A brain-computer interface is a direct connection created between a human or animal brain and an external device that enables the exchange of information between the brain and the device. The concept has actually been around for a long time, but it wasn't until after the 1990s that milestones began to appear.
Brain-computer interfaces, also known as "brain ports" or "brain-computer fusion sensing," are direct connections between the human or animal brain (or a culture of brain cells) and an external device. In the case of a unidirectional brain-computer interface, the computer either receives commands from the brain or sends signals to the brain (e.g., video reconstruction), but cannot send and receive signals at the same time. A bidirectional brain-computer interface, on the other hand, allows for the exchange of information in both directions between the brain and the external device.
In short, a brain-computer interface is a way for the brain to connect directly to a machine. Through this method, the electrical signals emitted by the brain when a person or a laboratory animal prepares to move their body can be captured in real time, and the corresponding brain activity can be recorded and then translated into digital commands that can be sent to an artificial actuator.
In other words, humans can now read the brain's thoughts directly, not through words, but simply through brain-computer interfaces, and computers that are connected to our brains.
The technology of brain-computer interfaces is categorized into 3 main groups: 1. Invasive brain-computer interfaces, which are usually implanted directly into the gray matter of the brain, and thus the neural signals obtained are of higher quality. The disadvantage is that they are prone to immune responses and healing tissue (scarring), which can lead to a decline or even loss of signal quality.
2. Partially invasive brain-computer interfaces are generally implanted into the cranial cavity, but are located outside the gray matter. Its spatial resolution is not as good as that of invasive brain-computer interfaces, but it is better than non-invasive ones. Another advantage is that there is less chance of triggering an immune response and healing tissue.
3. Non-invasive brain-computer interfaces, although these non-invasive devices are easy to wear on the human body, the resolution of the recorded signals is not very high due to the attenuation of signals by the skull and the dispersion and blurring effect of electromagnetic waves emitted by neurons.
It can be seen that research into this technology, if successful, will revolutionize the future of humanity. At present, brain-computer interfaces have been crossed with different disciplines and have given rise to a variety of types, and many branches of neurophysiology have been developed into distinctive brain-computer interfaces, which are used in many fields such as sports rehabilitation, recovery of paralyzed patients' daily activities, artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, and robot design.
So what changes will brain-computer interfaces bring to human society? It is specifically embodied in the 4-layer pyramid of brain-computer interface technology.
1. Repair
Brain-computer interfaces allow machines to replace some of the functions of the human body through the manipulation of the mind, repairing the physiological deficiencies of people with disabilities. After the successful development of this technology, human beings can not have to speak and touch, just through the idea, you can control the external objects as you wish, to realize the superpower of the idea of mastering things. In the medical field, brain-computer interface is trying to provide more treatment opportunities for paralyzed and stroke patients.
2. Improvement
Brain-computer interfaces can improve the brain's operating state, making people refreshed, focused, and agile, able to work efficiently, and learning new knowledge exponentially faster.
Existing programs for brain-computer interfaces involve education, therapy, health, and more. There are both the use of EEG to detect sleep, detect ADHD in children, and for the field of virtual reality and augmented reality. The most common use today is to improve a person's mental state to achieve what psychology calls "mind flow".
The brain machine is used by the US military to train snipers and Navy SEALs.
3. Enhancement
Brain-computer interfaces allow us to improve the arithmetic power of the brain, and scientists are working on brain-computer interfaces to enable memory transplantation, and even memory enhancement. Through brain-computer interfaces, it is possible for humans to have a large amount of knowledge and skills in a short period of time, and through memory transplants, ultimately realize the immortality of human consciousness and memory in the computer world.
4. Communication
Now human communication needs to be through voice, language and action, etc., but with the continuous development of brain-computer interfaces, in the future, human beings can ultimately realize the highest level of communication - brain-brain interaction. That is, people no longer need to communicate with each other through voice, language, and body movements, but only through brain waves, which can be accomplished to achieve the realm of what we often refer to as "mindfulness".
Now scientific research has successfully decoded brain waves, and can synthesize speech directly from the brain through artificial intelligence. Its future development trend is, as a first step, the use of brain-computer interface, without the body and language, only through the brain waves, you can control the movement of external objects as you wish, to replace some part of the body defects with machinery, and once again integrated, perfect their own bodies.
Currently this technology has gradually matured. In the experiment, our country lost the right arm of the 10-year-old Yunnan girl, by wearing consciousness can control the prosthesis. This technology is further expanding, and in the future, people can control their cell phones, various tools, cars, and so on, through consciousness.
In the second step, through the brain-computer interface, there is no need for language between people, only directly with their own consciousness and thoughts, they can communicate. In the third step, through the brain-computer interface technology, it is possible to download information directly from the computer and the Internet to the brain, but also upload the consciousness to the computer, to realize the consciousness in the computer world of immortality.
At present, in the field of brain-computer interface research achievements of enterprises, respectively, Facebook and Musk's Neuralink the two technology giants. From the direction of research and development, it seems that now Facebook intends to give up the invasive brain-computer interface that requires open-heart surgery, and instead build wristband devices.
Currently, Facebook has developed a non-invasive brain-computer interface that can type with your mind, but because the non-invasive type is not in direct contact with the brain, its neurons receive signals at a much slower speed and accuracy than the invasive type. If we want to meet the highest expectations for brain-computer interfaces, the invasive type is still more advantageous.
Unlike Facebook's conservatism, Musk believes that humans need to combine with AI to become half "cyborgs" in order to withstand the existential threat that AI poses, and to avoid being eliminated by the AI era.
Neuralink's 2020 release, LINKV0.9, is fully PC-built, eliminating the need for an external device and enabling 24-hour battery life and wireless charging.
However, the invasive brain-computer interface is also facing technical bottlenecks, implanted in the brain chip, on the one hand, need to meet the millions of neuron information collection and processing; on the other hand, also need to be small enough to avoid damage to the compression of intracranial tissues, the material should be as much as possible with the intracranial environment compatible. This is a serious challenge for the current level of brain science research and biology, electronics.
In addition, Neuralink's invasive brain-computer interface products are all in the animal experimentation stage, and the opportunity for human experimentation is very rare, resulting in a very small sample size of current brain-computer data. Coupled with the general variability of people's physical conditions, it is difficult to get an accurate judgment without a large amount of reliable data to back it up. Because of these technical bottlenecks, the future of invasive brain-computer interfaces remains unpredictable.
Brain-computer interfaces need to avoid harms and benefits in their future development
Brain-computer interfaces, as a major technological breakthrough, will play a huge role in promoting the development of human society. At the same time, it will inevitably bring some social problems. Previously, technological advances could only encourage the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. The realization of brain-computer interfaces will lead to the rich becoming smarter, more knowledgeable, and healthier, while the poor will be weaker in comparison, so much so that superhumans may emerge.
Brain-computer interfaces also have risks such as unknown neural mechanisms, ethics, and loss of control, which are a series of drawbacks and defects that need to be overcome by both technologists and technology companies*** in order to ultimately realize the goal of brain-computer interfaces to serve humanity.