back to article DARPA commits to brain-computer interface development project

Do you use your brain to control your computer, like Clint Eastwood did in Firefox (yes, that one), the rather underrated 1982 spy drama? No, us neither, but thanks to a new research project launched by the US military, we may one day be able to. A new programme from the US's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) …

  1. cbars Bronze badge

    wow

    "will require integrated breakthroughs across numerous disciplines including neuroscience, synthetic biology, low-power electronics, photonics, ........"

    I'll hold my breath then

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    "without any pesky middle-men such as limbs"

    Ah... so we're all to become like Daleks then...

    I think I'll have a 'blast' driving around in 'my little tank'...

    1. Fungus Bob
      Facepalm

      Re: "without any pesky middle-men such as limbs"

      Until you get to the porch steps.

      1. Tom Chiverton 1

        Re: "without any pesky middle-men such as limbs"

        "Until you get to the porch steps."

        Dalek's have been able to fly since The Chase. Which was black and white.

        1. Suricou Raven

          Re: "without any pesky middle-men such as limbs"

          But earlier ones were specifically defeated by stairs. The general fan theory is that there are many revisions of the dalek chassis, and some are a lot better than others. Thus why early models could be defeated by stairs or a punk with a baseball bat. When the Doctor encouters daleks further along in their history they have more advanced technology and superior shells.

          1. LaeMing
            Boffin

            Re: "without any pesky middle-men such as limbs"

            The earliest Daleks could be defeated with a plastic sheet on the floor as they got their power from the metal floor of their base!

    2. Roj Blake Silver badge

      Re: "without any pesky middle-men such as limbs"

      You sound more like Lt Gruber from 'Allo 'Allo than the Dalek Supreme Leader.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Yes, we had this after "Firefox" came out in '82...

    But you have to think in Russian!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Yes, we had this after "Firefox" came out in '82...

      Indeed!

      But "underrated"?! Only in Eastwood's agent's dreams - the film bombed for a reason, Eastwood's acting was as wooden as the doors to Parliament's chambers. Dull, dull, dull. Not one of his shining moments.

      Let that dog die. Please.

      1. sisk

        Re: Yes, we had this after "Firefox" came out in '82...

        I dunno. I rather enjoyed Firefox.

        Of course it was the mid 90s and I was still hopped up on adolescence hormones last time I saw it, so, you know, perspective.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Yes, we had this after "Firefox" came out in '82...

          Of course it was the mid 90s and I was still hopped up on adolescence hormones last time I saw it, so, you know, perspective.

          Try watching it today, with an adult perspective. And thus:

          Remember, when you've had enough and are ready to kill yourself rather than continue watching, it's Down the Road not Across the Street

          Firefox has a rather miserable 5.9 rating in IMDb; it has a just-as-rather-miserable 42% on Rotten Tomatoes from the experts / 41% from the user base. Trust me, it has these ratings for a reason.

    2. Steven Roper

      Re: Yes, we had this after "Firefox" came out in '82...

      "But you have to think in Russian!"

      Which isn't that tall an order compared to DARPA's version, which will require you to think in Merkin!

    3. LucreLout
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Yes, we had this after "Firefox" came out in '82...

      But you have to think in Russian!

      Yes, but even that won't save you when your wife suggests having a weekend in Paris, and your internet enabled TV reads your thoughts and displays relevant imagery....

  4. Mark 85

    The next project will be from NSA to read and collect all that information coming from your brain.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They're behind the ball on this one. Already working here... :)

  6. LINCARD1000
    Devil

    Call me paranoid (but not Shirley) however if they ever perfected this sort of tech what would stop them from implanting it into someone unwilling? Say POWs or prisoners or even people just suspected of being whatever the flavour du jour of pedoterrorist* is?

    Would make interrogations a lot easier, possibly? Or control over the person?

    * definition as suggested by whatever dodgy govt happens to be in power

    While I have faith that there could be a lot of really beneficial, positive spin-offs from this sort of technology (eg for the disabled), I have little faith that it won't also be used for nefarious purposes by various agencies, which is far more likely.

    1. Steven Roper

      You, I like you. I like the way you think. Yep. If you can read, you can write.

      You will be a good little consumer-robot. You will buy what we want you to buy, when we want you to buy it. You want this chocolate bar and you want it right now. You enjoy working 100 hours a week in sweatshop conditions under a whip-cracking pointy-haired boss for a pittance, and you feel that is a fulfilling and joyful life.

      For the thousandth time, I'm glad I never had kids. Not with the direction the future is taking...!

  7. Graham Marsden
    Coat

    Excuse me...

    ... whilst I jack in to my Ono Sendai Cyberspace 7

    (Mine's the one with the Mirrorshades in the pocket)

  8. TimeMaster T
    Coat

    Already have a Computer brain interface thank you very much

    I have one interface for visual with a secondary input channel working in parallel with it so I wont miss anything and another paired set of inputs dedicated for audio. AND I have ten, count'em 10, output interfaces.

    I can already interface with and operate everything in my home, work, car and general environment with my current I/O system. What does the Darpa system have to offer that is an improvement?

  9. Oengus

    Nothing can possibly go wrong with this...

    There are common themes throughout Sci Fi of direct brain to network/computer connections. Look at Neuromancer or Death by Ecstasy.

    With the security being an after thought in most devices today just think of the possibilities of someone hacking a the mind-machine interface device.

    1. Sir Runcible Spoon

      Re: Nothing can possibly go wrong with this...

      Not to mention Brainstorm. Really, don't mention it.

    2. Anonymous Blowhard

      Re: Nothing can possibly go wrong with this...

      And you're really going to want AdBlock on that interface...

  10. Roj Blake Silver badge

    Borg

    Forget hooking a brain to a computer. What happens when you connect multiple brains to each other via a switch?

    My guess is that once you get data transfer rates and latency comparable to the corpus callosum you'll see a merging of personality between the affected brains into a gestalt entity. Or the Borg.

    1. Steven Roper

      Re: Borg

      You might like to watch a movie from back in the 80s called Brainstorm. It's about a bunch of scientists who invent a "VR" type headset that does something like this. It records all brainwave patterns onto a tape which can be played back, allowing others to experience every thought, feeling and action thus recorded as though it was their own. They have a lot of fun with it at first, then start learning things about each other they'd rather not know.

      Then one of them has a heart attack and dies while recording on it, and the others find the tape...

      1. Suricou Raven

        Re: Borg

        Brainstorm also predicted something else about that tech: The first recording ever made is a test/demo tape. The second is porn.

  11. Graham Bartlett

    Firefox: Eastwood not required

    It was a book originally. As with most film adaptations of books, the film took a reasonable book and did a piss-poor job of putting it on the screen.

  12. Sgt_Oddball
    Coat

    Brainships!

    Sod the body, with this you can finally be a brain in a jar. or ship... or tank... It's a well worn SciFi trope after all for books, films, t.v. and computer games (Syndicate or Deus Ex being a good dystopian examples of where this ends up).

    Mines with the with the orange trim ..... though I never asked for this..

  13. sisk
    Thumb Up

    I, for one, welcome our up and coming telepathic robot overlords.

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