Friday 7 April 2006

Fusing the computer and the brain.

As computers get faster and faster, what's the biggest 'choke point' -- the biggest barrier in getting information between the processor in your head and the processor in your computer? Your keyboard, right? You sit there pecking away with one finger while your brain buzzes and your computer whirs, and by the time you've finished your sentence you've forgotten what the next one was going to be.

If only it were posssible to fuse neurons and silicon chips. Well, have a look at that picture on the right; apparently it is, and as with all new discoveries the possibilities opened up are almost limitless:
The achievement could one day enable the creation of sophisticated neural prostheses to treat neurological disorders, or the development of organic computers that crunch numbers using living neurons.
Great! The bad news: "Those applications are potentially decades away..." Bugger.

LINKS: Brain cells fused with computer chips - MSN News
Creating interface between mammalian neurons and silicon chips - Medical News Today

TAGS: Science, Geek Stuff

3 comments:

Duncan Bayne said...

I'm trying to make a list of ISVs whose software I would trust to interface with my brain ... so far it's a remarkably short list :-)

Rick said...

Decades away my ass!

Give your sillychips to Oswald Bastable right now and he'll sneeze on them and have them back tomorrow!

Anonymous said...

In the meantime I suggest you use all eight fingers on your keyboard, not just one.