Backup Brain On A Chip
from the now-where's-the-search-engine? dept
People have talked (some joking, some not) about the idea of uploading your brain to a computer for years. While this doesn’t talk about going nearly that far, some researchers have figured out a way to possibly create a brain prosthesis that would help people store memories. The idea is that it could be used to help those with memory disorders overcome them, but (obviously) it doesn’t take a brain prosthesis yourself to come up with other ways that this could eventually be useful. It’s still quite a ways off, and there are plenty of reasons why this might not work at all when it reaches the human level, but it’s at least fun to think about the possibilities. Maybe someone in Google Labs should be working on a way to index your memories for better recall. If you thought there were big arguments about people using calculators in schools, just imagine what they’ll say about brain enhancement chips.
Comments on “Backup Brain On A Chip”
But what if it bankrupts silicon valley?
If people could remember the history of all the hype and stupidity, nobody could in good conscience want to put any money into the place, and Mike would have to outsource his own ass out of the valley or something.
Stargate
There was an episode on StarGate where they come across a civilization that used an implant to access a central store of information. So everyone always access to all the information (presumably with constraints for private information).
I won’t spoil the ending for those who have not seen it and might want to.
Re: Stargate
There was also that episode of Max Headroom that was about a company which supposedly made perfect copies of the human mind in a fraction of the space that it conventionally took for something like Max Headroom’s spaz mind. It turned out these copies were dumber than an IM spam-bot and a total waste of money for something that’s just a glorified interactive movie.
God I miss the 80’s
Done
Check out the work on the Human Memory Prosthesis by Mik Lamming at UK Xerox Parc. 10 years old now too.