Brain-Computer Interfaces
A World with Infinite possibilities when the human Brain combines with a Computer
By Shankha Saha
Imagine living in a world where there are no physically disabled people, where humans can think at the speed of several terabytes/sec, and where you can stream music directly into your brain from any device! Fascinating, but sounds super futuristic and fictional right? Actually, NO! Brain Computer Interfaces had started to become a reality in the 70s.
A Brain-Computer Interface(BCI) is a direct communication pathway between an enhanced or a wired brain and an external device. Due to the cortical plasticity of the brain, signals from implanted prostheses can, after adaptation, be handled by the brain like a natural sensor or effector channel. Recently, studies in human-computer interaction via the application of machine learning to statistical temporal features extracted from the frontal lobe (EEG brainwave) data have had high levels of success in classifying mental states (Relaxed, Neutral, Concentrating), mental-emotional states (Negative, Neutral, Positive).
Applications of brain computer
For a moment let’s put aside all scientific terms and concepts and focus on how close we are to achieving it in reality. The fact is, scientists have been working on this since the 70s.
Jerry was the first blind person to have partially corrected vision with the help of a BCI under a private researcher named William Dobelle. A single-array BCI was implanted onto Jerry’s visual cortex and succeeded in producing phosphenes, the sensation of seeing light. The system included cameras mounted on glasses to send signals to the implant. Initially, the implant allowed Jerry to see shades of grey in a limited field of vision at a low frame rate. However, with shrinking electronics and faster computers, his artificial eye became more portable and now allows him to perform simple tasks without assistance. Another blind person named Jans Naumann received a similar chip in his brain in 2002 and after the surgical procedure, he rode back home. That powerful BCI is!
Johnny Ray suffered from complete paralysis after suffering a brainstem stroke in 1997. Ray’s implant was installed in 1998 and he lived long enough to start working with the implant, eventually learning to control a computer cursor. Matt Nagle became the first person to control an artificial hand using a BCI in 2005 as part of the first nine-month human trial of CyberKinetics’ Brain Gate chip implant.
Future Scope
The demand for BCIs is constantly increasing and with better technology, we are not behind. The Neuralink company, owned by Elon Musk, is building a self-contained neural implant capable of wirelessly transmitting detailed brain activity without external hardware. Musk’s goal is to build a neural implant that can sync up the human brain with AI, enabling humans to control computers, prosthetic limbs, and other machines using only thoughts. While trials on pigs are going on, human trials are not so far.
In the future, everything is going to change forever, and we can’t even imagine what lies ahead. As a result of this groundbreaking technology, humanity will enter a new phase. A phase where we will achieve the unachievable. Research on several unexplainable topics would be a matter of seconds, secrets of the universe won’t remain a secret anymore and most importantly we can stop humanity from going extinct forever with yet another fascinating technology. This is just the beginning!
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