Revolutionizing Interaction: Neuroscience & Brain Interfaces
Imagine controlling your computer or smartphone with just your thoughts. Or communicating with others without speaking or typing. These are some of the possibilities that neuroscience and brain interfaces can offer us.
Neuroscience studies the nervous system—including the brain—and how it affects our behaviour, emotions, and cognition. Brain interfaces are devices that can measure or modulate brain activity. By combining neuroscience and brain interfaces, we can create new ways of interacting with the world around us.
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In this article, we will explore how neuroscience and brain interfaces can change the way we interact and what are the benefits, challenges, and ethical issues of this emerging field.
What Is a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI)?
The brain-computer interface (BCI) is a technology that allows direct communication between the brain and an external device, such as a computer or a robotic limb. This revolutionary technique works by measuring, interpreting, encoding, and deploying brain signals to interact with the desired device.
It’s worth noting that BCIs come in different types and are categorized based on how they access the brain signals. Some BCIs use non-invasive methods, such as electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). These methods record the electrical or magnetic activity of the brain without implanting any electrodes or sensors into the brain tissue.
On the other hand, some BCIs use partially invasive methods, such as electrocorticography (ECoG), where experts must implant sensors into the brain tissue to measure more precise brain signals.
Lastly, other types of BCIs use invasive methods, such as deep brain stimulation (DBS). This involves implanting electrodes directly into specific brain regions to modulate their activity.
Benefit of Brain-Computer Interface
As expected, this revolutionary technology has many applications and benefits for various domains, such as education, health, entertainment, and more. We divide these benefits into two categories:
Improved Quality of Life
One main benefit of BCI is how it can improve the quality of life for people with disabilities that affect their physical or mental functions. For example, a BCI can enable a person to operate a computer through their thoughts.
Essentially, this benefit can provide them with entertainment, employment, and social interaction that they may not be able to experience otherwise. A BCI can also help someone with a neurological disorder regain some of their motor functions by stimulating the affected areas with electrical impulses.
Such a possibility will restore their ability to move, speak, and perform daily activities that they may have lost due to injury or disease. There’s also the possibility of enhancing a person’s cognitive abilities by providing them with information via thoughts, thereby improving their memory, attention, and problem-solving skills.
Industry Revolution
Another noteworthy benefit of BCI is how it can revolutionize several industries that rely on human-computer interaction. For example, BCI can enable warfighters to operate hands-free drones on the battlefield, increasing their efficiency and safety in combat situations.
It can be applied to education as well, allowing teachers to create personalized learning environments for their students and empowering them to learn according to their preferences and abilities.
BCI can also help transform the music industry by letting artists express themselves creatively through digital media. This can expand their artistic expression and innovation possibilities, and perhaps take art from their imagination to the studio.
Drawbacks of Brain-Computer Interface
Naturally, concepts with benefits also possess noteworthy challenges; the same applies to the brain-computer interface. This technological advancement presents some ethical issues regarding privacy, consent, identity, and responsibility. Here’s a more detailed explanation:
Ethical Issues
One main drawback of BCI is ethical issues regarding privacy, consent, identity, autonomy, and responsibility. For example, a BCI may expose the user’s personal or sensitive information—such as thoughts, emotions, preferences, or memories—to unauthorized parties or hackers.
The technology may also require the user’s informed consent before modifying their brain signals, especially for invasive or stimulating BCIs. This procedure could affect the user’s sense of identity, as they may feel less human or more machine-like when using a BCI.
Others also argue that a brain-computer interface may challenge the user’s autonomy or free will as they become dependent on or influenced by the BCI. If this worry becomes a reality, it will raise questions about the user’s responsibility or accountability for their actions and outcomes when using a BCI.
Technological Reliability
Currently, BCIs pose some concering questions regarding their accuracy, reliability, security, and compatibility. For example, a BCI may not be able to accurately measure, interpret, or encode the user’s brain signals due to noise or individual differences.
There’s also the possibility that a BCI may be vulnerable to cyberattacks or malicious interference, leading to data theft, manipulation, and sabotage. They may also face compatibility issues with different devices or platforms, affecting usability.
Companies Making Progress in Bridging Neuroscience & Brain Interfaces
Some companies believe brain-computer interfaces are the future, leading them to dedicate their resources to these projects. These establishments include:
Neuralink
Founded by Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, Neuralink aims to create a symbiosis between the human brain and AI, merging computers with the brain. The company promises its technology will help people with paralysis, memory and hearing loss, blindness, and other neurological problems.
Synchron
Synchron is a company that develops minimally invasive BCIs that can be implanted in the blood vessels of the brain without the need for open brain surgery. Their flagship product, Stentrode, can stimulate brain activity within a blood vessel, allowing patients to control external devices with their thoughts.
Conclusion
Ultimately, BCIs are an exciting and promising field of research with various potential implications for human-computer interaction. However, they also pose many technical, social, and moral questions that must be addressed carefully and responsibly. Nevertheless, several companies have pioneered this field, and as time progresses, they may address these concerns and maximize the potential benefits.
