{"id":1619,"date":"2015-07-25T19:51:32","date_gmt":"2015-07-26T00:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/?p=1619"},"modified":"2015-07-25T19:51:32","modified_gmt":"2015-07-26T00:51:32","slug":"parallel-brains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2015\/07\/25\/parallel-brains\/","title":{"rendered":"Parallel Brains"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/mg22730304-200-animal-brains-connected-up-to-make-mind-melded-computer\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em><strong>NewScientist<\/strong><\/em><\/a> (18 July 2015, paywall) discusses recent, incredible advances in the realm of brain-to-brain linkages:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>TWO heads are better than one, and three monkey brains can control an avatar better than any single monkey. For the first time, animal brains have been linked to form a living computer.<\/p>\n<p>If human brains could be similarly connected, it might give us superhuman problem-solving abilities and allow us to send abstract thoughts to each other. \u201cIt is really exciting,\u201d says <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mit.edu\/%7Eirahwan\/\">Iyad Rahwan<\/a> at the Masdar Institute in the United Arab Emirates. \u201cIt will change the way humans cooperate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The work builds on standard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/mg21128195-200-control-your-home-with-thought-alone\">brain-machine interfaces<\/a> \u2013 devices that have enabled people and animals to control machines and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/dn14000-robo-monkeys-use-brain-power-to-grab-a-bite\">prosthetic limbs<\/a> by thought alone. These tend to work by converting the brain\u2019s electrical activity into signals that a computer can interpret. &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>By synchronising their thoughts, the monkeys were able to move the arm to reach a target on the screen \u2013 at which point the team rewarded them with juice. &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>The ability to share thought could enable us to solve complex problems. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s really hard to collaborate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/dn26753-mathematicians-anger-over-his-unread-500-page-proof\">if you are a mathematician<\/a> and you\u2019re thinking about very complex and abstract objects,\u201d says Stocco. \u201cIf you could collaboratively solve common problems [using a brainet], it would be a way to leverage the skills of different individuals for a common goal.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This research is at Duke University, in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nicolelislab.net\/?p=683\" target=\"_blank\">lab<\/a> of Dr. Nicolelis.<\/p>\n<p>Fascinating stuff &#8211; although it makes me wonder if, in the future, being part of a team will be a far more intimate experience than I, perhaps, might find comfortable.\u00a0 Kudos to those of you who immediately thought of author Keith Laumer.\u00a0 However, if you can actually name the story, <em>Retief&#8217;s Ransom<\/em>, then perhaps you need to get out more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NewScientist (18 July 2015, paywall) discusses recent, incredible advances in the realm of brain-to-brain linkages: TWO heads are better than one, and three monkey brains can control an avatar better than any single monkey. For the first time, animal brains have been linked to form a living computer. If human \u2026 <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2015\/07\/25\/parallel-brains\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1619"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1621,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1619\/revisions\/1621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}