Brain Computing Interfaces: An Introduction to the Art of Mind Computing
How do you communicate? As primitives, we started visually and then slowly and steadily evolved language, and after a million years became what we are today. You would have seen cave paintings and folklore drawn on walls. Currently, we live in the world of AI and Augmented Reality, although new but noticeable. The question is what next?
What is the technology we are looking at here?
Imagine computing with your thoughts, well this concept is possible in the real world using devices called Brain Computing Interfaces. We will be diving deep into what are BCI’s and how they function in today’s world.
Here’s a still from the episode ‘The Entire History of You’ from the show ‘Black Mirror’ on Netflix.
Remember the ‘grain’ (a small chip) planted below Liam’s ear? Which helped him record his audio-visual senses and playback memories. This is pretty close to how Brain Computing Interfaces work.
“Yes, I think in the future you’ll be able to save and replay memories,” he said. “I mean, this is obviously sounding increasingly like a ‘Black Mirror’ episode. But I guess they’re pretty good at predicting.
-Elon Musk
Did I get you? How about you wake up and feel too lazy to make coffee, so you think about adding the right ingredients and turning the coffee maker on. As you think the machine automatically functions according to your thoughts and there you have it :
Again this may sound way too unrealistic, but this technology is not really new. Research has been going on in this field since the 1970s, and if you really want to deep dive, do explore “The Brief History of Brain-Computer Interfaces”. It all became popular when, Matthew Nagle became the first human to be implanted with a brain-computing interface Cyberkinetics’ BrainGate, in June 2004.
How Do They work?
Our brain produces signals due to electrochemical reactions and thus ions are generated, which remain in equilibrium (otherwise it would lead to serious mental disorders). Whenever you think, the balance changes resulting a change in the ion dynamics of the brain, hence causing a disturbance.
These disturbances can be measured via a lot of instruments, here we will focus on the most general one: EEG-Electroencephalogram. EEG is one of the least invasive instruments to read the activity of the brain. Signals from the brain are captured by the EEG and then decoded by using machine learning techniques.
But Why Machine Learning?
Machine learning is a branch of computer science that involves analyzing the data as well as ‘learning’ from the patterns in the data and making suitable predictions based on it. Here we will discuss two ways in which the classification of the brain waves could be done i.e., we will be talking about, Support Vector Machines and Neural Networks which can classify complex brain waves intercepted via an EEG.
Support Vector Machines:
We could use the Support Vector Machine (SVM) Algorithm to recognize the classes of the waves and thus be able to appropriately classify the brain waves generated by the EEG. In SVM we will be drawing a hyperplane(the line dividing the classes) for classifying the data.
The SVM will aim to minimize the misclassified instances and try to maximize the distance of the hyperplane from the nearest class labels( matching examples). Also, SVM sometimes uses the kernel trick to separate the instances of the classes. The most common being the Radial Basis Function (RBF).
To get an in-depth view about SVM’s and the kernel trick mentioned above you can visit this link:
Neural Networks:
Neural networks could be regarded as the artificial model of the human brain itself. You might be thinking, Wow! what better to model a brain than an artificial brain itself. Neural networks are great algorithms for recognizing patterns and thus they can figure out an algorithm for themselves and are used for the classification of brain waves.
While Neural Networks remain a vast topic, you can get a better view of how they function here:
Kinds Of BCI’s
Brain computing Interfaces can be broadly classified into two types Active and Passive. In a passive BCI, the BCI will send the information recorded to the system for processing. Whereas in an active BCI we actually consider a two-way relay, where the information is passed from BCI to the processing system (a computer), and then information is sent back to the BCI from the system.
Well, you might think that these chips, would require to be surgically implanted or you might have to go through a huge transformation. Actually, the good fact is you can start with Non-Invasive Brain-Computing Interfaces(The Passive BCI’s). Finally, if you really think they are a good accessory you can move on to the more powerful invasive ones(The active BCI’s).
An Invasive BCI would require a small chip the size of micrometers to be implanted on your cortex measuring the activity of a single neuron.
A Non-Invasive BCI could be considered a safer option to try out, you can just wear a non-invasive BCI over the head just like your headphones.
Empowering Speech Impaired
Recently, IIT Madras published a paper in which they were able to convert brain signals of speech-impaired humans into human language. They used Fourier and Laplace transforms to convert these signals into meaningful information. The output is actually ionic current which represents the flow of charged particles. Signals are then interpreted as human language meaning speech, telling us what the ions are trying to communicate, helping the speech impaired express their thoughts freely.
Even plant photosynthesis, as well as response to external forces, could be recognized and analyzed by this method, and finally, we could even recognize the various patterns shown by nature and interpret them. Monsoon, Tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, and other calamities could be predicted using Machine learning techniques.
In Neurological Disorders
The brain-computer interface enables people with various Neurological disorders to manipulate a computer, it can allow people with paralysis or multiple sclerosis to communicate with others or even control a prosthetic limb.
EEGs can also be used to forecast and detect health issues like abnormal brain structure(brain tumor), Seizure disorder (like epilepsy), Sleep disorder(narcolepsy), and brain swelling (such as encephalitis).
The Market & Development
You will be surprised to know that Brain-computing Interfaces exist in the commercial market right now. Allowing anyone to try out and use them according to their needs. They need not be just used for medical support but also for recreational activities like playing games, playing instruments, and much much more, the possibilities are really endless!
Neuralink
Arguably the most famous BCI chip ever, Elon Musk yet again with a mind-bending product. Neuralink already made its breakthrough showing a monkey playing pong with its brain. So here actually the monkey has two chips implanted on either side of its brain and hence can control the bar on both sides on the screen.
Open BCI
Open BCI is the open-source community of Brain-computing Interfaces. You can buy BCI-related parts and can refer to their documentation for setting up the software.
Next Mind
Next Mind gives a ready product which is an example of a non-invasive BCI. It works on the projection of images on your visual cortex to capture the signals.
Neurosity
While other BCIs use the Bluetooth transfer system(which may lead to loss of data packets), Neurosity’s Notion 2 uses its own 1.8Ghz processor and the data gets stored on the device itself, bringing more security for your brain data.
NeuroSky
Here comes the most affordable BCI with its cost starting at just $109.99 with its Mindwave Mobile 2 model. You could develop different applications on a lot of ecosystems like iOS and Android as well as PC. Also, you can combine and use it with Raspberry Pi interfacing, as well as with Arduino.
The Future Is Very Interesting
You might have heard Elon Musk talking about AI Singularity and how eventually the human race would either go extinct or transfer their whole civilization to Mars.
Another interesting technology we are looking forward to in the future is Human Enhancements. Human Enhancements mean using artificial intelligence paired with our bodies, instead of creating separate entities using artificial intelligence. Many AI bots have actually sometimes talked about the destruction of humans and it is really necessary to bring the EQ factor in AI development.
Finally, BCI’s seem the one thing which could turn things around. Ever imagined connecting a BCI device to the cloud? Just google via your brain and you have all the answers that the whole google search engine can provide. Let us say if a 5-year-old child uses this technology, they could pronounce complex theories of astronomy and know how almost everything works. They just have to think, and you could imagine the amount of data they could access.
One more interesting discovery that has shaken the world came by combining Augmented Reality applications with brain-computing interfaces. We can actually focus on different shapes/objects and after appropriate signal detection, we can perform an action via the device. When paired with an AR headset, some BCI’s give you access to various applications one of them being a game, in which you have to hit the aliens just by focusing on them. Another application would be a starter music kit in which you play instruments by just focusing on specific shapes.
Is It Safe Enough?
Alongside these numerous developments and the immense power of BCI’s, there are a lot of things that could tend to go wrong.
Let us say we all are accessing the same memories and the same mind storage, this also means we can know what any other person knows. Let’s say I observed a German shepherd and can imagine the color of their fur and their face. So, a person sharing the same connection with me can also browse through my memories. Scary isn’t it?
Ever thought if your brain could be hacked?
Yes, again this is one of the big concerns regarding the brain-computing interfaces today.
If your brain could be hacked then possibilities are endless and the effects devastating. It could literally mean your brain losing all the information you ever had, but at the same time if you are connected to the cloud you actually got nothing to lose!
