Brain, augmented edition
Is it possible to connect the brain to a computer and why
Ekaterina Borovikova, "The Attic"
This year is rich in promises of technology companies to connect the brain to the computer. For example, in March it became known that Elon Musk is creating a company Neuralink, which will develop implantable brain-computer interfaces, and in April that Facebook is working on a non–invasive device that will allow typing with the power of thought. The "Attic" asked neurophysiologist Mikhail Lebedev about the development of scientific research in this area.
Brain-computer interfaces are not new in themselves. Such devices read the electrical activity of the brain and allow a person who has learned to partially control this activity to do something useful, such as typing or controlling mechanisms. Since this requires precise laboratory equipment, and sometimes implantation of electrodes into the brain, such technologies are resorted to only when a person has no other way to interact with the outside world.
Those devices that are designed for healthy people and are sold on the Internet also read the electrical activity of the brain, but they are very primitive and do not pull on the title of full-fledged brain-computer interfaces. However, Neuralink, Facebook and other companies are going to fix it somehow.
About how scientific research in this direction is developing now and whether brain-computer interfaces can really become a reality for ordinary people, "Attic" talked with neurophysiologist Mikhail Lebedev from Duke University (USA), editor of the collection of articles "Expansion of brain functions: facts, fictions and controversy" (Augmentation of Brain Function: Facts, Fiction and Controversy), published by Frontiers Publishing house.
– What is your collection about?
– Today, almost every day you can read in the news that some company promises to connect a living brain with a computer and improve humanity with the help of artificial intelligence. Our collection approaches these issues from a scientific point of view. We have accumulated 149 articles on various ways to expand brain functions: from pharmacological to brain-computer interfaces, as well as related philosophical and ethical issues.
– How do you assess the plans of Neuralink and Facebook?
– Science behaves more modestly, but I can state that the development is going on, and quite fast. A dozen years ago, implanting 100 electrodes into a monkey's brain seemed like a great achievement, and now there is talk of millions of electrodes, and they can be injected through a syringe so that the electrode nanoset spreads over the brain. However, recently it has been said that thanks to animal advocates, it becomes easier to experiment on humans than on monkeys, because a person can consent to an experiment. Indeed, there are more and more works where paralyzed people are implanted with invasive electrodes, and they do something - move a mechanical arm or even their own. Such experiments have not been conducted on healthy people yet, but I think there would be many volunteers.
– What are the restrictions?
– The electrodes implanted in a person can work for at least a year. The problem is that there is not yet a fully implantable system that would include both a battery and a transmitter. Then all this needs to be covered with skin so that the wires do not stick out of the head. For a person, sticking out wires is very bad, because our body ineffectively fights infections, monkeys have a strong immune system, they don't care about anything. Therefore, a person is usually implanted with electrodes for a certain period, for example 30 days, and then removed back.
– Can these technologies become a part of everyday life?
– If this direction develops further, then there will be people who will be able to output the signal of their own brain to the phone, for example. And how it will be processed depends on the imagination of software developers. There are a lot of brain signals, and they are different. Now, for example, electrodes are mainly implanted in the motor and somatosensory areas, but other parts of the brain can also be involved. In the next 20 years, I think these technologies will be used to restore vision using implanted cameras that will transmit signals to the visual cortex of the brain.
– Will it all work in the conditions of an increasing number of sources of electromagnetic radiation around?
– Electromagnetic interference is undoubtedly a problem. After all, modern interfaces are tested, as a rule, in the laboratory, where such interference is minimal, and in a real situation there are many radiation sources. This can be dealt with by filtering the signal. A more radical way would be to connect to neurons intracellularly, perhaps similar technologies will be developed.
– You mentioned pharmacological methods for improving brain functions. What is meant by that?
– These are, for example, nootropic drugs that students actively use during the session. We have a good review about this in the collection, but the authors warn that all these drugs first improve brain function, give vigor and efficiency, and then it falls. In general, taking such drugs is harmful, as it can lead to undesirable plastic changes in the brain.
– What ethical problems are associated with these studies?
– The main one is, of course, the introduction into the human personality. Just recently, an article appeared in Science mentioning related problems: a robot controlled by the brain can "mess up", and it is unclear who should be responsible for this; personal information can be stolen from the brain; the use of devices tested only in the laboratory for wide groups of patients can have unpredictable consequences.
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