Prospects for the development of the neurocomputer interface.
Historian, musician and journalist Alexey Klochkovsky feels the future is approaching. And he is in a hurry to share this feeling. Because the stunning consequences of the discovery that will be discussed will affect everyone. After all, in the era of high technology, man himself and his consciousness are becoming the highest technology.
Everyone has heard the phrases that thought is material, and that it is difficult to overestimate the power of thought. And everyone perceives these phrases in this very quality — as beautiful phrases. One can only be amazed when, literally before one's eyes, thoughts and words actually materialize…
A little introductory information.
The invention, which is called the «brain-computer interface» (BCI), was developed in Germany several years ago, and later took root in Silicon Valley (an area in the US known as the world center of computer innovations — author's note).
Initially, the NCI was conceived as a means of communication with patients who were unable to move or speak, as well as for the deaf. But as it developed, the NCI opened up new facets, each more amazing than the other. In everyday language, a neurocomputer interface is a device that converts the electricity of the human brain into commands for a computer. Everyone remembers the scientifically established fact from their physics course: the human brain has an electrical potential.
It is known that in the process of thinking, the human brain produces weak electrical impulses. And electricity is, so to speak, the «language» that the computer «speaks»!
But the electricity of the human brain has its own characteristics. The NCI sort of «translates» the electrical impulses of the brain into a system of signals that the computer recognizes as specific commands.
In practice, this looks like this.
A person attaches sensors to his head, connected to the NCI and a computer, similar to those used to record encephalograms. Then he thinks about the actions he needs to perform on the computer. For example, move the mouse cursor on the screen to a picture, click a button, opening some program. Note — the person does not do all this, but only thinks about these actions, the NCI translates, and the computer performs.
An amazing fact, isn't it?
Of course, even the simplest experiments (like moving the cursor using the brain's electrical activity) require large technological costs. And this is understandable, because the development of the NCI just a couple of years ago was at a stage comparable to the moment of Popov's first demonstration of the radio — a lot of effort, a few enthusiasts and a result that would not impress us in the age of mobile communications. But just like radio in its time, the NCI is developing.
Let's allow ourselves a small futurological forecast, albeit approximate, albeit seemingly incredible — and yet.
Given: with the help of NCI, the user can already control the execution of simple actions on the computer using electrical impulses from the brain. Wouldn't it be logical to assume the possibility of combining the neuroelectric processes of several participants in the experiment at the same time, to create a network in which each user operates only with thought and «sees» the thoughts (formatted in signals and symbols) of other users.
What is this? A new means of communication?
In this case, the consequences of this discovery will eventually affect everyone, and it is difficult to even imagine all the possibilities that NCI can provide in a few years or decades. Let's try to assume that a global network similar to the Internet is coming.
This network, let's call it Psychonet, will be able to unite the mental processes of a mass of people all over the world. Naturally, the formation of such a network will take a very long time, but once the first steps have been taken — it is theoretically possible.
In other words, there will come a time when not only specialists, but also anyone who wants to will have the opportunity, using their own brain as a computer, and the computer as a modem, to mentally «connect» to the new, unheard-of World Wide Web and use its resources. Science fiction? But let's remember Efremov's novel «The Andromeda Nebula».
In this novel, a TVF — a television video phone — was an everyday item. It seemed like a miracle to readers. And now these same readers can, while walking around Irkutsk, go into a store where they will be offered a web camera that provides the same capabilities as a TVF. And no one thinks this is something supernatural.
The value of science fiction is that it is an artistic modeling of the future, but, like other methods of modeling, it is not always accurate.
In Efremov's novel, the future with its TVF was much further away than the time it took for web video technologies to appear. That is, reality has overtaken fiction. This is generally a characteristic phenomenon of our time — a kind of acceleration of progress. A technology appears, at first cumbersome and expensive. Then it becomes cheaper and compact, accessible to the masses. This was the case, for example, with VCRs and computers. And now we are no longer surprised when they turn on the electric lighting by clapping our hands, and the microwave oven by waving our fingers at its body, we have become accustomed to it. When the next technology appears, no matter how shocking it may seem to us now, we will also get used to it. Everything is heading that way.
The Appearance of the Walking
And again, the sacramental research — «what if?..»
What opportunities will a person have with the emergence and development of Psychoneta?
Obviously, here in many ways one can draw an analogy with the Internet, — what was realized in it will also be realized in Psychonete.
At first — a slow exchange of primitively formatted information, as when the Internet was just «born» by Tim Berners-Lee and his associates.
Then — on the rise: creation of personal and corporate websites, search and transmission of information regardless of distance, distance learning and a lot of entertainment. Psychonet will change a lot in various spheres of human activity.
Obviously, the most important and most popular areas will be psychology, linguistics and art history, because their subject is the «mechanics» of human thinking, and it will be the content of Psychonet. And in this regard, the forecasts associated with Psychonet allow us to understand the meaning of many phenomena in a new way.
For example, the works of art accumulated over the history of mankind begin to appear as if they were a storehouse of valuable information about the functioning of the human psyche, about the methods of «compressing» information by means of figurative thinking, which is unique to humans, that was specially awaited for the appearance of the NCI and Psychonet.
Technical achievements, no matter how complex they may be, are, according to the well-known expression, «the crutches of civilization», a means to reach the goal.
And the goal is to develop human capabilities without additional technical means, which are needed only to reveal the resources of his brain, given by nature. Further, it can be assumed that the developer of psychosoftware is one of the new professions, many of which will undoubtedly appear with the development of Psychonet.
The psychoprogrammer will create programs that can be adapted to the brain of specific users at their request, so that users can get the functions they need when going online. Remember how in school years you dreamed of putting on a kind of miracle helmet on your head, after which problems are easy to solve, «like Natasha the excellent student»
Psychonet will affect not only work activity, it will change the way of life itself. With the development of Psychonet, representatives of many professions will not need to leave home to get to work. Not only go somewhere, but, in fact, it is not even necessary to get out of bed. The position of the body does not matter, if the head is connected to the Network, you can even stand on it.
An engineer will be able, by going into Psychonet and connecting with the consciousness of another person, to examine a car located hundreds of kilometers away through the eyes of that person, take the necessary measurements, make calculations and send the result of the calculations straight from his bed to the psychovirtual office of his boss.
Pupils and students will not have to go to school and college. They will only need to enter the psychovirtual classroom, where the teacher's consciousness is already waiting for them. In general, «work without getting out of bed, like the fairytale slacker Emelya», we will smile at our fantasy.
New opportunities will update many areas of technology.
Just as gramophone records fell out of use, and just as video cassettes are now being replaced by DVDs, the need for many familiar technical devices will gradually disappear. For example, in «recorders» of any format.
When watching, say, a movie, the image can be transmitted directly to the corresponding center of the brain. You will only need to close your eyes so that external visual images do not interfere. Or completely turn off external perception for the duration of the viewing, including hearing, since this would also be logical to imagine, based on the possibilities of manipulating consciousness given by the NCI.
Who among us would not sometimes like to turn off our hearing so as not to hear the noise of neighbors behind the wall, or «turn off» the neighbors themselves?!
Moreover, since the brain contains centers responsible for other senses, — taste, touch, — if the characters in the movie eat, you can also «switch on» the perception of the taste of movie dishes.
The brain will send a signal to the taste nerves, and you will feel the taste of this or that food. Thus, the transformation of the entertainment industry will be radical. It is a pity that there will be no saturation, as in Shefner's «Edible Dreams»…
However, new opportunities can also bring new dangers, such as psychohacking, which will be an analogue of the hacker «feats», now accomplished via the Internet.
But in this case, the psychohacker illegally «breaks into» not someone else's computer, but someone else's brain.
Imagine how threatening the consequences of psychohacking could be! An ordinary user, going online, is unlikely to be able to hide anything from a skilled hacker.
Not only the names and addresses of mistresses, hidden complexes, but also the size of income, hidden opinions about certain people. What an incentive, however, for honesty and loyalty!
Fear of the danger of intrusion into one's own consciousness will be a powerful factor restraining the mass distribution of Psychonet technologies. Indeed, who would want to give up the opportunity to maneuver on the personal front?!
Don't go to Psychonet, people, for a walk…
For a certain period, Psychonet will be the property of a narrow circle of specialists, until reliable methods of control and personal protection from programming to commit acts necessary for a psychohacker are developed.
Chamomile Internet
Let's return from the empyrean to the facts.
Since the path of the initial, albeit still awkward, «primitive»-gesticulatory, but already «communication» of human consciousness with high technologies (HCT) has already been found, the assumption about the creation of the aforementioned Network is quite justified, as is the fantasy of a futurologist that has taken off at full gallop.
But let's leave futurology, reflect philosophically on the aforementioned possibilities, and turn to the thoughts and analogies of outstanding minds about the paths of technological development of humanity.
What is this essentially — Psychonet?
An environment that unites the consciousness of many people?
How can one not recall the predictions of the great Teilhard de Chardin and Vernadsky about the emergence of the noosphere (literally — «the sphere of reason»)?
Wasn't this the sphere that our far-sighted ancestors had in mind, which, a hundred or two hundred years after their theories, received the technological basis for the beginning of its formation through the discovery of the NCI?
If so, then the emergence of the Psychonet network is not just another technical achievement, but a turning point — and a natural one! — in the development of civilization.
The Internet is a preparatory stage for the emergence of a psychovirtual environment. Man created the Internet in many ways in the image and likeness of his own, human thinking.
Indeed, such an analogy arises. Even without much poetic imagination, computers connected to the Internet suggest themselves as nerve cells — neurons, synapses — paths to the Internet, certain centers of the brain — domains and servers.
And even the very way the human brain functions is similar to Internet activity. The emergence of mental associations, methods of recall (links, etc.) — all this is very reminiscent of the circulation of requests and the transfer of information on the Internet.
Some networks (for example, Web Semantics) were sculpted by their creators, consciously and purposefully copying the human nervous system — so much so that they considered it a perfect example of an information transfer system! In such an ideological and nutritious environment, of course, the creation of the Psychonet network seems a natural and logical phenomenon.
To summarize, we can say that the hypothetical emergence of Psychonet is indeed a logical, — and therefore quite real! — step in the movement of progress.
A significant step.
After all, Psychonet is not just a storage of information, it is something more. It is an opportunity to use the mental advantages of other users as your own, a real unification of people.
This is a fusion of individual consciousnesses into a collective one!
In essence, we are talking about the emergence of an environment that the above-mentioned thinkers spoke about and which, let me suggest calling the total ratio — the General Mind.
An interesting fact: biologists have established that plants have a way of notifying their own kind about their plant-vital — about changes in humidity, temperature, etc.
And this method is amusingly reminiscent of the way information is transmitted in a computer network in many characteristics. But if in the man-made Network the medium of communication is electricity, in the flower «Internet» it is smells.
In addition, the tool for accessing the network for flowers is not separated from them, unlike a person who still needs a PC for this.
Go out into the meadow, breathe in the air.
Do you feel the interweaving of aromas?
These are daisies and cornflowers communicating online.
If even in plant society there is such a technology, how is man worse?
Therefore, give us Psychonet!
P.S. However, there remains a doubt — will Psychonet only unite people?
After all, the Internet was conceived as a means of communication, unification. However, with its appearance, a lot of people appeared for whom virtual communication became more important than real communication.
One of my friends complained to himself, because instead of visiting a friend with whom he lives on the same landing, he increasingly prefers to click away on ICQ without getting up from his chair.
Will PsychoNet make us, spoiled by technology, even more sluggish and passive?
Or, on the contrary, will the new achievement of technology help a person to more deeply understand his interdependence and community with other people?
Time will tell…
Soon.
Prospects for the development of the neurocomputer interface.