BrainNet: A Multi-Person Brain-to-Brain Interface for Direct Collaboration Between Brains

[Spaceception]

That title was from this paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/1809.08632

 

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/43844m/researchers-mind-melded-three-people-to-collaboratively-play-tetris

 

Tl;dr, Three people had their brains "connected" through a Brain-to-Brain interface and they played a Tetris-like game with each other using the technology. Early attempts were pretty successful.

 

Abstract; We present BrainNet which, to our knowledge, is the first multi-person non-invasive direct brain-to-brain interface for collaborative problem solving. The interface combines electroencephalography (EEG) to record brain signals and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to deliver information noninvasively to the brain. The interface allows three human subjects to collaborate and solve a task using direct brain-to-brain communication. Two of the three subjects are "Senders" whose brain signals are decoded using real-time EEG data analysis to extract decisions about whether to rotate a block in a Tetris-like game before it is dropped to fill a line. The Senders' decisions are transmitted via the Internet to the brain of a third subject, the "Receiver," who cannot see the game screen. The decisions are delivered to the Receiver's brain via magnetic stimulation of the occipital cortex. The Receiver integrates the information received and makes a decision using an EEG interface about either turning the block or keeping it in the same position. A second round of the game gives the Senders one more chance to validate and provide feedback to the Receiver's action. We evaluated the performance of BrainNet in terms of (1) Group-level performance during the game; (2) True/False positive rates of subjects' decisions; (3) Mutual information between subjects. Five groups of three subjects successfully used BrainNet to perform the Tetris task, with an average accuracy of 0.813. Furthermore, by varying the information reliability of the Senders by artificially injecting noise into one Sender's signal, we found that Receivers are able to learn which Sender is more reliable based solely on the information transmitted to their brains. Our results raise the possibility of future brain-to-brain interfaces that enable cooperative problem solving by humans using a "social network" of connected brains.

All in all, pretty awesome

[Cassel]

No, this is not amazing. This discovery allows you to control the thoughts of another human being, your decisions may be the result of signals coming from some device.

[Rakaydos]

1 hour ago, Cassel said:

No, this is not amazing. This discovery allows you to control the thoughts of another human being, your decisions may be the result of signals coming from some device.

I'm not sure I would consider it thought control. It's an extra stimulus, but the reciever makes their own decisions as to what the stimulus means.

The testers even threw in some malicius interference, and the human reciever did a remarkable job sorting real transmissions from repurposed bovine waste.

[YNM]

1 hour ago, Spaceception said:

Tl;dr, Three people had their brains "connected" through a Brain-to-Brain interface and they played a Tetris-like game with each other using the technology. Early attempts were pretty successful. 

Did they test for self-interference on the "decisioner" (receiver) side ? Not sure though.

[Green Baron]

I totally share Jaron Lanier's opinion about what to think of and what to do with social networking.

----------------

That made clear :-), the method described is non intrusive. All the participants were aware about what was going on. The signal received was either a flash ("phosphene") or none, that was the receiver's decision making basis for "rotate a piece" or "do not rotate a piece".

So far, so good.

Until now that is perfectly fine for me. But how this develops in the future and what is done with it, we must see. Is the sudden hunger when walking past a pizzeria my own one and real ? Is my decision to make a cross somewhere my own decision ? Is the will to own a thing my own will ?

I think, you get it. Future generations will have an ever harder time telling between rl and vr, i think. I am having a hard time finding a positive application for that. When was the power to influence ever used for a "good" cause ?

 

Edit: will construct a Faraday helmet as a shield. Or metal woven into hairpieces for the vain :-)

Edited October 3, 2018 by Green Baron

[Bill Phil]

2 hours ago, Cassel said:

No, this is not amazing. This discovery allows you to control the thoughts of another human being, your decisions may be the result of signals coming from some device.

That already exists and already happens, albeit on a somewhat larger scale. Advertisements are a famous example, though there are others.

More on topic:

Freaky. But cool.

[StrandedonEarth]

Terminator 8: BrainNet vs SkyNet

[Cassel]

2 hours ago, Rakaydos said:

I'm not sure I would consider it thought control. It's an extra stimulus, but the reciever makes their own decisions as to what the stimulus means.

The testers even threw in some malicius interference, and the human reciever did a remarkable job sorting real transmissions from repurposed bovine waste.

He makes his own decisions based on what data exactly? What if someone sends you data or emotions, will you make your own decision, or will it be controlled by someone?
How do you want to distinguish your own feelings from those sent to the brain by a device?
What are you thinking about right now? Those are your thoughts, or this sequence of thoughts was initiated by someone from outside who was looking at picture of pizza?

[magnemoe]

3 hours ago, Rakaydos said:

I'm not sure I would consider it thought control. It's an extra stimulus, but the reciever makes their own decisions as to what the stimulus means.

The testers even threw in some malicius interference, and the human reciever did a remarkable job sorting real transmissions from repurposed bovine waste.

Thought control as in talking to somebody, yes that is an magnitude more effective than ads. 

Has been multiple attempts to make control systems using the brain directly. Target has been everything from helping disabled people to gaming accessories. 
All has flopped, best I have seen was an hair ribbon with cats ears who reacted to you feelings, totally useless but probably work

Now the first obvious use of such brain mapping would be an lie detector 

[kerbiloid]

Be nice: share the hangover of your neighbor.

[YNM]

17 hours ago, StrandedonEarth said:

Terminator 8: BrainNet vs SkyNet

Man they've ruined the actual terminator series now. Time for a jump cut...

[kerbiloid]

Spoiler

 

27 minutes ago, YNM said:

Man they've ruined the actual terminator series now.

They just have created a time loop, so the Hamiltonian terminators (1, 2) have been splitted into another branch of reality.

Like we currently have LH terminators (with Linda Hamilton and Lena Headey) and non-LH terminators.

 

 

Edited October 4, 2018 by kerbiloid

[55delta]

I like to think of this as what happens when people put their minds together to focus on a goal.

I'm not sorry.

[kerbiloid]

11 hours ago, 55delta said:

what happens when people put their minds together to focus on a goal.

In-mind holy-wars.

Edited October 6, 2018 by kerbiloid

[Nuke]

curious if radio augmented telepethy could be a thing. children implanted with radios connected to brain contact electrode arrays could in theory develop a kind of language of signals over the system. later on when they are 'fluent' they can upgrade the firmware to allow private encrypted thought channels. 

[kerbiloid]

...in pig Latin Morse code