Hacker News Reader

Comment by nonethewiser | Hacker News Reader

Widespread brain implants. Which might entail what is effectively telepathy among other weird shit that seems impossible.

I'm not confident that will be the case. But its plausible from a technical standpoint. On a far shorter timeline than 100 years.

View on HN

Outside of neuralink fantasy PR, is it really possible to interface a computer with the brain like that? I feel like we don’t have the slightest clue how the brain works and then I don’t see how we could ever make electronics interface with synapses in a way that makes you see video, audio, etc.

It seems I’m not alone and Noam Chomsky feels the same. https://www.inverse.com/article/32395-elon-musk-neuralink-no...

It's a gap in understanding, and it may be a gigantic gap.

Such gaps sometimes get closed by monumental efforts, sometimes by small groups, and sometimes they take centuries.

I can envision a system interfacing to advanced language/image models using genetic algorithms to spit out candidate outputs and using biometric readings (in the vein of an FMRI, or maybe just a polygraph) to judge how satisfied a user is with various outputs in different categories, then rapidly using the feedback to develop an output that most satisfies the user's desire. How well this could work, or if it would work in practice, seem to be the biggest questions, but I think we definitely have avenues worth exploring using existing technology. I have to say the idea of such a technology is a little disquieting if it were used the way things like polygraphs already are, and optimized for something other than the user's preferences.

EDIT: Now I can't shake the mental image of Alex from A Clockwork Orange strapped into his chair for his "treatment". And certain scenes toward the end of The Men Who Stare at Goats.

Considering how we do limb prosthetics, we won't know how to interface a brain with a computer. We know how to make a computer compatible enough for the brain to interface with the computer. This can be the way this plays out.

Arguably, we already did that (make an interface that our brain adapts to): programming languages, keyboards, are already man-made interfaces our brain adapted to.

> I feel like we don’t have the slightest clue how the brain works and then I don’t see how we could ever make electronics interface with synapses in a way that makes you see video, audio, etc.

For what its worth, I did (well, started) a PhD in this and you're bang on. We don't understand the brain at all, and trying to fudge this immense knowledge gap with Machine Learning is getting us nowhere. Doesn't stop the grant money from rolling in, though.

Not telepathy: you wouldn't even know how to define it. "Sub"-vocal communication over radio is totally feasible, though.

You reckon we'll have AGI, or at least something resembling it by then?

Brain implants + near-AGI would essentially make us superhuman

For a monthly fee of $999 no less

Or you can use the ad-supported version "for free".

Or we pay you $5/mo to use your available brain cycles to mine braincoin.

Ala Johnny Mnemonic

Tell a human 200 years ago that we can access any knowledge of the humanity within minutes, that we can travel at 900kph, that we can drink sea water. They'll tell you that we are indeed super-humans.

Tell an average parent today that 100 years ago the average parent raised 6 kids, and they'll tell you the people in the past must have been the superhuman ones!

Good one...

Might just as well make us artificially happyfied super-vegetables, completely incapable of taking decisive action required in some unexpected crisis.

If you replace metalworking with the reward mechanism hacks Facebook et al use to optimize their success metrics, the threshold to a paperclip maximizer scenario gets considerably lower. Smartphones are bad enough, add MMI to the mix and all bets are off.

I already have a reasonable Adjusted Gross Income on my annual tax return. We already have an American Geological Institute. Have many Adventure Game Interpreters to choose from. Amplified Geochemical Imaging is a mature field. Hell, we even have some early contenders for proto Artificial General Intelligence if that is what you meant. But obviously we don't have Acronym Gist Inflation, and your text remains unqualified and vague.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com