Brain-computer interface researchers warn of a 'bleak' cyberpunk future – unless we tread carefully
- Reference: 1626939068
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/07/22/brain_computer_interface/
- Source link:
BCIs are, potentially, the next big thing. From [1]playing slot-car racing to [2]restoring speech or motor function, there's considerable interest in using electronics to read peoples' minds.
But not all progress on the BCI front is positive, researchers at Imperial College London warned – and the industry needs to take care amid reports of reliance on technology, thoughts of a world divided into those with access and those without, and the potential for commercial exploitation of a person's innermost musings.
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"For some of these patients, these devices become such an integrated part of themselves that they refuse to have them removed at the end of the clinical trial," said Rylie Green PhD, one of the authors of a new review on the state of the art in BCI research, of subjects in studies where BCI devices have been used to control wheelchairs or prostheses.
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"It has become increasingly evident that neurotechnologies have the potential to profoundly shape our own human experience and sense of self."
The review turned up increasing interest from commercial ventures, including work on reading subjects' minds to turn the intention of speech into written text – though Facebook, the funder of a successful project to do just that, announced it was [6]pulling funding to go in a different and somewhat less-creepy direction with its commercialisation efforts.
[7]Facebook pulls plug on mind-reading neural interface that restored a user's speech
[8]Man paralyzed from neck down uses AI brain implants to write out text messages
[9]Microsoft wants to patent mind control
[10]Quadriplegic woman demos advanced mind-control of robot arm
BCI isn't just about restoring functionality, though, but can also be used to augment it – allowing a typist, for example, to operate at the speed of thought. Potentially, in a lesson taught by a range of dystopian science-fiction media, it could lead to a world of haves and have-nots: the augmented, and the natural.
"This bleak panorama brings forth an interesting dilemma about the role of policymakers in BCI commercialisation," Green, reader in polymer bioelectronics at Imperial College London, continued in a [11]statement on the topic.
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"Should regulatory bodies intervene to prevent misuse and unequal access to neurotech? Should society follow instead the path taken by previous innovations, such as the internet or the smartphone, which originally targeted niche markets but are now commercialised on a global scale?
"Despite the potential risks, the ability to integrate the sophistication of the human mind with the capabilities of modern technology constitutes an unprecedented scientific achievement, which is beginning to challenge our own preconceptions of what it is to be human."
Roberto Portillo-Lara PhD, a researcher associate at Imperial's department of bioengineering, had his own concerns. "This is particularly worrisome," he said of the potential for commercial ventures to gain access to readings taken by BCI systems, "since neural data is often considered to be the most intimate and private information that could be associated with any given user.
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"This is mainly because, apart from its diagnostic value, EEG data could be used to infer emotional and cognitive states, which would provide unparalleled insight into user intentions, preferences, and emotions."
The review which triggered these concerns has been published under open-access terms in the journal [14]APL Bioengineering . ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/12/futurelab_emotiv/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2017/04/20/facebook_brain_typing/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YPlBuS87PdSE0WaUCBsphwAAAI8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YPlBuS87PdSE0WaUCBsphwAAAI8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YPlBuS87PdSE0WaUCBsphwAAAI8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/15/facebook_dumps_mindreading_neural_interface/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/15/facebook_dumps_mindreading_neural_interface/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/13/brain_implant_typing/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2018/01/15/microsoft_bci_patent_application/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2012/12/17/brain_controlled_robot_arm/
[11] https://publishing.aip.org/publications/latest-content/bleak-cyborg-future-from-brain-computer-interfaces-if-were-not-careful/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YPlBuS87PdSE0WaUCBsphwAAAI8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YPlBuS87PdSE0WaUCBsphwAAAI8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0047237
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
augmented and not auged ?
I suggest groups like Mennonites may have more recruits in worst case scenario. Certainly the question of "What problem does this solve" springs to mind. For those with damaged bodies, it solves a defined problem. For the trendies, perhaps another possible route for infections ? Given the cost and I suspect clumsiness of the gear in foreseeable future, not an issue yet or IMHO, likely to be.
As much as I'm sure this BCI stuff is cool...
I don't trust the people making it as far as I could throw them.
Your personal autonomy begins and ends here.
Re: As much as I'm sure this BCI stuff is cool...
I'm of a similar opinion. When I first heard about the idea years ago I thought it would be an awesome way to improve my brain, and I couldn't wait to sign up.
Unlike yourself, I think the people making it are likely to be intelligent, hard-working and fascinated by pushing the boundaries of what's possible. The people I don't trust are the ones who want to make money out of it. The internet seems to be a good analogue of this, built by people looking to connect ideas and share research (yes, maybe not all of them but I'm sure a lot of the engineers on the ground were), but then look what happened when people wanted to start making money off it.
So if this stuff is ever released, I think I'll stick to enhancing my intelligence the old-fashioned way, by learning more (old-skool! Hence icon).
I appreciate as others have stated that for those with limited mobility this could be a life-changer, but I'd be wary about what "diagnostics" and "monitoring" would be done on the sly which the user agreed to as part of a long, unintelligible EULA.
Rule 34B
About a decade ago, I was working with a UI researcher on a proposal for a project to explore novel human-computer interaction technologies for use in software development. He decided to steer clear of BCIs, and said he reckoned they would first appear from China, and would be used to enhance pornography --- picking up on what lights your candle and giving you more of it.
And that would be a wonderful source of data for anyone who wants to lean on you.
(Yes, I'm sure there'll also be BCI porn, but I put Rule 34B because the porn industry could monetize it behind the scenes as well as in front of the camera.)
Too much of a Similarity Suggests at least a Singularity Pathway ..... AIModus Operandi/Vivendi
I might like to concur with observations/warnings researching Imperial College London warnings of paths on/in which one is best advised to tread carefully, with evidence for that declaration already spookily shared earlier on [1]TheNextPlatform
amanfromMars [2107220630] ..... having a say on [2]https://www.nextplatform.com/2021/07/21/what-are-quantum-hardware-startups-thinking/
Regarding the Quantum Communication Software Stack and Future Applications for ITs Virtual Hardware Machinery to Engage with and Run for Extensive Exceptional Executive Atomic Programs, be assured there be no dearth of those ready, willing and already delivering enablement of Fields of Play Commands and Controls ...... for that which and/or those who would Lead with AIVisions to Front in a Vanguard rather than more simply follow with subsequent developments hosted later towards the rear of the Thought Train providing AudioVisual Presentations/Sight and Sound Realisations of Programs and Projects Trialed and Trailed Ahead ..... resultant in such as the following recently Registered one, ..... [3]an Almighty Powerful EMPowering Net Zero Cost Device to Driver in Any Good Direction of One's Choice ..... an early Pathfinder AIMaster Pilot Tracking Future Progress and Beta Testing Foreign Abilities and Alien Utilities down on Earth, a Prime Example of both the Direction and Scope of Intended Travel and the Power and Energy of Available Highly Enriched Core Source Ore Drivers.
To imagine such is something/anything able to be stopped in its tracks or derailed is the exercise of delusion and hubris taken to its catastrophic extreme.
[1] https://www.nextplatform.com/2021/07/21/what-are-quantum-hardware-startups-thinking/#comment-164806
[2] https://www.nextplatform.com/2021/07/21/what-are-quantum-hardware-startups-thinking/
[3] https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2021/07/20/muse_group_deportation_threat/#c_4299347
Easy for able bodied to criticise
But I imagine someone who is paraplegic or otherwise physically handicapped might beg to differ. In spite of the general iffiness of BCI.
Depends what you mean by augmentation
" BCI isn't just about restoring functionality, though, but can also be used to augment it "
While nobody would reasonably argue against restoration of functionality, the validity of this statement depends entirely on two things - the baseline of the "unaugmented" and the nature and degree of augmentation. Let's consider perception for example, as it's a primary basis for thought. Since most people spend much of their time effectively on autopilot using very little perceptive capacity, technology-mediated augmentation of that baseline would seem a rather heavy handed way to improve performance, whereas learning to pay attention better would ultimately be more economic, probably more effective and quite simple to achieve.
Many years ago I underwent some very simple training that permanently improved my perceptive baseline by a very large increment, and it involved no more than a very short and quite lightweight apprenticeship with a teacher and some follow up practice. No mechanics were necessary.
Until the baseline gets to be as good as is possible without the technological intervention, we're not going to get the best out of the intervention and there's a danger of the baseline degrading as the technologies are allowed to take over from, rather than supplementing, innate capacities. This has happened in many fields already - the simplest examples being capacities for mental arithmetic and spelling, which have been almost entirely supplanted by calculators and spell checkers. Although useful, both have contributed to a noticeable lack of critical judgement about the correctness of their results - numerical values that would be clearly wrong and words that would be clearly incorrectly chosen if scrutinised frequently pass unnoticed as the need to verify is no longer recognised.
Bleak indeed.
I don't want to live in a world where the IT industry is full of fat weeb neck beard heads on massive anime style robot bodies blasting KPop...because that's what will actually happen.
On the other hand, we may be entering the time before the war where technology was somehow better that a lot of naff sci fi always talks about.
Wet dreams
What most governments/spy agencies/etc. are having right now.
Inner thoughts harvested for commercial exploitation
Most of my inner thoughts seem to be why did I come upstairs, again? and surely the government can't really be that stupid! .
Monetize away...
Re: considerable interest in using electronics to read peoples' minds
Here comes the flood.
GIST SAC
Hacking brains in a near future is becoming more and more plausible.