Jesse Taylor

Post 1

Article Title: “Monkeys on typewriters are writing Shakespeare, thanks to new brain-sensing technology.

Scientists have taken Shakespeare’s theory “with an infinite amount of time, a monkey randomly tapping away at a typewriter would actually recreate my playwright’s complete works.”, and put it to the test. Instead of going the randomness route, they created a way to “read brain signals and convert them into movement across a keyboard.” The system essentially breaks down to typing with the mind, and was developed by researchers at Stanford University. “Our results demonstrate the this interface may have great promise for use in people, it enables a typing rate sufficient for a meaningful conversation.” The monkeys did not all of the sudden learn to read and speak english, they were trained to tap letters based on what was put onto a computer screen. They types out pieces by Shakespeare, and even reproduced passages from The New York Times. A similar technology has been created already, however the Stanford researchers say their system is faster and far more accurate than what currently exists in the world today. The researchers created a better algorithm to increase the monkeys speed, which converts thought into movement. The researchers have it so brainwaves are read with a multi-electrode array, which they plant in the monkeys brain to record their neural signals. However, the system monitors the part of the brain that controls hand movement, it is not looking for fully formed letters or words.

I would have to say that this article is written technological determinist perspective because they talk about systems that have been developed through a plethora of different technologies. To be able to read the brain signals of a monkey there would need to be very hi-tech equipment involved in the process of this research.