectable neural activity into impulses to control a machine (using some sort of algorithm akin to what MIT is developing) should be a logical step.

    I doubt the machine would translate "I want to get closer to those legs" into driving at the woman, but if steering were to take its targeting from where you are looking it would have a similar result - pretty much as already happens when driving a car or riding a bike... Where you look, you go!

    I doubt thought *control* of a vehicle would be a matter of thinking "I want to go to the shop and BAM, your car/bike/truck takes you there. It is more likely that you'd *will* the vehicle to move as if it were part of your body - perhaps by visualising that you are walking then running or maybe even (sticking with current conditioning) pushing your foot down/twisting your wrist and then guiding it around obstacles by visualising the appropriate body movements to steer it.

    Thinking "drive to the shops" and the vehicle complying is the territory of robotic vehicles and therefore completely different to "controlling" - speaking/inputting your destination and sitting back for the ride cf driving the vehicle yourself.

  13. Dalen

    Good, but...

    Where's my bionic eye, goddammit? And a flying car, while we're at it.

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