Labs around the world are building machines that we can control with our minds. How long will we have to wait for an upgrade?
You get back from work, crash out on the sofa and pick a track from your favourite playlist. Without moving from that spot you start heating up the oven to cook dinner before beginning a conversation with your friend who lives on the other side of town. You do all this without ever saying a word or pressing a single button. How did anyone get anything done before brain interfaces?
The idea that we could run our lives from inside our heads is, obviously, a fantasy, but there are those who are attempting to make it a reality. In 2017, SpaceX and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk announced a new venture, Neuralink. Its aim: to build a high-bandwidth, implantable braincomputer interface that will put us permanently online and allow us to communicate wirelessly with anything that has a computer chip. The device could, theoretically, allow us to have thought conversations with our friends, share memories as if they were smartphone videos and ‘know’ anything we wanted by simply calling it down from the cloud.
Meanwhile, earlier this year, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), announced plans to develop next-gen brain-computer interfaces, with the aim of enhancing the abilities of military personnel. A recently released document suggested a possible experiment for testing these devices: “a human subject controlling multiple drones in a virtual reality setup, while receiving sensory feedback to portray the status of each drone.” In other words, we might one day see soldiers controlling drones with their minds.
It sounds impressive, but is it possible? Primitive versions of brain-machine interfaces have already been used to help paralysed people move prosthetic limbs, but could we really see this technology making the leap to everyday use?
Group thinking
This story is from the September 2018 edition of BBC Earth.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 2018 edition of BBC Earth.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
World's First Malaria Vaccine
The World Health Organization’s director-general hails ‘historic moment’ as mass immunisation of African children begins
Is River Pollution Putting The Species In Jeopardy Again?
Ten years ago, it was jubilantly announced that o ers had returned to every county in England. But is river pollution putting the species in jeopardy again?
The Big Burnout
Long hours, low pay and a lack of appreciation — among other things — can make for a stressful workplace and lead to burnout. It’s something we should all be concerned about, because over half of the workforce reports feeling it
Putting Nature To Rights
More countries are enshrining the right to a clean environment into law. So if a company or government is impinging upon that right, you could take them to court
Mega Spaceship: Is It Possible For China To Build A Kilometre-Long Spacecraft?
Buoyed on by its successful Moon missions, China has launched a five-year study to investigate the possibility of building the biggest-ever spacecraft
Are We Getting Happier?
Enjoying more good days than bad? Feel like that bounce in your step’s getting bigger? HELEN RUSSELL looks into whether we’re all feeling more cheery…
“Unless the Japanese got the US off their backs in the Pacific, they believed they would face complete destruction”
Eighty years ago Japan’s surprise raid on Pearl Harbor forced the US offthe fence and into the Second World War. Ellie Cawthorne is making a new HistoryExtra podcast series about the attack, and she spoke to Christopher Harding about the long roots of Japan’s disastrous decision
Your Mysterious Brain
Science has mapped the surface of Mars and translated the code for life. By comparison, we know next to nothing about what’s between our ears. Over the next few pages, we ask leading scientists to answer some of the most important questions about our brains…
Why Do We Fall In Love?
Is it companionship, procreation or something more? DR ANNA MACHIN reveals what makes us so willing to become targets for Cupid’s arrow
Detecting the dead
Following personal tragedy, the creator of that most rational of literary figures, Sherlock Holmes, developed an obsession with spiritualism. Fiona Snailham and Anna Maria Barry explore the supernatural interests of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
