The brain-extraction-injection thing really was really … 🤢 🤮 eww! Please tell me you’re not building a Frankenmouse …

Ethical and research standards have changed a lot since then you know …   😀😀                                                                           

Good! I wanted to ask you some questions about “Captain Cyborg”, Kevin Warwick

He implanted a “BrainGate” neural interface to control a prosthetic over the net, and with sensory feedback

But then he also linked it to another human, his wife …

… and then of course he claimed this would also enable some kind of transfer of memories, right?            

Right. So how about that? Wouldn’t that work if both have a full implant?

Probably not, there is a significant difference between a sensation and a memory of a sensation  🤨

remembering the taste of something isn’t the same as actually tasting it, or we’d never spend another penny on chocolate

Ok, yeah, I get that  🤯🤯🤯

Stimulateing someone’s nervous system over the internet using someone else’s sensation as input is not the same as storing and accessing memories or giving them a new memory

aaand you’re going to bring up mind control again now …  😆😆    

Well, yes, kinda. You told me it was not possible, but Warwick’s article suggested it was

OK then. Have you heard about remotely controlled cockroaches?

WHAT  😲😲😲😲

It’s true: there’s even kits to build your own!                                       

…………. 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱

Substituting an artificial stimulus for a natural one is, yes, in a sense a very limited form of “mind control”, but!

but even with cockroaches, the best we can do is make them go left or right for a few minutes 😅

You mean it is still all too primitive?

That’s also exactly what Warwick concluded: extremely primitive. The “telepathy” etc. he suggests is still pure science-fiction

OK, many thanks! This has been both horrifying and instructive, what with the rats and the roaches

Glad I could be of help!  😊😊😊😊                                                   

I’m back again! I remembered reading something about transferring memories from brain to brain

OK, go on 😏😏                                                                            

There was this experiment with rats, connected through the internet 😱😱

That was a while ago already, in 2013 IIRC                                

Yes, indeed, so this seems to show that we can already “write” new information into the brain, right?

Well, let me unpack that experiment for you before answering  

They didn’t just link two rat brain and then let one rat learn something, which was then uploaded to an untrained rat

No?

No. They trained one group of rats to press a lever if a light went on, and the other one if they got an electrical stimulus in the brain

Then they made the first rat do its task, measured the brain output, and triggered an electrical stimulus in the second

And that isn’t the same as uploading and downloading information from one brain to the other?

It’s more Pavlov with electricity. You train a rat to react to an input, then link that to the output of another rat

That’s not really uploading and downloading information.                

Ah, ok I think I see what you mean

And this is about a simple kind of behavior like pressing a lever, not something complex like a memory  😉

So people who are afraid of being remote-controlled through a chip can rest easy?

There is far more going on in the brain than just electrical impulses, triggering trained behavior. Mind control trough brain interfaces are not going to happen anytime soon

Thank you for your time, this has been most instructive! 🧐🧐

Did you know they already tried this in the ’60 through brain extracts?

WHAT 😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😲

They would train rats, extract parts of their brains, and then inject them into untrained rats                                                            

Now you’re just messing with me … 😅😅

Oh no, I’ll give you a link. It seemed to work too …                    

Hi, Cho!

Hi Manuel   😀😀                                                                           

So I’ve done some reading on the Neuralink and I think I understand better what you are getting at

About the possible applications                                                 

Yes, it is meant as targeted medical device for spinal cord injuries first and foremost, the rest …

… is still futuristic  🤨                                                                    

But still, it would be possible in principle, right?

What would?                                                                                   

Besides movement, restore senses and stuff like that

Well, maybe, depending on whether we can pinpoint the relevant brain area’s and the systems scale

Maybe?   😰

Remember that the neuralink itself isn’t a finished product yet, and no human trials have taken place

Right. But the science is sound 🖖

We understand the brain better and better, but there still is a lot to discover. I can’t exclude the possibility, but …

Again with the “but”! 🥺🥺

Hey, it’s my job to think critically about this stuff and whether it makes sense

Mostly, I don’t think the technology is there yet, and I don’t know if it will ever be

So uploading and downloading your consciousness …?

… is still science-fiction. Even a working neuralink would not have those capabilities

OK, that’s useful info. I’m nearly done with my story. There’s one more thing I want to check

Sure, see you later…  ☺️☺️☺️                                                              

Hi Cho, have you seen Elon Musk’s announcement?

Any comments on the neuralink?

Hi Manuel, yes I did, I found it quite amusing                           

Amusing? Amazing! He called it “A fitbit in your brain”! Don’t you think it is a major breakthrough?

Well, in some respects. It is smaller and receives more signals, but a lot of his claims are overblown.

What do you mean? It can read a thousand neurons, that’s ten times better than what we have now!

Sure, but to help a paraplegic patient, we likely need to read amillion, so it needs to be at least thousand times better.

Ah, I see. But still, isn’t that amazing, that we can read and write brain signals wirelessly now?

Sure, it is very practical to be able to do so live and wirelessly, instead of with cables or antenna sticking out of your skull …

I feel like you’re going to say “but …” now … 🥺

Indeed! We still need a lot of work to interpret the data, to understand what it means

And I’m not so sure about the “writing” part…                                         

Musk said we could save and replay memories one day!

Maybe in a hundred years, not with this device, and not with our current understanding of the brain

Why not? What’s the problem?  😨

We don’t know how brain activity causes mental processes.
We might be able to correlate neurons firing with limbs moving, but memories are far more complex

It would need even more channels, like, billions?

Not just that, but we don’t know which ones.                                     

It is not likely that something as complex as a memory would be localized in on small area of the brain…

OK, thanks for the info. I’ll have to do some digging on my own and will come back to you!!

Sure, anytime!  ☺️☺️☺️