M E T A V A L E N T * s t i g m e r g y

BrainGate Update

2012-05-16T20:33:51Z

Researchers have been improving upon BrainGate — a brain-machine interface that allows users to control an external device with their minds — for years, but what you see here is the most advanced incarnation of the implant system to date. It is nothing short of remarkable.

A Fearless and Modern Bionic Man

2012-04-10T15:47:43Z

Waiting for the Bionic Man

2012-03-27T02:10:34Z

The author’s site lists this article as Waiting for the Bionic Man, so maybe Wired applied some kind of proprietary troll-baiting re-title algorithm to bump up the irritated enthusiast click through rate, or something: “A True Bionic Limb Remains Far Out of Reach.” Whatever. @MikeChorost‘s report is a fanstastic reality update to the previous post and indeed, all the content of this blog. We need much more of this to Get There!

From the article:

Hypothetically, a neurally controlled prosthesis would begin with a brain interface, a chip capable of picking up complex signals from the user’s brain.

A computer would translate those signals into orders for the arm—”move up,” “bend my elbow,” “turn my wrist.”

Motors in the joints would move the arm smoothly in response to commands from the computer.

Sensors in the arm would feed information on its position and movement through the computer and into the chip in the user’s brain.

The $60,000 Bionic Boy

2011-12-10T08:44:35Z

“Not Survival of the Fittest, but Construction of the Intended”

2011-12-10T08:29:01Z

“The next programming paradigm is life science. We’re going to create a living world, this century.” Andrew Hessel

Finally, someone else articulating this truth with the scientific authority that might be better heard and received.

New Humanity: The Revolution is Evolution

2011-12-04T03:42:28Z

“We believe that humankind is currently on the verge of a complete collapse of it’s value structures. We believe that the world needs a new social formation that can be based around the ideas of transhumanism. New Humanity. We need revolution, but we don’t need a bloody revolution, we need technological revolution.” – Dmitry Iskov

How to Build a DNA Brain

2011-11-26T05:00:34Z

Your homework for the leisurely holiday weekend is at Caltech DNA and Natural Algorithms Group.

There are three major scientific mysteries of the natural world (via DNA.Caltech.edu):

How can life arise from a mixture of inert molecules?
How does the body develop from a single cell?
How does the mind arise from a collection of simple neurons?

"The answer is yes, and all it takes is a few small DNA molecules."

ET Math: How different could it be?

2011-11-30T18:15:33Z

If 2+2 occurs in the cosmos and nobody adds them, is the sum still 4?

The Secret Lives of the Brain

2011-11-22T05:19:56Z

“The conscious part is like a stowaway on a trans-atlantic steamship that is taking credit for the whole journey, without acknowledging the engineering underfoot. So, it’s like when you have and idea and you say, ‘oh, I just thought of something,’ it wasn’t you who thought of it, your brains been working on that for days or weeks, behind the scenes; churning things, consolidating information, trying things out; [pop!] finally it serves it up to you and you say, ‘hey, I’m a genius!’ But it wasn’t you that thought of it, right?” - David Eagleman, neuroscientist and author of Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain.

Oh, oh, now what, 19th century intellectual property status-quo defenders, “Protect IP Act,” and SOPA? Neurobiology says you don’t even get credit for what you thought was your own ideas! Nope! It’s all Open Source, Creative Commons. Sorry about that.

Human Echolocation

2011-11-13T05:49:37Z

"Convention, by it’s nature, adheres to itself and rejects what is not conventional." – Daniel Kish

The Growing Eyeborg & Cyborg Population

2011-11-13T06:35:38Z

As we’ve long tracked, the eyeborgs continue to grow in numbers amongst us.

“The species has evolved to this point in time, but who says that’s the end of the line?” – David Jönsson

Cognitive Computing: 100,000x Cost Reduction Impact

2011-08-18T18:16:35Z

“Cognitive computing chips aim to reduce the cost of extracting information from ever changing spatial-temporal environments around us by an order of 100,000. Imagine the impact,” humans.

Programming Biology: Tunable Microbial Nanowires

2011-08-10T21:11:09Z

Nature Nanotechnolgy reports:

the conductivity of the biofilm can be tuned by regulating gene expression, and also by varying the gate voltage in a transistor configuration. The conductivity of the nanofilaments has a temperature dependence similar to that of a disordered metal, and the conductivity could be increased by processing.