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Author Topic:   Mind reading
1.61803
Member (Idle past 1504 days)
Posts: 2928
From: Lone Star State USA
Joined: 02-19-2004


Message 16 of 60 (125726)
07-19-2004 4:08 PM
Reply to: Message 11 by jar
07-17-2004 9:45 PM


human brain revealed.
If one ever wanted to know what goes on in the human
a recent high definition scan reveals the core of what humans are thinking. (*hope you have a sense of humor.)

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Replies to this message:
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 Message 30 by Glordag, posted 07-21-2004 8:17 AM 1.61803 has replied

  
coffee_addict
Member (Idle past 477 days)
Posts: 3645
From: Indianapolis, IN
Joined: 03-29-2004


Message 17 of 60 (125731)
07-19-2004 4:26 PM
Reply to: Message 16 by 1.61803
07-19-2004 4:08 PM


Re: human brain revealed.
Hahaha. It took me about half a minute to realize that it wasn't just a pulsing brain.

The Laminator

This message is a reply to:
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Yaro
Member (Idle past 6496 days)
Posts: 1797
Joined: 07-12-2003


Message 18 of 60 (125776)
07-19-2004 7:27 PM
Reply to: Message 16 by 1.61803
07-19-2004 4:08 PM


Re: human brain revealed.
LOL, Thats hillarious!
Some people have too much time on their hands

This message is a reply to:
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Yaro
Member (Idle past 6496 days)
Posts: 1797
Joined: 07-12-2003


Message 19 of 60 (125779)
07-19-2004 7:33 PM
Reply to: Message 15 by Denesha
07-19-2004 4:01 AM


Just curious, what's that rush to store all these knowledges in your brain ?
While not my goal in this thread, this does bring me to the root of this question.
If I may wax existential for a bit...
Well, I was thinking about death and about how there are certain things that once you die, are gone and lost forever. I mean, subtle memories, about feelings you had, secret places you were, the stories you never told, etc. Those are all gone forever.
While this does lend a poigniant fragility to existance and the mind, it also seems like such a waste. So it got me thinking, how possible would it be, to 'backup' a human brain?
Perhapse this will be the biginning of a sci-fi novel by yours truely
But the thought intrigued me. The mind is a concept-based, data storage device. It uses neurons in a way that programmers would refer to as 'linked lists'. They hold hands and know their neighbor, and as a concept is presented it is pushed thrugh them at blinding speeds to recover a thought.
While a gross oversimplification, I thought, "well gee, how impossible could it be?" so I asked.
Anyway, if I could 'backup' my brain, I would. Even the dirty little secrets.... especialy those

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sidelined
Member (Idle past 5908 days)
Posts: 3435
From: Edmonton Alberta Canada
Joined: 08-30-2003


Message 20 of 60 (125797)
07-19-2004 10:06 PM
Reply to: Message 19 by Yaro
07-19-2004 7:33 PM


Yaro
This is an article by Ray Kurzweil that deals with this very subject
http://radio.cbc.ca/...rams/quirks/archives/02-03/oct19.html

This message is a reply to:
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Yaro
Member (Idle past 6496 days)
Posts: 1797
Joined: 07-12-2003


Message 21 of 60 (125802)
07-19-2004 10:21 PM


WOW!
Thanks sidelined. Maybe Ill pick that one up.
It seems to have decent reviews. I have allways shyed away from pop-science for fear that I may be swayed to an opinion simply by 'false authority' syndrome. But This sounds like a neat read, and Ill keep my skeptic sense tingly
Thanks again.

Replies to this message:
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sidelined
Member (Idle past 5908 days)
Posts: 3435
From: Edmonton Alberta Canada
Joined: 08-30-2003


Message 22 of 60 (125805)
07-19-2004 10:47 PM
Reply to: Message 21 by Yaro
07-19-2004 10:21 PM


Yaro
The idea of downloading a mind to silicon may just be an inappropriate appealing to our modern technology sense of things to set the hook and reel us in.
I suppose if they could provide enhanced senses at the level of bird vision or bat hearing and perhaps the ability to go into enviroments such as space or deep ocean I might consider it worthwhile.It is personally enticing to be able to have an extended life but I do not have a pressing need to live forever.

This message is a reply to:
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Yaro
Member (Idle past 6496 days)
Posts: 1797
Joined: 07-12-2003


Message 23 of 60 (125806)
07-19-2004 10:54 PM
Reply to: Message 22 by sidelined
07-19-2004 10:47 PM


The idea of downloading a mind to silicon may just be an inappropriate appealing to our modern technology sense of things to set the hook and reel us in.
I suppose if they could provide enhanced senses at the level of bird vision or bat hearing and perhaps the ability to go into enviroments such as space or deep ocean I might consider it worthwhile.It is personally enticing to be able to have an extended life but I do not have a pressing need to live forever.
My interest is not in living forever, just to save those things that were so different about our existance. An archive of minds. Imagine having Einstein in a Jar
I saw this fellow at a party. I was having a conversation with him and he mentioned that he was def. I said he was a very good lip reader, he then pointed to a small device with a wire poking into a jack in the side of his head. It looked like something out of a William Gibson novel.
It turned out he was using an experimental hearing aid that wired into the audio-processing region of his brain. That was amazing to me! I couldn't belive a machine was interfacing with his brain.
I dunno, jsut the ramifactions of it, the possibilities it brings up I think are amazing.

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Replies to this message:
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SRO2 
Inactive Member


Message 24 of 60 (125807)
07-19-2004 11:03 PM
Reply to: Message 23 by Yaro
07-19-2004 10:54 PM


Wow!
Knowing deaf people as I do, their speech has a particular (I don't want say slur, but more like a tonality with no inflection at all) In other words, they can't actually "hear" their own annunciation. Did the device seem to moderate his tonality at all, in other words, could he add and detract inflection from the device?
Just a curiosity question.

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Replies to this message:
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jar
Member (Idle past 394 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 25 of 60 (125809)
07-19-2004 11:06 PM
Reply to: Message 23 by Yaro
07-19-2004 10:54 PM


A good friend had a baby boy. He was born deaf. At about two years old he was selected as one of the first people to test the Cochlear Implant and he grew up speaking very normally. It was a miracle for sure.

Aslan is not a Tame Lion

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Yaro
Member (Idle past 6496 days)
Posts: 1797
Joined: 07-12-2003


Message 26 of 60 (125810)
07-19-2004 11:08 PM
Reply to: Message 24 by SRO2
07-19-2004 11:03 PM


Re: Wow!
No, It was like magic!
I don't think he had trouble with speach, since he could hear at one point.
But he described it as like a phone. The very high tones, and very low tones are cut out. And the midsignal is a bit buzzy, but overal it's actually pretty good.
Amazing stuff.

This message is a reply to:
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Replies to this message:
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SRO2 
Inactive Member


Message 27 of 60 (125816)
07-19-2004 11:25 PM
Reply to: Message 26 by Yaro
07-19-2004 11:08 PM


Re: Wow!
Thats just totally amazing.

This message is a reply to:
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Tony650
Member (Idle past 4032 days)
Posts: 450
From: Australia
Joined: 01-30-2004


Message 28 of 60 (125914)
07-20-2004 10:08 AM
Reply to: Message 23 by Yaro
07-19-2004 10:54 PM


Yaro writes:
It turned out he was using an experimental hearing aid that wired into the audio-processing region of his brain. That was amazing to me! I couldn't belive a machine was interfacing with his brain.
If you were impressed by that, take a look at this.
This device interfaces with the visual cortex to give its wearer partial vision. This is an old article and I'm afraid I don't have anything more up to date.
However I saw a show a little while back which had something about this (a different person I think but the same concept). Don't quote me on this but I seem to recall them saying that the interface actually gives the wearer good enough artificial vision to drive a car! I remember them actually showing him driving too so it would seem that the technology has advanced considerably since its inception.
If anybody has anything more recent on this technology, I'd be very interested in seeing it.

This message is a reply to:
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pink sasquatch
Member (Idle past 6023 days)
Posts: 1567
Joined: 06-10-2004


Message 29 of 60 (125915)
07-20-2004 10:35 AM
Reply to: Message 21 by Yaro
07-19-2004 10:21 PM


Maybe Ill pick that one up.
Hey Yaro, I did pick up The Age of Spiritual Machines (from a discount bin for a couple of bucks) and was so unimpressed I couldn't finish it, which is a rarity for me, especially since it is an interesting subject.
Kurzwell started with some historical meanderings based in fact that really had nothing to do with "spiritual" machines, and then tried to use it as some sort of foundation for conjecture that seemed little more than poor sci-fi. I think it is also at least five years old by now, so if may already be dated. If you're really interested at least read a few random pages of the thing before spending your money on it.
On the same subject, but definitely sci-fi, is a short novel called China Mountain Zhang that I would recommend (the author escapes me now...) Within the novel there are engineers that interface their brains directly with computers - the part that I thought unique was that the engineers essentially meditated, and the computer recorded their meditation. Even if they were able to only conceive of an incredibly intricate design for a split second before losing their concentration, the design would be retained by the computer.
An exciting concept, much so more to me than Johnny Mnemonic and clones....

This message is a reply to:
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Glordag
Inactive Member


Message 30 of 60 (126216)
07-21-2004 8:17 AM
Reply to: Message 16 by 1.61803
07-19-2004 4:08 PM


Re: human brain revealed.
Lol, that's just hilarious 1.61803. Err, you know, it's odd calling you that. How about GR? Or maybe Phi? Ratio? Any prefs? (;
As to the subject at hand, I don't see why something like this should be impossible by any means. We know what produces our thoughts and handles our sense, we just haven't fully understood it yet. There have been other things that seemed infinitely complex that we have eventually mastered (nanotechnology, space travel, different biological things such as mutations, cloning, and medications), so why should this be so different?
Now, as to whether or not it would catch on, I have my doubts. There would be far too many skeptics and opponents of such an idea, for the simple fact that is it a scary and complex idea. You never know, though.

This message is a reply to:
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Replies to this message:
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