Brain research promises smarter machines, healthier humans

By Dick Pelletier

     Cognitive computing (computers that process information the same way a brain does) has been a dream for 50 years. Artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic, and neural networks have all experienced some success, but machines still cannot recognize pictures or understand languages as well as humans do.

     Despite the many false starts however, forward-thinkers like Dr. James Albus, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, believe cognitive computing research is at the tipping point, similar to where nuclear physics was in 1905. The following projects are underway now

• ‘Smart’ cars: auto makers are now investing heavily in collision-warning systems and vehicles that drive themselves; DOT officials believe that robotic vehicles with safety warnings will likely save more lives than airbags and seatbelts combined.

• Future military: DOD planners predict that by 2015, auto-fly drones and other computer-driven systems could remove most soldiers from battlefield dangers.

• Modeling the brain: researchers at Blue Brain project, a collaboration of IBM and the Swiss government which aims to build a replica of a neocortical column, and eventually the whole brain, can zoom inside a single cell and examine exactly how each neuron fires. This research will help repair damaged brains today, and in the future could allow robots to mimic human thinking.

• Replacement neurons: Implantable biomimetic electronics developed at University of Southern California could one day be used to replace long-term memory neurons that become lost as people age which would mean no more ‘senior moments’.

     Cybernetics expert Christof Koch believes science will soon create a brain-machine interface, which in the next decade may only be used for research and neuroprosthetics, but its immense prospect for enhancing human minds will drive this technology forward, and by mid-2020s, human-machine connections could become routine.

     Now imagine a hard drive linked directly to a person’s mind, accessible on demand. An encyclopedia of information could be uploaded on a whim and photographic memory would become the norm. Forget AI – why create competition when we can take the best features of a computer and improve our own capabilities?

     Today, disabled individuals can control a mouse with thoughts, and experiments are underway to attach robotic limbs directly to nerves giving handicapped patients mobility. Cognitive technologies will soon enable doctors to repair central nervous systems, beginning with the retina and optic nerve; later the spinal cord. Experts believe whole-body replacements could become available by 2030.

     Although brain transplants have yet to be performed, in the future, a person whose body no longer functions may be able to connect to a machine which would regulate blood/energy flow in the brain, keeping the mind alive. Attached electrodes and sensors would enable that person to carry on a temporary life and even communicate with others while waiting for an artificial body to be constructed.

     Some may find futuristic procedures like these unsettling, as is bound to happen with almost every new technology. But while the contours of how this ‘magical future’ will apply to society are foggy, the map for how we get there couldn’t be more clear. "The amazing thing is there's nothing I can see as a big roadblock to this," says Koch. “It's a question of when, not if”.

This article appeared in various print publications and on-line blogs. Comments always welcome.