The very interesting Bloomberg post ‘Brain-Computer Interfaces Are Already Here‘ describes graphically and in a compelling manner the progress of brain-computer interfaces today.
The most promising technology, it seems, involves an implant in the brain that can be plugged in the computer (instead of non-invasive technologies). The results that are mentioned in the post are quite amazing. “The past year has been particularly impressive. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center connected touch sensors from a robot’s fingertips to a paralyzed man’s sensory cortex so he could feel what it was touching. At Case Western, scientists linked a paralyzed man’s motor cortex to a computer that electrically stimulated muscles in his arm, enabling him to bring a forkful of food from a dish to his mouth. At Brown, Borton’s team implanted electrodes and a wireless transmitter in a monkey’s motor cortex and connected it to a receiver wired to the animal’s leg, restoring its walking motion.”
Although confined today to remediation of people with motorsensory problems, the technology might well soon become mainstream. The potential is quite difficult to envisage, in particular if that can enhance some of our physical and brain capabilities.
