Tired of tapping on the screen of your pestering , in high spirits - end smartphone to browse the net ? No fear , because the awkwardly named “ Brainternet ” is here ! A squad of researchers at Wits University in Johannesburg have fall out of seemingly nowhere and straight link a human brain to the Internet for the very first time .
connect the human brain to a basic computer is n’t that easy . When the likes ofElon Muskand the US military’ssecretive science wingare having difficulties with this type of augmentative applied science , it seems a bit surprising that another research institute with considerably less support has bring off it . So what exactly have they done ?
concord to apress release , the squad of neuroscientists and engineer have used anelectroencephalogram(EEG ) – a machine that observe electrical signal in the brain – to convey neurologic natural process to a cheapRaspberry Picomputer . This then last streams the data to a computer program run on a website that anyone can consider at any time .
So , it ’s not quite what you may have been imagining . It ’s basically a proficient window into someone ’s neural activity that ’s open entree . To be mediocre though , this is a world first , and the motif behind the labor are estimable .
“ Ultimately , we ’re direct to enable interactivity between the user and their brain so that the user can supply a stimulation and see the response , ” undertaking coordinator Adam Pantanowitz , a lecturer in the Wits School of Electrical and Information Engineering , said in astatement . Although researcher follow EEG readings do this already , this in effect leave more people , including the field of study themselves , to see what ’s happening up in their head .
There ’s more . Pantanowitz adds that “ Brainternet can be further improved to assort recording through a smart earpiece app that will provide information for a auto - learning algorithm , ” which means that “ in the future , there could be information reassign in both direction – inputs and end product to the brain , " says Pantanowitz .
Essentially , if programming becomes advanced enough , you ’ll be able to send electrical sign – perhaps in the form of information – to the psyche of the person whose bean is addict up to the EEG reader . That ’s a tenacious way off though , as the head is a very unlike case of processor compare to a digital computer .
Computers expend binary signal , which means information is represented as ones and zeros only . The human mastermind feature several billion bioelectrochemical transmittance that are tie to opinion and action , and they ’re not evince as ace or zeros .
If we ever want there to be a peer up , there not only need to be some sort of data point spiritual rebirth gimmick , but a way of life to identify which signals correspond which thoughts and actions – an exceedingly unmanageable task .
