Think to me

For quite awhile, we are already connected via the internet and multitudes of communication devices, so the idea of connection straight between brains comes naturally. But the progress of the implementation is staggering. It is actually already here. Boy, I am looking forward to stop writing you and starting just thinking together!

On July 9, 2015, an article was published in Scientific Reports: “Recently, we proposed that Brainets, i.e. networks formed by multiple animal brains, cooperating and exchanging information in real time through direct brain-to-brain interfaces, could provide the core of a new type of computing device: an organic computer. Here, we describe the first experimental demonstration of such a Brainet, built by interconnecting four adult rat brains.”

Amazing, ah?!

And here is more palatable description of the same results from “The Best of Neuroscience 2015 – Mind The Neuron”: “Back in 2013, the neuroscientist-cum-engineer Miguel Nicolelis, director of Centre of Neuroengineering at Duke University, had gotten a rat in Brazil sending telepathic tweets in real-time to a rat in the United States.

There had been sceptics and his work had been likened to a “poor Hollywood science-fiction script”.

Now the team shows that a brainet comprising four rats with interconnected brains can solve complex computational problems that required that the multiple animal brains working towards a common goal. The goals included image processing, storing and recalling information and even predicting weather.

Imagine a future in which a stroke patient can tap into a healthy brain to relearn how to move a paralyzed leg, a bunch of gamers create a ‘hive’ brain as a they play come together to play Borg in a Star Trek game or multiple scientists and innovators meld their brains together to create the mind-boggling innovation.”

Here are more details on the experiment with mice with pictures and diagrams from
A Researcher Made an Organic Computer Using Four Wired-Together Rat Brains

It is all part of the wider research in building of Brain–computer interface, funded also by DARPA (with some more fascinating pictures and video): Bridging the Bio-Electronic Divide: How We’re Translating Brain Activity Into Binary.

And here is the latest practical achievement I have read about: The Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has developed a smart chip that can be used for neural implants in order to wirelessly transmit brain signals to the rest of the body with 95% accuracy.

When we all are connected wirelessly straight between brains, would not it be realization of “thinking ocean” from Solaris or sentient planet?

What will happen with our so valued notion of privacy?

Will certain thinking become as punishable as certain actions today?

I always used to wonder what it’d be like to read other people’s minds. Then I signed up for a Facebook account and now I’m over it. Off The Top Of Fred’s Head by Fred Lavner