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Title:

Is The Brain The Ultimate Computer Interface?

Your vote:
Yes No
Organizer:
Christie Nicholson, Scientific American
Description:
Will we be able to jack into the brain and upload helicopter instructions, like in The Matrix? We already have the technology to control a prosthetic arm or Twitter with thoughts alone. Dishes of neurons can control a robot. And scientists have created a working artificial memory chip in rats.
Questions
Answered:
  1. How close are we to enhancing humans with an ability to control machines?
  2. What current technologies of "jacking into the brain" exist and what is coming in the next 2-5 years that will affect interactive businesses?
  3. How much power does the government have over the research (DARPA is a major funder of a lot of this research)?
  4. What does a human-computer interface mean for the computing industry? What does nanocomputing have to offer in this area?
  5. What ethical issues surround brain-computer interfaces or implanted chips in the brain? What are the possibilities for hackers?
  6. What are the positive medical outcomes of controlling machines/materials with our thoughts?
  7. How do scientists get brain waves to speak to a machine?
  8. Will we put a microchips like an artificial memory bank in our brain?
  9. Even if we don't make it to memory chips in human brains, researchers are trying to crack the neural code right now? What are the implications of that?
  10. Is this sort of progression wrong? Inevitable? What are the implications for what it means to be human?
Level:
Intermediate
Category:
Content, Government and Technology, New Technology / Next Generation, Other / Out There, User Experience
Type:
Panel
Event:
Interactive 2010
Dave Gray
on 17/8/09
SXSW people, you HAVE to approve this panel! It won't be SXSW without it.
DAvid Ressel
on 18/8/09
I've seen some reporting on this but nearly at this level, and I am quite intrigued. Love the nexus of what we might have called sci-fi... Might be working this into a new pitch. and therefore would love to pick the panel's brains (if I can jack in). I vote yes!
Jay Ingram
on 19/8/09
This is an incredible idea for a panel, especially if one of the panel members has implanted chips
DAvid Ressel
on 20/8/09
i have to repeat my support for this one, just read the animal studies.

this is must see.
Erica Mauter
on 20/8/09
This is delightfully nerdy. Yay, science!
Jane Nicholson
on 21/8/09
She may be my daughter, but she is WAY smarter than me and I think that this is the kind of thing that makes SXSW so exciting. So I am voting for this panel so I can learn about my grandchildren!!
Linda Campbell
on 24/8/09
Already being done in humans at a relatively primitive level those days... this would definitely be an interesting panel!
Sarah Campbell
on 25/8/09
OMG! Nerd-vana!
Thomas Hayden
on 25/8/09
Important, fun and just a little freaky--sounds like a winner to me!
Ronan Nagle
on 26/8/09
Take me to your leader! Sounds like something we should all pay attention to.
Coco Ballantyne
on 27/8/09
Question #3 is the most intriguing - How much power does the government have over this brain-jacking research? I want to know DARPA's level of interest and investment. How would the government apply the technology that emerge from this research? SCARY STUFF!!!
Jay Cuthrell
on 27/8/09
Will SQUID caps be provided to audience members during this panel?
andrew chorny
on 29/8/09
DARPA can have my brain! It's not doing much for me lately.
Francis Belloni
on 31/8/09
All very interesting. #5 should be part of the final program, whatever topics make it.
Steve Caputo
on 2/9/09
Well the helicopter instructions aren't going to upload themselves. Sounds like a great panel!
Jane Mingay
on 3/9/09
I'm especially interested in question # 10.
Tanya Samman
on 3/9/09
This would have big implications for education too. Definitely a very important and timely panel topic!
Erika Hayden
on 3/9/09
I wonder we really want crystal-clear memory of everything that has ever happened to us. Maybe sometimes it's better to forget.
Melissa Thomas
on 3/9/09
It would be interesting to see what the short and long-term side effects might be, both physical and psychological.
Andrea Hartline
on 4/9/09
This is a facinating topic...certainly look forward to expert responses to these questions!
Le'Anne Frieday
on 6/9/09
Love questions 6 & 7. Fascinating concept.
blu ray ripper
on 13/11/09
how is this possible?
Rip Blu Ray
on 29/11/09
Really!This sounds like a wonderful, timely topic.
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