When technology succeeds in curing the brain, if it ever does, it will be the golden age of skill enhancement. The use of devices will then be extended to have more memory, concentrate more easily or be able to think about several things at the same time. Also of those that will allow us to connect to the Internet with our mind or manage devices without touching them.
That is the forecast of the scientific community, which understands that the development of brain-machine interfaces and the evolution of artificial intelligence are the key to achieving healthy humans with improved abilities. The scenario opens multiple ethical and philosophical questions, some of them disturbing: to what extent can we intervene in our brain and continue being who we are? Will all people be able to access these advances that will increase our abilities or will they be the privilege of a caste of improved humans?
Read minds
It is convenient not to lose sight of these debates, although today they seem like science fiction. The brain-machine interfaces that experts mention are devices that can read brain wave activity and also write new information to them. It can be an electrode that is placed on the skull or a microchip that is inserted directly into the brain. These sensors collect the data of the neuronal activity and send it to a computer, where the algorithms process and interpret it: this way we can get to know what is encoded in our neurons. It also works the other way around: the computer can introduce new information into the brain by modifying its activity.
“Let’s say that the sensors are microphones that allow the neurons to be heard and the algorithms have to translate the information that is collected, which can be emotional, cognitive, motor or sensory,” explains María López, CEO of the company Bitbrain, specialized in developing sensors that detect brain activity and software that analyzes the data. “Since everything we do goes through the brain, if we can translate that information we can use it for whatever we want, such as improving cognitive abilities.”
That’s what the Vodafone Giants esports team did last year. In collaboration with Bitbrain, they measured the brain waves of gamers and obtained information about their concentration through electrode headbands. “We use a technology that is capable of improving certain areas of the brain that are involved in cognitive abilities. We see that their working memory, sustained attention and speed of thought increase”, explains Javier Mínguez, co-founder of Bitbrain, in a video where he recounts the project.
To achieve these goals, players learn which areas of the brain to stimulate. They put on a headband that reads their brain waves and transfers them to a computer. Meanwhile, they have a screen in front of them where they are seeing a square that turns red when they are focused and blue when their thoughts are scattered. It could be said that they can change the color of the square with their mind, but not by thinking red or blue, but by concentrating or defocusing.
In this case, the brain-machine interface reads and decrypts the information encrypted in our brain waves and, by giving us feedback about how we are using the brain, we can learn to reinforce the connections that we want to improve. “You do not need to stimulate the brain by inserting a device, it is you yourself who, based on training, are strengthening the connections that interest you,” explains López. This way of developing mental skills is based on plasticity, that is, on the idea that the brain reinforces the connections that are used the most.
But there is another way to do it: we can write new information in our neurons and improve the abilities we choose by means of an order that the computer sends to the microchips that the users have implanted. That is, in addition to reading the brain, you can also write to it.
write in the brain
The computer can send signals to the chips that, being in contact with the brain waves, can modify them to alter or readjust them. “It is one of the most innovative lines of research, but it is also the furthest. By stimulating those brain waves, you run the risk of altering other nearby signals”, explains María López, CEO of Bitbrain.
The most ambitious projects in this sense propose implanting microscopic chips that, today, are being designed to treat diseases but that could also be used to improve capabilities. “Right now, there are brain-machine interfaces focused on memory recovery in patients with neurological problems, but the memory of users who do not have problems could also be increased,” explains José Carmena, co-founder of the Californian Iota Biosciences and one of the creators of neural dust, wireless implants that can monitor muscles, organs, and nerves deep within the body.
One of the most innovative advances that Carmena highlights in the use of this technology is writing sensations in the brain that the person is not feeling. For example, it is useful in a patient who is learning to operate a robotic arm and wants to feel through the arm. In that case, it has to be done artificially: it consists of encoding that information in the neurons, writing that sensation in the brain.
This advanced technology is already being applied to animals. “In mice not only are neurodata being deciphered and interpreting, for example, their visual perception, but also being manipulated. Researchers make them see things that they are not seeing, altering their brain waves,” explains Rafael Yuste, promoter of the international BRAIN project and professor at Columbia University, who is in contact with experts from around the world who lead research in neurotechnology .
business appetite
These advances have drawn the attention of the big technology companies, which in recent years have been developing tools based on brain-machine interfaces. Neuralink stands out among them, founded by Elon Musk, which seeks to increase the capabilities of users by implanting microscopic threads in the brain that allow different areas to communicate with each other and with the outside through artificial intelligence.
“In the last year, companies like Facebook and Microsoft have each invested 1,000 million dollars in this technology,” says Yuste. Right now the most advanced project is that of Mark Zuckerberg’s company. they call it thought to text [de pensamiento a texto] and uses a device that allows writing without typing. “The idea is that the iPhone ends up being a non-invasive brain-computer interface. You will be able to communicate with the network both to send data and to receive it using only your brain activity.”
Glossary
Brain-machine interfaces. Devices that collect detailed information from brain waves and send it to a computer, which processes and interprets the data. It can also work in the opposite direction: the computer can send signals to devices that, being in contact with brain waves, can modify them to alter or readjust them.
bioelectronics. Discipline that is responsible for studying how electronic signals can be used to stimulate the nervous system and cure diseases. It is the basis on which brain-machine interfaces are built.
Brain plasticity. It is the ability of the brain to reorganize and adapt to functional and structural changes. When we stop using a series of connections (for example, if it has been a long time since we did a division with decimals), the brain understands that it is not relevant information for us and will use those neural networks so that we can learn something else.
Electroencephalogram. This is a study that detects the electrical activity of the brain. To do this, electrodes are attached to the scalp that are capable of reading the nerve impulses that are transmitted between neurons. This information can be used to detect irregularities in brain waves and even, with the right technology, to decipher thoughts.