Kennedy 0 #1 August 21, 2009 Just some things that made me stop and "wow..." The Singularity BrainGate Control computers wirelessly with your thoughts. Implantable Eye Telescope Brings Sight Back To The Blind Cyberdyne Cyborg/Robot Suitwitty subliminal message Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards. 1* Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dreamdancer 0 #2 August 21, 2009 i like the idea of a singularity here's my science fictional stab at how it's all going to pan out... http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3527012;page=unread#unread stay away from moving propellers - they bite blue skies from thai sky adventures good solid response-provoking keyboarding Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FreeflyChile 0 #3 August 21, 2009 QuoteJust some things that made me stop and "wow..." The Singularity BrainGate Control computers wirelessly with your thoughts. Implantable Eye Telescope Brings Sight Back To The Blind Cyberdyne Cyborg/Robot Suit This stuff is exceedingly cool. Re: BrainGate - i believe Sony recently filed a patent to be able to control games using the mind. I'd think that making this wireless is a rather easy obstacle to overcome.... There really is a company doing robotics called Cyberdyne???? Someone call Linda Hamilton, stat! I am of the belief (as a lot of this suggests/affirms) that anything biological can theoretically be replaced with something manufactured. So how long until a baseball player is suspended for a non-biological enhancer??? I am very curious to see if Nerdgirl has any input on this stuff - oh Ma-arg....... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kennedy 0 #4 August 21, 2009 The thing about BrainGate is that it is an "intrusive" connection. It uses IR laser and RF signals to communicate straight from your brain to the computer. There is no funny looking hood or helmet to fit and calibrate. Cyberdyne, well when I saw an older version of HAL a few years ago, all I could think of was Power Armor. The HAL limbs read the electrical signals that run along your skin as you move the muscles underneath. There is no delay (think Aliens powerlifter) from thought to movement. The limbs are stronger than your own and move a fraction of a second before you do. Throw on some serious armor connected to it, and well, you get the idea. They've got replacement eyes, ears and a lot of organ already. I'm wondering when we'll have mechanical bodies with just our brain (and maybe spine) tucked inside.witty subliminal message Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards. 1* Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FreeflyChile 0 #5 August 21, 2009 QuoteThe thing about BrainGate is that it is an "intrusive" connection. It uses IR laser and RF signals to communicate straight from your brain to the computer. There is no funny looking hood or helmet to fit and calibrate. Cyberdyne, well when I saw an older version of HAL a few years ago, all I could think of was Power Armor. The HAL limbs read the electrical signals that run along your skin as you move the muscles underneath. There is no delay (think Aliens powerlifter) from thought to movement. The limbs are stronger than your own and move a fraction of a second before you do. Throw on some serious armor connected to it, and well, you get the idea. They've got replacement eyes, ears and a lot of organ already. I'm wondering when we'll have mechanical bodies with just our brain (and maybe spine) tucked inside. I agree - I wonder that as well... I'm that the understanding of all of the brain's functions is probably still a limitation, as well as the cost-prohibitiveness of this, but i don't think it'd be far-fetched in 30 or so years... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,111 #6 August 21, 2009 > The limbs are stronger than your own and move a fraction of a second before you do. In every power-assist frame system I've seen (implemented or theorized) the actuators actually move _after_ you do; they either sense muscle contraction or actual motion. Actual motion has a LOT of advantages since that way the kinematics of your arms/legs (which presumably you're used to) are preserved. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
downwardspiral 0 #7 August 21, 2009 While it's not as cool as singlularity or mind control and definitely not as cool as power suits but in less than 10 years the remote control will be a thing of the past. http://www.gamespot.com/news/blogs/rumor-control/909119209/26872259/-xbox-360-motion-sensor-reveal-rumored-for-e3.html "Remember when we used to have to use a remote control to change the channel?" "Yeah kids these days have it so easy!"www.FourWheelerHB.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FreeflyChile 0 #8 August 21, 2009 QuoteWhile it's not as cool as singlularity or mind control and definitely not as cool as power suits but in less than 10 years the remote control will be a thing of the past. http://www.gamespot.com/news/blogs/rumor-control/909119209/26872259/-xbox-360-motion-sensor-reveal-rumored-for-e3.html "Remember when we used to have to use a remote control to change the channel?" "Yeah kids these days have it so easy!" oh this has been announced since then - google "Project Natal" - it was even on Jimmy Fallon's show a few weeks ago. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
downwardspiral 0 #9 August 21, 2009 Yeah it's kind of old news but didn't know how far it got outside of the video game community. Still cool though and I can't wait to get one. www.FourWheelerHB.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 2,146 #10 August 21, 2009 I'm sure my grandfather, who died in 1944, would say "wow" to most of the things we take for granted in our houses, garages and airplane hangars right now.... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nerdgirl 0 #11 August 21, 2009 Quote I am very curious to see if Nerdgirl has any input on this stuff - oh Ma-arg....... Aaah shucks ... Concur, it’s some very cool stuff. There's a good deal of mix of real science and technology (brain-computer or brain-machine interface) with notional ideas (singularity) and potential applications. But doesn't make it any less cool to think about. The convergence of cognitive science with robotics and information technology (including computing) is likely yield the most disruptive technologies of the early to mid 21st Century, imo. A lot of it is/will be enabled by advances in understanding biotechnology and nanotechnology ... & bio-nanotechnology. It’s both incredibly intellectually provocative from a scientific and technology perspective as well as fascinating from a security and ethics/legal/social issues (ELSI) standpoints, imo. Quote I am of the belief (as a lot of this suggests/affirms) that anything biological can theoretically be replaced with something manufactured. So how long until a baseball player is suspended for a non-biological enhancer??? Concur. If you include production that harness, mimics, or co-opts biological mechanisms (as opposed to purely abiotic or inorganic methods), e.g., organ-printing. /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nerdgirl 0 #12 August 31, 2009 I was reminded of this thread by a popular science press account of some work coming out of a DARPA basic research program: Revolutionizing Prosthetics Excerpts from “Movable Prosthetics: The Biomechanical Interface” “For now, a big payoff of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)'s Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 project -- a multi-year push to develop new prosthetic limbs -- is a breathtaking set of advances in human-machine interfaces, control technology, and implantation techniques. “However, the most important advances of the program just might be the lessons learned and the infrastructure laid down in figuring out how to focus the skills of thousands of researchers -- working on everything from nerve chemistry to software engineering -- on one single goal: Build a working, lifelike arm that users can control to do everything from picking up a piece of paper to drinking a toast with a delicate crystal glass. “DARPA will soon have a set of 2009 prototypes fueled by years of research spanning chemistry, biology, computer science, cognition, engineering and physics. Dean Kamen, of Segway fame, has lumped some of this technology together into the optimistically named ‘Luke Arm,’ a reference to ‘Star Wars’ character Luke Skywalker's artificial limb, which Kamen's company eventually wants to bring to market [after those ‘years of research’ funded by DARPA, NSF, etc – nerdgirl]. “While most researchers say that a true production version of the ‘Luke Arm’ is many years away, the advances fueled by the project are promising not only to revolutionize prosthetics, but to enhance medicine and electronics in many new ways." “Central to many of the problems involved in prosthetics is the bioelectronic interface, where nerves and muscle must establish connections with silicon and metal." “However, despite wondrous advances, most researchers say that the current state of the art is as far from the idealized concept of the ‘Luke Arm’ as the Wright Brothers’ first flights at Kitty Hawk are from today's commercial aviation. ‘We've had a great deal of experience with reinnervation [making artificial muscle-nerve connections – nerdgirl] -- more than 30 procedures where people have been fitted with limbs and virtual systems,’ said Stuart Harshbarger, biomedicine team leader at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory .... ‘But we're just starting to get substantial field data about how these limbs work, so we can adjust and improve them with better feedback, ... And in the real world,’ he said, ‘every prosthetic and every patient is unique, so that data is really important if we're going to find solutions that are customizable for each person's situation.’ “Of course, one way to deal with the interface between biological systems and electronics is to blur the distinction by making the electronic circuitry ‘more biological.’ That's the focus of a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory project that might eventually have an impact on prosthetics. ‘The problem we have to solve is that the biological interface is chemical, and the prosthetic is electro-mechanical and relies on fields and currents,’ University of California Merced Associate Professor of Biochemistry and LLNL Staff Scientist Aleksandr Noy [more on Noy’s work, his work is also cited in my book - nerdgirl] told TechNewsWorld. ‘We can do some translation between them now, but if the prosthetic could sense an actual chemical release -- the signal itself -- it would be much better and more precise,’ he said. “Noy's work involves sealing arrays of silicon nanowire transistors within fatty membrane molecules. Using the same fatty membranes that nature uses to encase cells, Noy's technique encases the silicon-based electronics, raising the possibility that eventually, such nanowires might be used to communicate with living tissue. Already, they are more compatible with the body's natural systems than the silicon nanowires themselves, which change their electrical properties if left unprotected and exposed to the body's natural acidic and basic material.” Silicon nanowires as a potential way to make new nerve connections. It might work - the underlying science is sound; there are big challenges, including but not limited to long-term biocompatibility/resisting biofilm formation. It might not work. Basic research is inherently risky. Noy’s a physical chemist by training working at the convergence of nanotech-biology-and information communication. Pretty cool. /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
