Tech | November 20, 2009 | 124 comments

Intel wants brain implants in its customers' heads by 2020

source: http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-11/intel-wants-brain-implants-consumers-heads-...

Image
pjacobs51
If the idea of turning consumers into true cyborgs sounds creepy, don't tell Intel researchers. Intel's Pittsburgh lab aims to develop brain implants that can control all sorts of gadgets directly via brain waves by 2020.

The scientists anticipate that consumers will adapt quickly to the idea, and indeed crave the freedom of not requiring a keyboard, mouse, or remote control for surfing the Web or changing channels. They also predict that people will tire of multi-touch devices such as our precious iPhones, Android smart phones and even Microsoft's wacky Surface Table.

Turning brain waves into real-world tech action still requires some heavy decoding of brain activity. The Intel team has already made use of fMRI brain scans to match brain patterns with similar thoughts across many test subjects.

Plenty of other researchers have also tinkered in this area. Toyota recently demoed a wheelchair controlled with brainwaves, and University of Utah researchers have created a wireless brain transmitter that allows monkeys to control robotic arms.

There are still more implications to creating a seamless brain interface, besides having more cyborgs running around. If scientists can translate brain waves into specific actions, there's no reason they could not create a virtual world with a full spectrum of activity tied to those brain waves. That's right -- we're seeing Matrix creep.




http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-11/intel-wants-brain-implants-cons...
  1. groups:
    Community,   News and Politics,   Tech,   Current Tonight,   11 more
  2. tags:
    ntel wants brain implants in its customers' heads by 2020
  3.     
    |

124 comments // Intel wants brain implants in its customers' heads by 2020

  • Agent_Alpha
  • echoz
  • echoz
    • 0
      echoz  

    • forgive my adorning posts, I just thought absent any humor that Agent_Alpha was a bit too sexy for a sober consideration of the topic =P hopefully I've managed to tarnish the anime sex aura that was steaming up your monitor =P girls and guns...girls and guns =P

    • 2 years ago
  • echoz
  • echoz
  • echoz
  • echoz
  • echoz
  • echoz
  • echoz
  • echoz
  • Agent_Alpha
  • blood77
    • 0
      blood77  

    • I think it would just be weird, because then people would just start texting ever one else through their implants. Eventually we stop talking to each other all together and essentially we would all be mines :O

    • 2 years ago
  • echoz
    • 0
      echoz  

    • think positive. think of it like an exquisite upgrade for your brain. instant IQ, and brain wave micro-enhancers that will make your life better than a million little blue pills. if you believe it, third-eye chips versus all our carnivorous spying and nebulous collating to make questionable judgements unquestionably possible just makes life easier and much more practical, and all but exactingly "fail-safe". Make an impromptu visit to the local grocer only to find you've left your grocery list at home? Have it downloaded instantly to a screen only you can see. It's the last time you'll ever forget to pick up that gallon of milk. Ever wanted to share your thoughts with that someone sepcial? Give them the real deal in real time...[effusive enthusiasm] "Look MomForTruth, no hands! and no cell phone!!!" In sophisticated combination with specialized gene therapies we can even regain sight for the blind. So yes, you too can learn to appreciate all the extra voices and visions begging your head, so you won't have to...when "TV" truly thinks outside that old confining passe box you used to watch...

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdImGZA-2SM

    • 2 years ago
  • MotherForTruth
  • echoz
    • 0
      echoz  
    • echoz:

      oh come on Mom' =) get with the zeitgeist! "Call right now and get your FREE government-sponsored consultation today!" i am however quickened to recall the movie Gattica how the geneticist confidently reassures the uneasy parents pining to leave a few things to "chance" for their child: "I've taken the liberty to screen your child for any imperfections....keep in mind this child is still you, just the 'best' of you..." science and techno-babs think chance can be the only reason we're here, and then science does all it can to eliminate "chance" as effectively as it can...

      "Science is the topography of ignorance" Oliver Wendell Holmes, Medical Essays, p. 211.

    • 2 years ago
  • MotherForTruth
  • echoz
    • 0
      echoz  
    • echoz:

      :) well of course MomFT, but you already know: "when" is 2020...so says Intel. And only then will we be all "better" and coercively more "fit" to the suddenly imposed exclusivity of buying and selling...merely surviving. I'm sure Intel will want to jack in like a WebEx connection or a Microsoft "security" update to make us all "safer". There's "progress" and "change" you can believe in.

    • 2 years ago
  • MotherForTruth
  • echoz
  • PressCore
    • 0
      PressCore  
    • echoz:

      Realy, tell me this vunder tech isn't some new crutch to enable the inferior to use as a lever to gain supposed superiority over their environment because they're too lazy and unmotivated to better themselves naturaly. That would require spending some time learning how to speed read, then having a list of selected source material which one's brain could make the internal connections. The chip came after human intelligence invented it because humans are naturaly superior to the tools they create. The human brain has the natural, untapped capacity to function as 12 supercomputers linked in tandem. And will evolve that way for future generations so long a they stimulate it to respond properly. They can't do that by being lazy. Exercise builds the brain as it does with muscle. I agree with Mother for Truth's observation. And of course her children love her the way she is. You don't have to be an Einstein to know that love is learning how to see an imperfect person
      in a perfect way. Love is perfection. And the BEING that set us on our evolutionary path has that perfection as their essence.

    • 2 years ago
  • echoz
  • Sharpdrawer066
  • TasteHi
    • 0
      TasteHi  

    • Hmm, as with all things in technology. I can't imagine what the initial costs would be just to have it installed, but the cost of maintaining such a device in working order and "virus-free" ......it's just not appealing.

      I'm all for trans-humanism and improving on our biological features but I wouldn't get just ONE piece of technology added to an already existing body part that can fail on me at any time just like all the other organs I currently rely on.

      Lets just hope they don't discontinue anatomy and physiology lessons in schools, this could lead to a set of consumers that really would believe they are buying "improvements"

    • 2 years ago
  • zeropiate
  • Agent_Alpha
  • interditx
    • 0
      interditx  

    • Imagine if you got a virus in your implant, you'd be changing the traffic lights down the street or opening your neighbors garage door or something.

    • 2 years ago
  • jkjkl56
  • MotherForTruth
    • 0
      MotherForTruth  

    • It is extremely concerning to allow my brainwaves be on internet or anyone's hands. We are already controlled via media, cultural and political conditioning. Implants will allow a lot more control over a freedom of thought we have.

    • 2 years ago
  • interditx
  • MotherForTruth
  • blood77
  • echoz
    • 0
      echoz  
    • Image
    • MotherForTruth:

      http://www.fsc.yorku.ca/york/istheory/wiki/index.php/Illusion_of_control

      "yeah i'm sure i wanna delete this [comment]." I guess blood' can take a break, though that existentialism is perhaps maddening relativity though I don't have yet proof of that in his case. so...i'll drop it, instead of stepping up? heh...*sigh* he's right in a general sense but that's what why we hold faith and as scriptures say "hope as the anchor of our souls" to good for something like saner decisions, but of course. Our Lord is our strong tower. I just don't need to be rude to say that...and I was...but, as I am oft to say of late "I'll print a retraction in the morning when it's too late..." =P hehe and there it is. I guess we can all question reality now. ;)~

    • 2 years ago
  • Nimodeus_Lazarus
    • 0
      Nimodeus_Lazarus  

    • At my job I work alot with speech recognition technology which is basically the same as what those intel folks try to do with your brainwaves.

      They need to recognize patterns in your brainwaves specific for some intent and general enough to do this with the brainwaves of thousands of people. Unless they are going to try and tailor each chip to their owners.

      No matter what exactly they are going to do they will most likely want to "share" your patterns via the internet at least to improve their ways of pattern recognition. Because in pattern recognition, the more sample data you have the better your recognition will get. Take speech recognition as an example. Current speech recognition software is more and more moving into the cloud because of the big pool of samples from different sources that is being stored there. Thus improving speech recognition.

      My conclusion is based on what happens with other pattern recognition technology it is most likely that those chips will seek, at least sporadically, connection to the internet and thus give some of your brainwave data into third hands.

      As to the drone theory which states that we are all going to be controllable i am not yet sure. What I took from the article was that this planned device is there to "scan" your brainwaves not to synthesize them. That would be much more difficult as you would have to be able to induce stimuli across entire parts of the brain.

    • 2 years ago
  • randomprojection
  • insatiablecuriosity
    • 0
      insatiablecuriosity  

    • sounds like a plan to control peoples thoughts and actions. intels customers will become a super army determined to takeover the world. if hitler were alive today hed probably be head chairman of intel

    • 2 years ago
  • AtomUniverse1
    • 0
      AtomUniverse1  

    • No, I think that with this technology there would be a bigger danger from the public messing around with the tech, like hackers and jailbreakers of today's tech than from the government.

    • 2 years ago
  • DelawareJerk
    • 0
      DelawareJerk  

    • I hate the idea of a part "computer" brain. I'm sure some great products could come out of it, but it'll just make us lazier. Also, the brain is already a perfect design, why feel the need to fix something that isn't broken.

    • 2 years ago
  • DelawareJerk
    • 0
      DelawareJerk  

    • I hate the idea of a part "computer" brain. I'm sure some great products could come out of it, but it'll just make us lazier. Also, the brain is already a perfect design, why feel the need to fix something that isn't broken.

    • 2 years ago
  • dc133
  • newinusa
    • 0
      newinusa  

    • What ever sure that in the 80's when someone even mention the idea of being connected every where all the time a lot of people got scared (Internet). Time will show us the technology we gonna get, hopefully nothing else will divide society even more.

    • 2 years ago
  • jac1992
  • daskiing1
  • osixo6
  • wankityspank
  • tommytripper
    • 0
      tommytripper  

    • im not sure... but i know i have seen this before... was it the outer limits or twilight zone....

      either way... everyone gets jacked up with these chips, everything is running along nicely until a virus starts killing people

      and some guy who does not have the chip in his head because of a condition is their only saving grace...

      ya... this is a bad idea... when crap like that starts becoming a reality you need to take a step back... and look at what we are doing to ourselves.

    • 2 years ago
  • Inufasha
  • DDukes94
    • 0
      DDukes94  

    • THATS AMAZING! Intel is so innovative. Now, I figure that the tech won't be too much of a problem. I mean there will be limitations, there just somethings that will not be allowed. And there isn't going to be some kind of Surrogates or Matrix type thing, its just going to be as common as bluetooth headsets. No biggie.

    • 2 years ago
  • SleepDirt
  • Nephwrack
  • MirTavakoli
  • controlusplease
    • +1
      controlusplease  

    • tell me if im being a little stupid/paranoid, but isn't this the type of thing all "robots kill humans" movies are based off of
      with a network like that i already see many...flaws
      I'm guessing the thing that will be connected to your brain will be connected to an infrastructure of some sort, that connects you, the network, and compatible devices
      who is to say someone cant hack into the devices? and you'll always be connected to the network, it'll track you, always know where you are, what your currently doing, and might even know other personal things the machine will pick up. im sure something like that would be tracked or controlled by the government. what kind of battery would this device use? since its inside you, there wont be replaceable batteries. rechargeable batteries would be awkward, i dont want a plug in the back of my head. nuclear energy batteries would be downright dangers, as this would become popular and many people would have it, someone could easily take the enriched material inside it (Uranium 235, the isotope used to make nuclear weapons) after its installed inside you. anyone heard of cell phones exploding and releasing all sorts of toxins? imagine that inside or close to your brain. pretty soon the government will want this for the military and it will become standard issue. i know terminator seems far fetched, but come on! we still control the robots with our minds you might say, but this is just the first step! computers can already make limited decisions for themselves, soon theyll be able to think and become self aware.
      i dont like where this is going...

    • 2 years ago
  • 0roburos
  • Cynic2
    • 0
      Cynic2  

    • These nerds are fuckin' crazy. They need to have their legs broken. It's one thing to use this type of technology to help, say, paraplegics, but you know what would happen once the government gets its fingers in things......

    • 2 years ago
  • sbspoons
  • Skatt4u
    • 0
      Skatt4u  

    • Do any of you have any clue how this technology works? Obviously not, this "chip" is just a sensor. It doesn't control you it just monitors your brain waves. Microsoft will never make it a law that you have to have one. And other companies will make devices you can just wear like a headband etc. Think of what this technology would do for the handicap. Stop being hysterical about everything and study the technology if you don't want it to take over your life. Cell phones and the RFR frequencies being broadcast are far more dangerous. I know it's fun to over react. But if this technology can get a handicapped person of unemployment, disability and over compensating healthcare there will be more resources for people that still can't find help from technology. Stop being so paranoid and realize we will absolutely need technology like this to overcome overpopulation and interplanetary conquest vs. Alien life forms.

    • 2 years ago
  • bethopea
    • 0
      bethopea  
    • Skatt4u:

      then why can't this technology be marketed like that- as a benefit for the handicapped? we do not know how they will market their product - but i can guess intel will try to make it as universal as possible....and yes, the general population uses devices in which they have no idea how they were built - what makes you think aliens would be any smarter, perhaps they are just using technology the alien scientists built...?

    • 2 years ago
  • HeroMAY
  • SleepDirt
  • Peter_Soloshchenko
  • BustYourFace
    • 0
      BustYourFace  

    • Tell someone not to think of a pink elephant and they can't help it. We would all be firing off shit accidentally and constantly.

      Even if the technology was in place, there is no way that everyone could exert that type of collected mind control. We are not a focused life form... our minds are everywhere at once and that will render this useless for most.

      For gods sake half of america is on Lexapro just to be able to focus on positive things in the natural mind. What the hell makes us think we can fire off pin pointed thoughts so precise that it triggers the proper application?

    • 2 years ago
  • Progresshiv
  • Progresshiv
    • 0
      Progresshiv  

    • I want an implant that will let me mentally direct a catapult to throw a hammer through my monitor screen whenever it shows me an error message.

    • 2 years ago
  • 02
  • CalPerr
    • 0
      CalPerr  

    • I can't help but assume they are gonna put a tiny little bomb in each one so If you rat on Intel, pop goes the weasel.

    • 2 years ago
  • tommic
    • +1
      tommic  

    • Very Dangerous, never give up control of your mind. I can't believe anyone would be so naive to think that its not the real begining of big brother controlling your thought process. The people at Intel will know better than to allow it to be implanted in their brains. Well maybe a lot of the brainless people on current need it.

    • 2 years ago
  • blood77
  • carissaaurora
  • blood77
  • profod
    • +1
      profod  

    • i see this going about as far as controlling everything with your voice, it would be good if it worked right, but it never works well enough to really matter.

    • 2 years ago
  • MotherForTruth
  • blood77
  • echoz
  • Inufasha
    • +1
      Inufasha  

    • OH NOES!!!!!
      This is terrible news!
      Well not now it isn't.
      Oh but later in the not-so-distant future
      everyone's going to have them inside their heads!
      then whoever is controlling those will do..........
      i'd rather not think about it....
      or maybe i'm just over reacting
      but still it's kinda scary

    • 2 years ago
  • krush_productions
  • cadex
  • krush_productions
  • Kyle_Crenshaw
  • echoz
  • extracrazykiwi2008
  • bethopea
    • 0
      bethopea  

    • Agricultural, Industrial, Technological...the next Revolution will be that of Material - the examples are: LHC, these Brain Wave Devices...time travel...

    • 2 years ago
  • CalgarC
  • bailey78
  • CalgarC
  • PressCore
  • dudefromtherock
  • Pericles_Lewnes
  • SleepDirt
  • ChristopherX
  • CalPerr
  • SleepDirt
  • Lurkistan
    • 0
      Lurkistan  

    • Some day we will have memory augmentation and extra data processors for the brain, when this happens the people who choose not to enhance will be at a huge disadvantage. Good luck trying to get a job over someone whose brain runs thousands of times faster and has a photographic memory.

    • 2 years ago
  • MajorMajorMajorMajor
    • 0
      MajorMajorMajorMajor  
    • Lurkistan:

      Maybe. Maybe only the very rich will have these things, in which case it really won't matter.

      Personally, I've never used a computer that didn't stutter or crash at some point in its life, I would NOT want that happening to my enhancement processor while I'm driving down the freeway, or peeling a potato, or taking a bath.

    • 2 years ago
  • SleepDirt
  • zphoenixdownz
  • bailey78
  • echoz
  • Charlespistol
    • +1
      Charlespistol  

    • ...the more technology the world gets... the more lazy people become... also the less self-reliant people become. I don't like this idea... corporations could be making stuff more important than stuff like this.

    • 2 years ago
  • KSirys
  • Lurkistan
12
1 - 100 of 124
more from Tech:
from the community

top videos