Insights June 16th, 2017
Each week Nikolas Badminton, Futurist Speaker, summarizes the top-5 future looking developments and news items that I find to be inspiring, interesting, concerning, or downright strange. Each day he reads through dozens of blogs and news websites to find those things that we should be aware of.
In Exponential Minds’ Future Trends – Super Crazy Awesome Cyborg Humans we look at sensing touch via the brain, adding multiple limbs to our bodies, we meet Emily Borghard, awesome cyborg-type robots, and creating super human intelligence.
Providing a Sense of Touch through a Brain-Machine Interface
A DARPA-funded research team has demonstrated for the first time in a human a technology that allows an individual to experience the sensation of touch directly in the brain through a neural interface system connected to a robotic arm. By enabling two-way communication between brain and machine—outgoing signals for movement and inbound signals for sensation—the technology could ultimately support new ways for people to engage with each other and with the world.
The work was supported by DARPA’s Revolutionizing Prosthetics program, and performed by the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Learn more: http://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2016…
MetaLimbs: Multiple Arms Interaction Metamorphism (2017)
WSJ The Future of Everything – Meet One of the First Human Cyborgs
Meet Emily Borghard, one of the world’s first true cyborgs thanks to a chip implanted in her brain. In the not too distant future, there could be millions more like her. These high-tech implants have implications for treating Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, depression and even behavioral disorders.
The dawn of cyborg-type robots
Brain Augmentation: How scientists are working to create cyborg humans with super intelligence
For most people, the idea of brain augmentation remains in the realms of science fiction. However, for scientists across the globe, it is fast becoming reality—with the possibility of humans with “super-intelligence” edging ever closer.
In laboratory experiments on rats, researchers have already been able to transfer memories from one brain to another. Future projects include the development of telepathic communication and the creation of “cyborgs,” where humans have advanced abilities thanks to technological interventions.
Scientists Mikhail Lebedev, Ioan Opris and Manuel Casanova have now published a comprehensive collection of research into brain augmentation, and their efforts have won a major European science research prize—the Frontiers Spotlight Award. This $100,000 prize is for the winners to set up a conference that highlights emerging research in their field.
Read more at Newsweek