Human society has tried to understand the brain for decades. With time we are understanding it better. Today researchers both in academia and industry are working to build a new brain technology called Brain-Computer Interface (BCI). Does it sound like some science fiction to you? So, continue reading to know more about this technology.
Firstly let us know a little about the brain. The brain is a very complex organ with 100 billion biological electrical conductors.
The brain is what makes us different by providing senses and moreover intelligence. Now electric impulses from various parts travel to specific locations in the brain and that part controls respective functions.
This was a briefing about the brain, now let us see how we can use this to make Brain Chips.
What is Brain-Computer Interface?
BCI is simply a chip that can be installed in the brain and thus giving the brain an ability to contact any physical device outside and even another brain with this chip.
So, after connecting humans with each other through mobile phones and computers, the scientific community is looking forward to connecting us through brain chips which will ridiculously change our lives. Many institutions and companies all over the world are researching on this topic and trying to make it possible as soon as possible.
Some of the companies working on brain-computer interfaces are:-
Here is a Brain-Computer Interface seminar report for you.
Now you will question, what is the use of this technology? So, let us know, how this technology can revolutionize our lives.
Brain-Computer Interface Applications:
- Neuro Prosthetics: After the commercialization of technology we can literally make any paralyzed part of the bodywork. We can get back the senses of some people especially vision. This has been tested on some humans also and is reportedly working properly. Researchers are working to make these things smaller, cheaper, and easier to install. Just imagine we can help people suffering from diseases like Alzheimer’s
- Brain to Brain Interactions: This might sound like fiction, but it is no more fiction. Researchers have tested this on rats and got very strong evidence of brain to brain contact between two rats which were in two different labs in two different cities. Now just imagine that you want to send some documents to your boss, you can just see the document and send it to your boss through the brain and your boss can take a printout by contacting printer through brain chip. It’s awesome, right? I am waiting for this technology, what about you?
- Accessing the Internet through Brain: Internet is a huge repository of knowledge, imagine if this repo was present in our brain, we would know everything. This can be made true with a brain-computer interface. We can access any information on the internet through these brain chips. If that becomes a reality, then invigilator in you examination would warn you to uninstall your brain chips first probably, what do you say?
Let me tell you a thing about this technology which will blow your minds. It is said that not only data you can even transfer feelings and experiences to others. We all get dreams right, so when we get dreams our brain recreates that situation and we feel that it is real.
So, our brain does have that capability of recreating a situation or an experience, and using this ability we can experience others’ feelings. Just imagine you can feel the experiences of your friends, you can be in a situation which your friends have faced. If that becomes true then probably a few companies will come up and sell experience packages. You have to download them into your brains and just enjoy the experience. How will it feel? What would you like to experience first?
Probably you can even acquire skills also and obviously there will be companies selling skill packages which you have to download or you can borrow skills from your friends, we don’t know whether this will be possible or not but it sounds really fantastic right. We will become super powerful cyborgs. I really pray that this should become a reality. What do you think? Tell us through a quick comment.
Here is a TEDx talk by Steve Hoffman about Brain-computer interfaces and future applications:-
Till now we have been talking about the good side of this technology but there is even the worst side of this technology and that is
Brain Hacking.
We know that computers become vulnerable and hackable when they connect to the internet, did you get my point? Yes, if your brains connect to the internet there is every possibility that it can be hacked. It will be simply hell for you, the hacker can control your whole body, he can make you talk and he can make you walk and whatnot. The hacker can make you do some criminal activities etc. and if that happens this technology will make your life hell. So, we should develop this technology in such a way that no one can hack it.
There are many research papers out there on this topic. I am giving a link to a paper below, you can read it if you want more information about brain hacking: A publication on brain hacking
Many scientists, entrepreneurs, and academicians are warning about this possibility of brain hacking and are trying to bring up some solution to this.
In this article, I did not talk about technologies like EEG, ECoG, LFP, and SU, etc. as that would make it boring at least for some people. You can visit the links provided if you are really interested. To get a little more information you can see the following Brain-Computer Interface ppt.
If you want to read Brain-Computer Interface research papers for in-depth information, you can visit the following links (Note: you need to have IEEE membership to read these research papers):-
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7781096
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8076780
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7449615
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