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Paralysed man sends e-mail by thought

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Ripclawe

Banned
http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041011/full/041011-9.html

An pill-sized brain chip has allowed a quadriplegic man to check e-mail and play computer games using his thoughts. The device can tap into a hundred neurons at a time, and is the most sophisticated such implant tested in humans so far.

Many paralysed people control computers with their eyes or tongue. But muscle function limits these techniques, and they require a lot of training. For over a decade researchers have been trying to find a way to tap directly into thoughts.

In June 2004, surgeons implanted a device containing 100 electrodes into the motor cortex of a 24-year-old quadriplegic. The device, called the BrainGate, was developed by the company Cyberkinetics, based in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Each electrode taps into a neuron in the patient's brain.

The BrainGate allowed the patient to control a computer or television using his mind, even when doing other things at the same time. Researchers report for example that he could control his television while talking and moving his head.

The team now plans to implant devices into four more patients.
 

Tenguman

Member
LAWNMOWER%20MAN%202.jpg
 

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
I remember an episode of The Outer Limits that started like this...
 

DarthWoo

I'm glad Grandpa porked a Chinese Muslim
So I've always wondered...as such technology advances, we'll be able to detect more and more things from within the mind. Will it not eventually (though certainly not for a long time) get to the point where our technologies can read the sum of our thought patterns, first from implanted devices, and then remotely. Then eventually we'll be able to translate such patterns into the actual content of the thoughts. Wouldn't this someday possibly lead to electronic telepathy?
 

Nos_G

Member
Still sucks that he can't masturbate while mentally browsing the internet...

Get him some mechanical arms, STAT!!
 

teiresias

Member
The device, called the BrainGate, was developed by the company Cyberkinetics, based in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Each electrode taps into a neuron in the patient's brain.

Damn those liberal assholes from Massachusetts, next thing you know they'll be wanting to do evil stem cell research.
 

DarthWoo

I'm glad Grandpa porked a Chinese Muslim
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/12/07/computer.thought.reut/index.html

'Thinking cap' controls computer
Tuesday, December 7, 2004 Posted: 11:43 AM EST (1643 GMT)


WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Four people were able to control a computer using their thoughts and an electrode-studded "thinking cap", U.S. researchers reported Monday.

They said their set-up could someday be adapted to help disabled people operate a motorized wheelchair or artificial limb.

While experiments have allowed a monkey to control a computer with its thoughts, electrodes were implanted into the animal's brain. This experiment, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, required no surgery and no implants.

"The results show that people can learn to use scalp-recorded electroencephalogram rhythms to control rapid and accurate movement of a cursor in two dimensions," Jonathan Wolpaw and Dennis McFarland of the New York State Department of Health and State University of New York in Albany wrote.

They tested their device on four people -- two partly paralyzed men who used wheelchairs and a healthy man and woman.

During the experiments, the four volunteers faced a video screen wearing a cap that held 64 electrodes against the scalp to record brain activity.

The key was a special computer algorithm -- a program that translated the brain signals into a meaningful directive of what the users wanted the computer to do.

It took some practice, but all four learned to move a cursor on the screen in two directions, Wolpaw and McFarland found.

"The impressive noninvasive multidimensional control achieved in the present study suggests that a noninvasive brain control interface could support clinically useful operation of a robotic arm, a motorized wheelchair, or a neuroprosthesis," the researchers wrote.

The two disabled men were better at the task, the researchers found. This could have to do with stronger motivation or perhaps a brain forced to be more adaptable to cope with the injuries that left the men disabled, the researchers said.

Many groups are working on ways to help disabled and paralyzed people use their thoughts to control machines. While some require brain implants, others use such cues as eye motion or brain waves recorded from outside.

So now we can detect the brain patterns with an external receiver, rather than implants. Soon perhaps the dream of electronic telepathy and the foolproof death penalty will be upon us!
 

8bit

Knows the Score
bjork said:
So what did the email say?
ufvniofu ioum iobtrmuoim omtor,tvrozptuzowüunoienuqtioüvnt uiqoümurevrnivoqur mreui reqntireivmtur voi run roivoiejreöhtoöpgjitohjotü iono ngomjgoümgjni uq fiuqioprureiorqemom un rorenreümreuü iron ti
 

Mama Smurf

My penis is still intact.
8bit said:
ufvniofu ioum iobtrmuoim omtor,tvrozptuzowüunoienuqtioüvnt uiqoümurevrnivoqur mreui reqntireivmtur voi run roivoiejreöhtoöpgjitohjotü iono ngomjgoümgjni uq fiuqioprureiorqemom un rorenreümreuü iron ti

:lol
 

LakeEarth

Member
8bit said:
ufvniofu ioum iobtrmuoim omtor,tvrozptuzowüunoienuqtioüvnt uiqoümurevrnivoqur mreui reqntireivmtur voi run roivoiejreöhtoöpgjitohjotü iono ngomjgoümgjni uq fiuqioprureiorqemom un rorenreümreuü iron ti

DAMMIT, that was my idea. You stole my bit!
 
Interesting stuff. Too bad an implant is required.

Down the road, you won't need a clumsy controller to play video games. :lol
 
Rorschach said:
Cerebro!

I wonder how well you can play CS with this...

AIMBOT FUCKERS!

Heh...

MENTAL LAG!

Heh..

Oh well... sleep. now.

(On a side note, the spray tags should be subconcious images ripped from your mind.. that would be interesting.)
 
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