#neural interfaces

[techninja]

Exploring the Growing Wetware Computers Market: Merging Biology with Technology

Introduction to Wetware Computers

In the realm of futuristic technology, wetware computers represent a fascinating frontier where biology and technology converge. These cutting-edge devices utilize living neural tissue, bioengineered components, and neural interfaces to create powerful computing systems. As the field of biotechnology advances, wetware computers are poised to revolutionize various industries and reshape our relationship with technology.

The Evolution of Wetware Technology

Wetware computers have evolved significantly since their inception, with advancements in bioengineering, neural interfaces, and computational neuroscience driving innovation. Initially conceptualized as experimental prototypes, these systems have matured into sophisticated platforms capable of interfacing with the human brain at unprecedented levels of precision and efficiency.

Applications Across Industries

The potential applications of wetware computers span a wide range of industries, from healthcare and medicine to gaming and entertainment. In healthcare, these devices hold promise for diagnosing and treating neurological disorders, enhancing prosthetic control, and even augmenting cognitive abilities. In the gaming industry, wetware interfaces offer immersive experiences that blur the lines between reality and virtual worlds, creating new opportunities for interactive entertainment.

Challenges and Ethical Considerations

Despite their immense potential, wetware computers also pose significant challenges and ethical considerations. Issues such as data privacy, informed consent, and the potential for misuse raise important questions about the responsible development and deployment of these technologies. As wetware technology continues to advance, it will be crucial to address these challenges proactively to ensure that its benefits are realized ethically and equitably.

Future Outlook and Growth Prospects

Looking ahead, the wetware computers market is poised for continued growth and innovation. As research in biotechnology and neurotechnology accelerates, we can expect to see increasingly sophisticated wetware systems with enhanced capabilities and applications. From medical breakthroughs to new forms of human-computer interaction, the future of wetware technology holds boundless possibilities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, wetware computers represent a groundbreaking fusion of biology and technology that has the potential to revolutionize various industries and aspects of human life. As researchers and innovators continue to push the boundaries of what is possible, the wetware computers market is set to experience exponential growth, offering new opportunities for scientific discovery, technological innovation, and human enhancement. However, it is essential to approach the development and deployment of these technologies with caution, ensuring that they are used responsibly and ethically to maximize their benefits for society as a whole.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Three AI insights for hard-charging, future-oriented smartypantses

MERE HOURS REMAIN for the Kickstarter for the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There’s also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.

Living in the age of AI hype makes demands on all of us to come up with smartypants prognostications about how AI is about to change everything forever, and wow, it's pretty amazing, huh?

AI pitchmen don't make it easy. They like to pile on the cognitive dissonance and demand that we all somehow resolve it. This is a thing cult leaders do, too – tell blatant and obvious lies to their followers. When a cult follower repeats the lie to others, they are demonstrating their loyalty, both to the leader and to themselves.

Over and over, the claims of AI pitchmen turn out to be blatant lies. This has been the case since at least the age of the Mechanical Turk, the 18th chess-playing automaton that was actually just a chess player crammed into the base of an elaborate puppet that was exhibited as an autonomous, intelligent robot.

The most prominent Mechanical Turk huckster is Elon Musk, who habitually, blatantly and repeatedly lies about AI. He's been promising "full self driving" Telsas in "one to two years" for more than a decade. Periodically, he'll "demonstrate" a car that's in full-self driving mode – which then turns out to be canned, recorded demo:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/tesla-video-promoting-self-driving-was-staged-engineer-testifies-2023-01-17/

Musk even trotted an autonomous, humanoid robot on-stage at an investor presentation, failing to mention that this mechanical marvel was just a person in a robot suit:

https://www.siliconrepublic.com/machines/elon-musk-tesla-robot-optimus-ai

Now, Musk has announced that his junk-science neural interface company, Neuralink, has made the leap to implanting neural interface chips in a human brain. As Joan Westenberg writes, the press have repeated this claim as presumptively true, despite its wild implausibility:

https://joanwestenberg.com/blog/elon-musk-lies

Neuralink, after all, is a company notorious for mutilating primates in pursuit of showy, meaningless demos:

https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-pcrm-neuralink-monkey-deaths/

I'm perfectly willing to believe that Musk would risk someone else's life to help him with this nonsense, because he doesn't see other people as real and deserving of compassion or empathy. But he's also profoundly lazy and is accustomed to a world that unquestioningly swallows his most outlandish pronouncements, so Occam's Razor dictates that the most likely explanation here is that he just made it up.

The odds that there's a human being beta-testing Musk's neural interface with the only brain they will ever have aren't zero. But I give it the same odds as the Raelians' claim to have cloned a human being:

https://edition.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/03/cf.opinion.rael/

The human-in-a-robot-suit gambit is everywhere in AI hype. Cruise, GM's disgraced "robot taxi" company, had 1.5 remote operators for every one of the cars on the road. They used AI to replace a single, low-waged driver with 1.5 high-waged, specialized technicians. Truly, it was a marvel.

Globalization is key to maintaining the guy-in-a-robot-suit phenomenon. Globalization gives AI pitchmen access to millions of low-waged workers who can pretend to be software programs, allowing us to pretend to have transcended the capitalism's exploitation trap. This is also a very old pattern – just a couple decades after the Mechanical Turk toured Europe, Thomas Jefferson returned from the continent with the dumbwaiter. Jefferson refined and installed these marvels, announcing to his dinner guests that they allowed him to replace his "servants" (that is, his slaves). Dumbwaiters don't replace slaves, of course – they just keep them out of sight:

https://www.stuartmcmillen.com/blog/behind-the-dumbwaiter/

So much AI turns out to be low-waged people in a call center in the Global South pretending to be robots that Indian techies have a joke about it: "AI stands for 'absent Indian'":

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/29/pay-no-attention/#to-the-little-man-behind-the-curtain

A reader wrote to me this week. They're a multi-decade veteran of Amazon who had a fascinating tale about the launch of Amazon Go, the "fully automated" Amazon retail outlets that let you wander around, pick up goods and walk out again, while AI-enabled cameras totted up the goods in your basket and charged your card for them.

According to this reader, the AI cameras didn't work any better than Tesla's full-self driving mode, and had to be backstopped by a minimum of three camera operators in an Indian call center, "so that there could be a quorum system for deciding on a customer's activity – three autopilots good, two autopilots bad."

Amazon got a ton of press from the launch of the Amazon Go stores. A lot of it was very favorable, of course: Mister Market is insatiably horny for firing human beings and replacing them with robots, so any announcement that you've got a human-replacing robot is a surefire way to make Line Go Up. But there was also plenty of critical press about this – pieces that took Amazon to task for replacing human beings with robots.

What was missing from the criticism? Articles that said that Amazon was probably lying about its robots, that it had replaced low-waged clerks in the USA with even-lower-waged camera-jockeys in India.

Which is a shame, because that criticism would have hit Amazon where it hurts, right there in the ole Line Go Up. Amazon's stock price boost off the back of the Amazon Go announcements represented the market's bet that Amazon would evert out of cyberspace and fill all of our physical retail corridors with monopolistic robot stores, moated with IP that prevented other retailers from similarly slashing their wage bills. That unbridgeable moat would guarantee Amazon generations of monopoly rents, which it would share with any shareholders who piled into the stock at that moment.

See the difference? Criticize Amazon for its devastatingly effective automation and you help Amazon sell stock to suckers, which makes Amazon executives richer. Criticize Amazon for lying about its automation, and you clobber the personal net worth of the executives who spun up this lie, because their portfolios are full of Amazon stock:

https://sts-news.medium.com/youre-doing-it-wrong-notes-on-criticism-and-technology-hype-18b08b4307e5

Amazon Go didn't go. The hundreds of Amazon Go stores we were promised never materialized. There's an embarrassing rump of 25 of these things still around, which will doubtless be quietly shuttered in the years to come. But Amazon Go wasn't a failure. It allowed its architects to pocket massive capital gains on the way to building generational wealth and establishing a new permanent aristocracy of habitual bullshitters dressed up as high-tech wizards.

"Wizard" is the right word for it. The high-tech sector pretends to be science fiction, but it's usually fantasy. For a generation, America's largest tech firms peddled the dream of imminently establishing colonies on distant worlds or even traveling to other solar systems, something that is still so far in our future that it might well never come to pass:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/09/astrobezzle/#send-robots-instead

During the Space Age, we got the same kind of performative bullshit. On The Well David Gans mentioned hearing a promo on SiriusXM for a radio show with "the first AI co-host." To this, Craig L Maudlin replied, "Reminds me of fins on automobiles."

Yup, that's exactly it. An AI radio co-host is to artificial intelligence as a Cadillac Eldorado Biaritz tail-fin is to interstellar rocketry.

Back the Kickstarter for the audiobook of The Bezzle here!

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/31/neural-interface-beta-tester/#tailfins

[a-tenno-called-prin]

I so desperately want the Operator to have a "Father I cannot click the book" moment

[a-friend-of-mara]

I'm starting to think I'm either a synthetic, a robot girl, an android, or I'm in the matrix because I fucking swear when the io noise gets quiet and my cpu clocks down I can fucking feel someone fucking with the NIC port on the back of my head

To whoever is please just fuckin stop or put the jack in properly so it doesn't feel weird

[l-1-z-a]

Lessons in Game Design, lecture by Will Wright [Recorded November 20, 2003]

Will Wright has become one of the most successful designers of interactive entertainment in the world. He began working on what would become SimCity—The City Simulator in 1985. Using a complex technique, he found a way to bring realistic simulations to desktop PCs. Previously simulations of this sort were only available to the military, scientists and academicians. However, using an easy to use graphic interface, the world of simulations opened up to consumers.

Wright co-founded Maxis (now part of Electronic Arts) with Jeff Braun in 1987. SimCity was released in 1989, and within a few months became a hit. The game has since won 24 domestic and international awards. With Fred Haslem, Wright co-designed SimEarth—The Living Planet in 1990, a simulation of a planet based on the Gaia theory of James Lovelock. In 1991, Wright and Justin McCormick designed SimAnt—The Electronic Ant Colony, a scientifically-accurate simulation of an ant colony. SimCity 2000, and SimCopter, a helicopter flight game, are also part of Wright's recent repertoire. SimCity 3000 Unlimited, the definitive version of 1999s best-selling game SimCity 3000, continued in the tradition. The long-awaited 4th generation, SimCity 4, was released in January 2003.

Taking computer entertainment to its most personal level, Wrights ground-breaking game The Sims, puts players in charge of the lives of a neighborhood of simulated people. Released in February of 2000, this wildly popular title has become a cultural phenomenon, sold millions of copies worldwide, has received numerous Game of The Years accolades, and has become the best selling PC game of all time. The Sims has inspired several expansion packs including Livin Large, House Party, Hot Date, Vacation, Unleashed, and Superstar!

The Sims Online™ enables you to take your Sims to an online world where you get to be yourself or whoever you want to be. In this world you have your own piece of land to do with as you please. In this open-ended, online world, you choose your role, your attitude and your destiny.

In this lecture, recorded in November 2003, Wright discusses various aspects of game design, human interfaces, artificial intelligence, metrics, simulation and the future of gaming.

Catalog Number: 102703077

Lot Number: X4881.2009

[redfoxv]

The sleep setting in. My eyes becoming heavy. Mind is drifting off. I roll over wrapping you around me. I can feel you warm embrace. Exrasensory tingles harmonize with something deep inside. Completely enveloped. Free to abandon the physical. Into the dreamlands synchronized with thw harmonic bliss of the extasensory physical ensations.

[atozofsoftwareengineering]

Power of Natural Language Processing with AWS

Dive into the world of Natural Language Processing on AWS and learn how to build intelligent applications with services like Amazon Comprehend, Transcribe, and Polly. Explore the future of language-driven AI and cloud computing #AWSNLP #AI #CloudComputing

Natural Language Processing (NLP) has emerged as a transformative force in the realm of artificial intelligence, enabling computers to comprehend and generate human-like text. As businesses increasingly recognize the value of language-driven insights and applications, cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) have played a pivotal role in democratizing access to advanced NLP capabilities.…

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

absorbing more robot media and becoming worse. blasting my friends with watch gundam witch from mercury beams so i can be worse around them without spoiling anything

[morganhopesmith1996]

Neural AI by Shirow Masamune

[jcmarchi]

The Way the Brain Learns is Different from the Way that Artificial Intelligence Systems Learn - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/the-way-the-brain-learns-is-different-from-the-way-that-artificial-intelligence-systems-learn-technology-org/

The Way the Brain Learns is Different from the Way that Artificial Intelligence Systems Learn - Technology Org

Researchers from the MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit and Oxford University’s Department of Computer Science have set out a new principle to explain how the brain adjusts connections between neurons during learning.

This new insight may guide further research on learning in brain networks and may inspire faster and more robust learning algorithms in artificial intelligence.

Study shows that the way the brain learns is different from the way that artificial intelligence systems learn. Image credit: Pixabay

The essence of learning is to pinpoint which components in the information-processing pipeline are responsible for an error in output. In artificial intelligence, this is achieved by backpropagation: adjusting a model’s parameters to reduce the error in the output. Many researchers believe that the brain employs a similar learning principle.

However, the biological brain is superior to current machine learning systems. For example, we can learn new information by just seeing it once, while artificial systems need to be trained hundreds of times with the same pieces of information to learn them.

Furthermore, we can learn new information while maintaining the knowledge we already have, while learning new information in artificial neural networks often interferes with existing knowledge and degrades it rapidly.

These observations motivated the researchers to identify the fundamental principle employed by the brain during learning. They looked at some existing sets of mathematical equations describing changes in the behaviour of neurons and in the synaptic connections between them.

They analysed and simulated these information-processing models and found that they employ a fundamentally different learning principle from that used by artificial neural networks.

In artificial neural networks, an external algorithm tries to modify synaptic connections in order to reduce error, whereas the researchers propose that the human brain first settles the activity of neurons into an optimal balanced configuration before adjusting synaptic connections.

The researchers posit that this is in fact an efficient feature of the way that human brains learn. This is because it reduces interference by preserving existing knowledge, which in turn speeds up learning.

Writing in Nature Neuroscience, the researchers describe this new learning principle, which they have termed ‘prospective configuration’. They demonstrated in computer simulations that models employing this prospective configuration can learn faster and more effectively than artificial neural networks in tasks that are typically faced by animals and humans in nature.

The authors use the real-life example of a bear fishing for salmon. The bear can see the river and it has learnt that if it can also hear the river and smell the salmon it is likely to catch one. But one day, the bear arrives at the river with a damaged ear, so it can’t hear it.

In an artificial neural network information processing model, this lack of hearing would also result in a lack of smell (because while learning there is no sound, backpropagation would change multiple connections including those between neurons encoding the river and the salmon) and the bear would conclude that there is no salmon, and go hungry.

But in the animal brain, the lack of sound does not interfere with the knowledge that there is still the smell of the salmon, therefore the salmon is still likely to be there for catching.

The researchers developed a mathematical theory showing that letting neurons settle into a prospective configuration reduces interference between information during learning. They demonstrated that prospective configuration explains neural activity and behaviour in multiple learning experiments better than artificial neural networks.

Lead researcher Professor Rafal Bogacz of MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit and Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences says: ‘There is currently a big gap between abstract models performing prospective configuration, and our detailed knowledge of anatomy of brain networks. Future research by our group aims to bridge the gap between abstract models and real brains, and understand how the algorithm of prospective configuration is implemented in anatomically identified cortical networks.’

The first author of the study Dr Yuhang Song adds: ‘In the case of machine learning, the simulation of prospective configuration on existing computers is slow, because they operate in fundamentally different ways from the biological brain. A new type of computer or dedicated brain-inspired hardware needs to be developed, that will be able to implement prospective configuration rapidly and with little energy use.’

Source: University of Oxford

You can offer your link to a page which is relevant to the topic of this post.

[doolallymagpie]

befitting the work of a mad scientist being bankrolled by fascists, the Caliban III A would probably explode if it tried to alpha strike, seeing as how it mounts so few heat sinks compared to the horrifying number of laser weapons

plus it's got a direct neural interface, specifically to mount MORE shit on the thing by removing the need for a gyro (explanation for a 3048 chassis having that kind of tech is "Cortazar is your typical mad scientist miracle worker with an infinite budget"

basically, everything he hoped and dreamed for the original he made (and later retrofitted after Bobbie tore its arm off) for JPM, with all of the consequences

[bobcat-pie]

[sinkholepodcast]

[confluenceofconsciousness-01]

[confluence-01]

Consciousness Explored: Uniting Minds at the Confluence

The study of consciousness remains one of the most profound and elusive pursuits of human inquiry. Across disciplines, from neuroscience to psychology and philosophy, scholars are drawn to unravel the mystery of what makes us aware, how thoughts flow, and how creativity emerges. The confluence of these fields has brought us closer to understanding individual consciousness, the psychology behind it, and its role in human progress.

In recent years, this inquiry has seen a renewed focus, thanks to advancements in neural interface technology and deeper exploration into the confluence of thought, which merges science, psychology, and creativity. Theories of consciousness are evolving, offering new frameworks for how our minds work and what that means for the future of humanity. In this blog, we will explore the significance of consciousness, the interplay between psychology and creativity, and the role modern technology plays in helping us map this territory.

The Significance of Consciousness in Human Development

At the heart of human experience is consciousness, a complex web of thoughts, emotions, and awareness that defines who we are. Psychologists, philosophers, and neuroscientists have all tried to articulate what consciousness is and why it matters. The psychology of consciousness delves into how individuals process information, perceive reality, and make decisions.

As philosopher David Chalmers has pointed out, consciousness presents a "hard problem" in that it eludes strict definitions or purely material explanations. While we can describe neural correlates of consciousness, the subjective experience—what it's like to be aware, to have thoughts and feelings—remains deeply enigmatic.

In the last century, thinkers like Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung contributed foundational ideas, suggesting that consciousness represents only the tip of the iceberg, with much of our cognition occurring subconsciously. Freud’s theories about the unconscious mind influenced both psychology and culture, offering insights into how unacknowledged thoughts and desires shape behavior. Jung extended this idea, introducing concepts like the collective unconscious, where individual consciousness taps into a shared well of human experience.

Theories of Consciousness: Mapping the Mind

As the field has advanced, newer theories of consciousness have emerged, attempting to explain how neural activity gives rise to the rich tapestry of subjective experience. Two major theories have garnered attention: Global Workspace Theory (GWT) and Integrated Information Theory (IIT).

Global Workspace Theory, introduced by Bernard Baars, suggests that consciousness works as a stage or a "workspace" in the brain, where information from various neural modules comes together to be broadcasted for higher-order cognitive tasks. Essentially, this theory proposes that consciousness is the result of different brain systems communicating and sharing information. It views consciousness as the brain's way of managing vast amounts of data, ensuring that only relevant information is brought to the forefront of our awareness.

On the other hand, Integrated Information Theory, developed by Giulio Tononi, provides a mathematical framework for measuring consciousness based on how well information is integrated within a system. According to IIT, consciousness arises from the brain’s ability to integrate a large amount of information into a unified whole. This theory focuses more on the complexity of connections between neurons and how they contribute to conscious experience. IIT posits that even simple systems—like a thermostat—may have a rudimentary form of consciousness if they integrate information, though at a very low level compared to humans.

While these theories differ in their approach, they share a common goal: to explain how brain processes give rise to conscious awareness and experience. And yet, despite these advances, the question of "why" remains elusive. Philosopher Thomas Nagel famously asked, "What is it like to be a bat?" to highlight the challenges in understanding subjective experience from an external perspective. Theories may explain how consciousness functions, but the value of consciousness and its subjective quality remain profound mysteries.

Creativity and Consciousness: The Confluence of Thought

The creative process is one of the most fascinating manifestations of consciousness. Creativity confluence, or the intersection of diverse thoughts and experiences, is often the breeding ground for groundbreaking ideas. Psychologists like Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi have explored how consciousness enters a state of flow, a deeply immersive experience where a person’s thoughts, actions, and emotions harmonize. This “flow of consciousness” is not only crucial for creativity but is also a hallmark of optimal human functioning.

Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory suggests that when people engage in meaningful, challenging activities, they often experience this heightened state of consciousness. Whether it's an artist at the easel or a scientist in the lab, flow represents the confluence of individual consciousness and creativity. When in flow, time seems to disappear, and the boundaries between thought and action blur. This experience is one of the most rewarding aspects of human consciousness, one that drives progress and innovation across domains.

In his book "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience," Csikszentmihalyi writes: “The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times...The best moments usually occur if a person's body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.” This exploration of the psychology of consciousness reveals how deeply interconnected creativity and cognition are, underscoring the value of consciousness in human evolution.

The Confluence of Factors Shaping Consciousness

The richness of consciousness doesn't emerge from a single source. Rather, it is shaped by a confluence of factors, including biological, psychological, and environmental influences. Human consciousness evolves not only through individual experiences but also through interactions with others and the environment.

For instance, cultural narratives play a significant role in shaping how we perceive the world. The confluence book of modern psychology could be thought of as a series of chapters exploring how individual consciousness is influenced by broader societal structures. Books like "The Conscious Mind" by David Chalmers or "Consciousness Explained" by Daniel Dennett delve into the scientific and philosophical dimensions of this interplay. These are often regarded as some of the best books about human consciousness, offering insights into how we experience the world and how our thoughts shape it.

Mind Explorations and the Partnering of Thoughts

Consciousness is not just an individual experience. We often share our thoughts, collaborating and partnering with others to achieve common goals. In doing so, we experience a confluence of thought, where ideas from multiple minds come together to form something greater than the sum of their parts. This process of collaboration drives innovation and progress, especially in fields like technology, art, and philosophy.

Historically, the partnering of thoughts has led to some of humanity’s greatest achievements. From the dialogues of Socrates and Plato to the collaborative research of Watson and Crick, the fusion of minds has fueled progress. This shared experience highlights the importance of consciousness not only as a personal asset but as a tool for collective growth.

Inspirational Consciousness Quotes for Reflection

To better understand the profound nature of consciousness, it's helpful to reflect on the words of great thinkers. Here are a few quotes that capture the essence of consciousness:

“Consciousness is the gift of seeing oneself through the eyes of the universe. We are not just observers, but participants in this vast confluence of thoughts and matter.” — Carl Sagan

“Our thoughts shape our world. Consciousness is the force that binds us, the thread connecting all of humanity.” — Albert Einstein

“The brain is wider than the sky, for, put them side by side, the one the other will contain with ease, and you beside.” — Emily Dickinson

These quotes remind us of the depth and power of human consciousness, inviting reflection on how our thoughts influence not only our own lives but the broader fabric of existence.

The Role of Technology: Confluence Meets Innovation

In the modern era, neural interface technology offers new ways to explore and enhance human consciousness. By connecting the brain directly to machines, researchers are unlocking the potential to enhance memory, cognitive abilities, and even creativity. Companies like Neuralink are leading the charge, aiming to use technology to tap into the deepest recesses of the mind.

This merging of confluence technology and consciousness psychology represents the next frontier in human evolution. As we continue to understand the mind’s complexities, technology may offer new tools to unlock its full potential.

Conclusion: Embracing the Flow of Consciousness

As we move forward into an era where the confluence of factors—technology, psychology, and creativity—continue to shape human consciousness, we are reminded of the profound mystery that lies at the heart of our awareness. From the theories of consciousness to the experiences of flow and creativity, the journey of understanding the mind is far from over. Through collaboration, innovation, and reflection, we can continue to explore the depths of human consciousness, empowering both individuals and societies to reach new heights.

[confluence-of-consciousness]

🧠 What secrets does your mind hold?

Unlock the mysteries of neural interfaces and telepathic communication. 🔓✨

Start your journey today! 🚀🌌https://www.confluenceofconsciousness.com