Comment on First human brain implant malfunctioned, Neuralink says

• Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  If you think it’s cool I would hope you think it’s even cooler than you can do this without surgery and that there are literal cheap ass toys you can buy to play with yourself?

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  • Soggy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    You’re presupposing that surgical implants can’t be more responsive, intuitive, speedy, or sophisticated than an external device. The eye trackers are very useful but objectively pretty limited. Non-invasive EEG is weak and distorted because there is skull and more brain in the way, so “resolution” is limited.

    If better outcomes are possible by putting electrodes as close to the signal source as can be, why not explore that option?

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    • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      It feels ridiculous that I even need to say this, but you don’t do it because the risk:benefit ratio is lopsided as hell.

      Risks: die from sepsis, have your body reject the implant, the parent company goes out of business and your implant no longer functions (this has happened with several startups), etc

      Benefit: move mouse and click faster

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      • Soggy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Move mouse and click faster is a big deal when it’s the only way you can interact with the world. And it’s just a mouse right now, but what about robotic hands? A thought-controlled wheelchair? A tiny bit of agency? Technology is iterative and built on failure, and you want to tell the people trapped in non-functional bodies that it will never get any better?

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      • HauntedCupcake@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        It’s experimental tech, I wouldn’t want to be the Guinea pig either.

        However, if I was quadriplegic and could only use the somewhat limited external tech, and a significant portion of my life was interacting with a computer. Fuck yeah the risk is worth a performance boost. Especially considering this is going to be a lot safer and more powerful when it hits the mass market

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  • BottleOfAlkahest@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Not the person you were responding too but I’d love to learn more about these toys/tech. Are there some key words that would help me search? I’m having some trouble sifting through the search results.

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    • curiousPJ@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      www.newegg.com/p/N82E16826100006

      Neural Impulse Actuator or brain-computer interface.

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    • ramirezmike@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      I think the most famous one was the star wars jedi force trainer? Some people say it’s fake but… it’s like a headset you put on that they claim reads your brain waves and it controls a little fan that switches on and off to make a ball in a tube float

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    • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      They’re usually marketed as “mind control” toys and are operated with a headset that sends a signal to hidden fans that control whatever object it is you’re supposed to be manipulating. Mattel came out with one called Mindflex that’s pretty complicated looking and has a matching price tag, there are some cheaper Star Wars branded ones too. Not sure what brand I tried as it was over a decade ago, but it was a two player game where you tried to move the ball towards the other player along a track.

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