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Comment by Mistletoe | Hacker News Reader

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...

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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 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.

> 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.

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.

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