DARPA Wants to Bridge the Gap between Humans and Computers

DARPA announced a new project in which it wants to tackle the idea of forming a perfect link between the human brain and a super computer. DARPA wants to bridge the gap between humans and computers by tackling the idea of neural implants.

• The new implants will be used by doctors, researcher and even the military;
• The best connection between the human brain and a computer has more than 100 channels, and receive information from tens of thousands of neurons;
• DARPA aims to pave the way for a new era of neurotechnology;
• The company wants to design smaller neural sensors, capable of processing information from millions of neurons.

The new program developed as part of the Neural Engineering System Design project aims at developing a new way to create a stable interface between the human brain and a supercomputer.

DARPA wants to bridge the gap between human and machine by devising superlight neural processors, which are capable of interfacing with the human brain. Moreover, these tiny microprocessors do not only have to be small enough to fit in a narrow space, but they must also be capable of handling a high amount of information.

Phillip Alveda, a scientist working on the NESD project explained in a press interview what’s it like to set such a high goal. According to the scientists, the gap between man and machine has been already bridged, but it would seem that this bridge is quite fragile.

In order to explain how this works, Alveda mentioned the fact that the best brain-computer interface that man has ever created is not very stable. He also stated that the present interface resembles the dialogue between two supercomputers, who must talk with each other over a dial-up connection.

The fact is that the next best thing to neurotechnology is a supercomputer capable of interpreting approximately 100.000 different signals coming from the human brain. The computer has to process real-time information coming in from approximately 100 different channels.

The scientists said that although this is a great start in terms of neurotechnology, the system lacks in the area of accuracy, meaning that the computers often backfire when it comes to deciphering biological information.

DARPA wants to bridge the gap between human and computers, but, as they’ve declared, this is a very complex goal. Many technological advances in the areas of low-powered components and nanotechnology will have to be made before the scientists can devise the perfect device capable of interpreting complex bio signals.

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