The path to substrate independence, one set of limbs and organs at a time.
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Bionic Legs Update
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/BprPt3tKZ3Q/
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- metavalent
- cyborg
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Clunky, Rudimentary Prototypes for Substrate Independence?
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/1gc7qecaL4o/
Some of our post-protoplasmic tenements may be meat, some may be metal, some may be silicon, some may even attempt the vastly more inconceivable leap to pure software, or even into the pure light of quantum computational fields. Regardless of one’s intolerance for hype or inclination for reading too much into the posthuman tea leaves, one thing is for certain: this experimental era of mashups and multi-substrate hybrids over the next few decades will be both exciting and at times troubling to behold. We’re participating in our own evolution, for better or worse.
Pandora’s box is open. There’s no putting the genie back in the bottle. Pick a favorite cheesy B-movie metaphor if you like, the progress manifest in seemingly innocuous projects like the “advanced telepresence robot created by Silicon Valley robotics start-up “Anybots” is already analogous to prototype bicycles with wings found in Orville and Wilbur Wright’s earliest garage. Are video-phone sticks on wheels absurdly crude, compared to remote embodiments we’ll consider humdrum by the 2020's? Of course. At the same time, we err to dismiss them as inconsequential. No, the human drive toward applied, adaptive futuretechture is made of this very ho-hum stuff. In any and all cases, the impulse toward richer, more integrated remote presence and extra-corporeal embodiment experiences continues accelerating.
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IBM’s Watson: A.I. Jeopardy Master
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/4EvyUSODKCY/
From The New York Times: What Is I.B.M.’s Watson?
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- metavalent
- agi
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The Fate of the Meat World
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/czvoFY3P8FM/
The fate of the meat world View more presentations from Humanity+.
“Homo sapiens, the first truly free species, is about to decommission natural selection, the force that made us. Soon we must look deep within ourselves and decide what we wish to become.” — Edward O. Wilson, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (1998)Wirehead Hedonism | Reproductive Revolution | Abolitionist.com | Superhappiness.com | BLTC
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Neurotheology: Toward a New Neurospiritual Tradition
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/JCUN_GiDyWo/
“Just as Copernicus’s heliocentric notion of universe is now bedrock truth, the Neuro Revolution will bring about new ideas of human spirituality that will forever reshape our understanding of humanity’s role and place the universe. A quiet transformation has begun, albeit one that may take centuries to play out fully” (Lynch, 152. The Neuro Revolution.).
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Tonight: The Business of the Brain **SOLD OUT**
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/EsjZaGKszbQ/
May 18, 2010 MIT/Stanford VLAB: Brain-Computer Interfacing (BCI) promises a quantum leap in human interaction with technology — enabling our thoughts and emotions to control devices and enabling devices to know what we’re “really thinking” and feeling. Currently, there are more than 300 million brain toting people in the United States alone, making the opportunities for BCI products far-reaching. BCI is bringing fresh and often unexpected perspectives to established industries, from entertainment and transportation to medicine and information systems. In this emergent phase of consumer-related BCI, innovators are redefining sleep management, gaming, user interfacing, courtroom evidence, and national security—and this is only the beginning. For the first time, neuroscientists and savvy entrepreneurs, from a number of traditionally unrelated industries, are teaming up to move BCI technology out of research and medical labs and into our everyday lives. The Business of the Brain event will address the challenges and opportunities of this exciting revolution, including limitations of “wet” sensors, “noise” interference, government regulation, novel user interfaces, designing industry-specific BCI applications and the cost engineering of current applications. Meet the minds behind this wave and find out how entrepreneurs are using the way we think to drive the future of technology. Topics to Be Explored:
Developing new industries vs. enhancing current industries Hardware, software and service opportunities Barriers of entry (how to build them up or tear them down) What VC’s are looking for in BCI Data interpretation and context Cutting edge vs. currently available
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- bci
- forecasting
- metavalent
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A Brain-Controlled Humanoid Robot
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/YK2zSLR9Src/
The Brain Controlled Robot by the brain-computer interface project by the Neural Systems Group at the University of Washington.
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- bci
- metavalent
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BCI: Thought2Text at 1 Letter Per Second
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/4KOhCjbjmdI/
Singularity Hub reporting: The world’s first patient-ready and commercially available brain computer interface just arrived at CeBIT 2010. The Intendix from Guger Technologies (g*tec) is a system that uses an EEG cap to measure brain activity in order to let you type with your thoughts. Meant to work with those with locked-in syndrome, or other disabilities, Intendix is simple enough to use after just 10 minutes of training. You simply focus on a grid of letters as they flash. When your desired letter lights up, brain activity spikes and Intendix types it. As users master the system, a few will be able to type as quickly as 1 letter a second. Besides typing, it can also trigger alarms, convert text to speech, print, copy, or email.
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Second Life with BCI
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/W_iem1f09HY/
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- bci
- metavalent
- internet
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What a Bird Brain: Or, Why Neurons Are Amazing
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/_lnJ6m-3i4A/
This morning I watched a bird — I believe a finch — in the back yard. He was making use of the bird house, which is quite small, featuring perhaps a 3/4″ hole for a front door.
This bird arrived on the perch with about a 4 inch long stick in it’s beak. Obviously, getting that in the front door didn’t go too well. Many birds are known tool users and problem solvers, and this very tiny clump of neurons knew enough to execute an Olympic, 2-inch horizontal perch hop with 1/2 twist, rotating 180 degrees and craning a tiny neck by sufficient additional measure to insert the long end of that stick into the house, then squeeze past and move inside to drag the stick inside.
Now, to my mind, that’s one hell of a computation problem to solve, so I took a minute to check out how the hell birds do that. Wikipedia is usually a good starting place: It seems that birds use a different part of their brain, the medio-rostral neostriatum/hyperstriatum ventrale (see also nidopallium), as the seat of their intelligence, and the brain-to-body size ratio of psittacines and corvines is actually comparable to that of higher primates. Interesting. So, just because the neocortex is the location of our highest human brain functions, that doesn’t necessarily place any restrictions upon neuronal capabilities in other regions or configurations, in general. This seems like an interesting avenue of inquiry for machine intelligence, because compared to what little computers can do today in terms of visual context construction, it would be quite a compliment to call any computer a total “bird brain.” Maybe when it comes to machine intelligence, or even modeling substrate independence for any kind of intelligence, we should consider learning to fly, before we walk.
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Mobile and Wireless BCI
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/UI3_5mSc6WE/
“Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a powerful non-invasive tool widely used in both medical diagnosis and neurobiological research because it provides high temporal resolution in milliseconds which directly reflects the dynamics of the generating cell assemblies, and it is the only brain imaging modality that does not require the head/body to be fixed.” — Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience
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- bci
- metavalent
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Emotiv Neuroheadset: You Think, Therefore You Can
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/VuEi_-vIf98/
This is too good for Researchers and Developers to not give them the free advertising. “The Emotiv EPOC is a high resolution, neuro-signal acquisition and processing wireless neuroheadset. It uses a set of sensors to tune into electric signals produced by the brain to detect player thoughts, feelings and expressions and connects wirelessly to most PCs.” Take advantage of the Emotiv EPOC neuroheadset to conduct EEG research. Join the Emotiv Research Community by licensing an Emotiv Software Development Kit (SDK) for research.
“The games application includes the first three games that have been developed: Emotipong, Cererbral Constructor, and Jedi Mind Trainer (WingRaise). Cortex Arcade will allow you to control the three games included using the Emotiv Epoc neuroheadset.” With Neurokey, ThinkTyping works. Remarks below about Neurokey from Russell Abbott, 02/03/2010 10:37:39 “I was thinking you could include predictive text mode, in a similar way to mobile phones. Reduce the number of keys and use a detection for each key.” “This way you could type a message a lot easier with cognitiv. I use predictive all the time on my phone and I am able bodied, without it is a real pain. So I imagine typing individual letters by gyro, cognitiv or expressiv would be quite frutstrating for a disabled person.”
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The Origin of the Human Mind: Brain Imaging and Evolution
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/lrXNwqFjKYo/
How to map a 1GB per mm2 intracranial mushdrive and other empirically based explanatory spelunking.
Don’t worry, there will be no quiz, because we can tell whether or not you’re paying attention and fMRI whether or not you get it. ;-) Marty Sereno: “The strange sort of reality of the visual system, from which you reconstruct and construct this static feeling of stuff out there is this sequence of [really bizarre, fisheye lens distorted looking, scanning, zooming] glances. Somehow, you actually assemble that series of glances into a meaningful, coherent, representation of the room.” So what differentiates our brains from animal brains, which are otherwise so strikingly, anatomically similar? Marty Sereno: “They don’t have a productive way of attaching up a symbol stream to this visual scene assembler, that they otherwise just use for assembling the current visual scene. So the theory is basically that, this final stage just requires some more rapid way of allowing auditory symbols which didn’t mean anything, or evolved for essentially meaninglessness and just sort of because they sounded good, essentially attaching them up to the higher level parts of the visual system where this scene assembly process goes on normally, with respect to the current scene. So that’s my theory.” Conclusions:
Preadaptation 1: vocal control by sexual selection Preadaptation 2: serial assembly of glances Language is not an isolated organ in the brain, but instead largely built upon existing functionality The ability to evoke fictive scenes leads to a great increase in cognitive power (evoking past, future) The final stage in this scenario only requires the development of stronger auditory/visual mapping
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Future of User Interfaces
http://metavalent.com/?p=1210#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed
UI’s for the coming decade from Six Revisions.
At Caltech, “our cybernetic implant options draw nearer (and more intelligent).”
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- bci
- metavalent
- neuro-cogno
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Gently Breaking the News to the Normals
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/lDDv-XbWfbA/
Get ready, it’s all coming together and now is the time to gently prepare the normals for what’s next; even if it’s by way of the equivalent of visual nursery rhymes and benign Olympic sideshows, for now. Winter Olympics to demo lighting controlled by thoughts So imagine what we’re not showing you, yet.
Image: Kotaku
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- bci
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Engineering Tissues, Growing Organs
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/t3rBvztl5dA/
- Tags:
- metavalent
- biohacking
- war on aging
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In the Lab with Brain Co-Processors
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/bqmOQkBTJQk/
One of the projects being developed by the group is a form of assistive technology they call a brain co-processor. This system, also referred to as a cognitive assistive system, would initially be aimed at people suffering from cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. It would monitor people’s activities and brain functions, determine when they needed help, and provide exactly the right bit of helpful information at just the right time. It could also find applications for people without any disability, as a form of brain augmentation. SOURCES: MIT bwo KAI
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Ultimate 6th Sense Brain Implant
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/K_CXtXCKejc/
“Who knows? Maybe, in another ten years, we’ll be here with the ultimate sixth sense brain implant.” — Pattie Maes
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The field is the sole governing agency of the particle
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/pgh_ye3kAow/
Is it merely cheesy pop pseudo science … “The field is the sole governing agency of the particle.” Since Einstein uses the term particle to represent “matter,” he is acknowledging that the field controls our physical reality. … or a somewhat useful intermediate abstraction on the way to more precise understanding … “Epigenetics has become much more interesting because it allows us to look at how gene expression is changed by environmental events, explainable in part by histone modifications.”
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Secret Math of Fly Eyes + AR Contact Lens
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/MZG1OhFfJmc/
Wired: The researchers’ algorithm is composed of a series of five equations through which data from cameras can be run. Each equation represents tricks used by fly circuits to handle changing levels of brightness, contrast and motion, and their parameters constantly shift in response to input. Unlike Lucas-Kanade, the algorithm doesn’t return a frame-by-frame comparison of every last pixel, but emphasizes large-scale patterns of change. In this sense, it works a bit like video-compression systems that ignore like-colored, unshifting areas. Embedded in Contact Lenses with Built-In Virtual Graphics might minimize power requirements: One obvious problem is powering such a device. The circuitry requires 330 microwatts but doesn’t need a battery. Instead, a loop antenna picks up power beamed from a nearby radio source. The team has tested the lens by fitting it to a rabbit. One of the limitations of current head-up displays is their limited field of view. A contact lens display can have a much wider field of view. “Our hope is to create images that effectively float in front of the user perhaps 50 cm to 1 m away,” says Parviz.
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Legal Challenges in an Age of Robotics
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/vUtekHf9reg/
On Thursday, November 12, 2009, sponsored by The Rock Center for Corporate Governance and Stanford Program in Law, Science, and Technology, Legal Challenges in an Age of Robotics: Once relegated to factories and fiction, robots are rapidly entering the mainstream. Advances in artificial intelligence translate into ever-broadening functionality and autonomy. Recent years have seen an explosion in the use of robotics in warfare, medicine, and exploration. Industry analysts and UN statistics predict equally significant growth in the market for personal or service robotics over the next few years. What unique legal challenges will the widespread availability of sophisticated robots pose? Three panelists with deep and varied expertise discuss the present, near future, and far future of robotics and the law.
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Minds4Sale, Synaptic Time Shares: Human brainpower as purchasable and fungible as server rackspace
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/wKHn6vZ_Gsg/
Stanford CodeX: “Human brainpower as purchasable and fungible as additional server rackspace.” File under Augmented, Extended, Emergent Cognition Grid.
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Substrate Independence: The Easy Part
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/ECVXydUEFZc/
Technology Review (via KAIN):
Oh, there’ll be no body category, class, or type limits — within the bounds of the laws of physics — for your inevitable substrate independent migratory path; just one niggling little problem holdin’ up the show: spec’n out the I/O ports.
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- posthuman
- bci
- metavalent
- futurism
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More Obsolete Human Skills 2020: 1.) Handwriting 2.) Manual driving, flying
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/n_52CnVtprQ/
PhysOrg, (via KAIN): Stanford engineers are developing the first autonomous racing car to climb Pikes Peak, a challenging 12.4-mile ascent in the Rocky Mountains, at 130 mph, as a way to create and test safety systems they hope one day will be used in all vehicles. “If we can design a car that can autonomously go up Pikes Peak, we can design a car that can take over when a driver falls asleep,” said Kirstin Talvala, one of the students.
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- forecasting
- metavalent
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Cognitive Liberty and Right to One’s Own Mind
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/metavalent/~3/BiriVNcdlhE/
More extraordinarily high-signal outputs from the seemingly inexhaustible cognition engine behind Sentient Developments: Cognitive liberty is not just about the right to modify one’s mind, emotional balance and psychological framework (for example, through anti-depressants, cognitive enhancers, psychotropic substances, etc.), it’s also very much about the right to not have one’s mind altered against their will … Our society has a rather poor track record when it comes to respecting the validity of certain mind-types … Forced cognitive modification is an issue that’s affecting real people today.
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Making Memories: Literally
Scientists have captured the first image of memories being made Source: McGill University
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- metavalent
- biotech
- neuro-cogno
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Of Neuro Economics and Artificial Brains
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Neurotechnology Industry 2009 Report
Yikes. The Neurotechnology Industry 2009 Report been out for months and I’m just now posting? Don’t let that be an excuse to not click and obtain immediately — or sooner, if already fully cog-chipped-up, of course. ;-)
Drugs, Devices and Diagnostics for the Brain and Nervous System: Market Analysis and Strategic Investment Guide of the Global Neurological Disease and Psychiatric Illness Markets Now in its fifth year, The Neurotechnology Industry 2009 Report is an expanded and updated 480 page report of brain and nervous system markets and treatments. It is the only publication to provide a unified market-based framework to help investors, companies and entrepreneurs easily identify opportunities, understand the competitive landscape, determine risks and understand the dynamics of rapidly changing CNS markets.
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- metavalent