U.S. Military Spending Millions on Cyborg Implant
March 8th, 2016“A spokesman for DARPA told CNN that the program is not intended for military applications.”
Oh sure. It’s to help the injured vets, save kittens and make rainbows etc.
I like the comments from the cognitive scientist interviewed for the piece.
“Boondoggle.”
“My guess is that it’s a waste of taxpayer dollars.”
And flush go the millions down the toilet.
Via: CNN:
The U.S. military is spending millions on an advanced implant that would allow a human brain to communicate directly with computers.
If it succeeds, cyborgs will be a reality.
The Pentagon’s research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), hopes the implant will allow humans to directly interface with computers, which could benefit people with aural and visual disabilities, such as veterans injured in combat.
The goal of the proposed implant is to “open the channel between the human brain and modern electronics” according to DARPA’s program manager, Phillip Alvelda.
…
A spokesman for DARPA told CNN that the program is not intended for military applications.
…
However, Steven Pinker, a cognitive scientist and professor of psychology at Harvard, was skeptical of the proposed innovation, calling the idea a “bunch of hype with no results.”
He told CNN, “We have little to no idea how exactly the brain codes complex information” and cited the problems from foreign objects triggering brain inflammation that can cause serious neurological issues.
Pinker described “neural enhancement” for healthy brains as being a “boondoggle,” but he suggested that there could be some benefit for people suffering from brain-related diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
In its announcement, DARPA acknowledged that an implant is still a long ways away, with breakthroughs in neuroscience, synthetic biology, low-power electronics, photonics and medical-device manufacturing needed before the device could be used.
DARPA plans to recruit a diverse set of experts in an attempt to accelerate the project’s development, according to its statement announcing the project.
Pinker remained skeptical, however, telling CNN: “My guess is that it’s a waste of taxpayer dollars.”
