US military wants to build brain modem to control objects with minds

Hacking the human brain is the ultimate quest for this project.

THE United States military has grown tired of traditional tactics and is working on a new technology that promises to revolutionise modern warfare.

Using an implant, the Pentagon hopes to capitalise on the millions of neurons found in the human brain to create a modem of sorts.

Known as an implantable neural interface, the chip would allow data to be freely transmitted between the human brain and digital devices.

This means humans would have the ability to control digital objects with nothing more than their thoughts.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced the “Neural Engineering System Design” in a statement.

“[The NESD program] aims to develop an implantable neural interface able to provide unprecedented signal resolution and data-transfer bandwidth between the human brain and the digital world,” the statement read.

“The interface would serve as a translator, converting between the electrochemical language used by neurons in the brain and the ones and zeros that constitute the language of information technology.

“The goal is to achieve this communications link in a biocompatible device no larger than one cubic centimetre in size.”

In February, DARPA will begin meeting with universities, independent researchers and private companies to discuss development grants.

Arizona State University neuroscientist Bradley Greger hopes to secure a grant from the organisation’s $A86 million budget, although he admits the concept is highly ambitious.

“The big challenge is you’re talking about interfacing with the human brain — that’s not a trivial thing. It’s a big deal to implant something into the brain,” he told The Daily Beast.

“The other big challenge is the management and interpretation of the huge amounts of information you get … You’d need a Google-level IT structure to manage and process it.”

However, not everyone believes the concept is plausible.

Stanford University neuroscientist Daniel Palanker believes DAPRA’s funding is wasteful and could be better spent elsewhere.

“My efforts are based on what’s possible,” he said.

Mr Palanker said the concept was nothing more than hearsay.

“It sounds like somebody came up with random numbers,” he said.

“Someone throws out a number like a million neurons. But what’s the technology? There is no description of the technology.”

(Source : news.com.au)

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