Brain Implants

As a continuation of the themes we talked about when we read Neuromancer, I’d like to talk about some recent improvements in the field of brain implants. Prior to a new development in brain implantation technology, the electrodes attached to implants were limited to about 100 due to bulky wires having to be attached to each and every one. This technology has been mainstream since the mid twentieth century and hasn’t changed much until just recently. The problem with such a low number of electrodes is that it can’t provide a very clear picture of brain activity, which could possibly lead doctors to overdo treatments and do invasive procedures when not necessarily needed.

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have recently developed a new type of sensor array that can fit 360 sensors into its much less bulky surface. It’s said to give a roughly 50 times better resolution than its predecessor, which could revolutionize the treatment of epilepsy and other disorders caused by incorrect brain function. Scientists’ biggest need, in terms of brain treatment, is to get a clearer picture of what’s going on inside the brain itself. By researching healthy brains then comparing them to unhealthy ones, they are likely going to be able to pinpoint problem areas and potentially treat them specifically.

I think this is really cool. I wasn’t even aware that brain implants actually existed at all. This reminds me a lot of Neuromancer, except it’s different in that these are necessities rather than leisure items. It’s very interesting to me that people can have their illnesses “diagnosed” with the help of a little chip that can be put in their head. It seems like science fiction, even to me. I hope that in the coming days the scientists working on these new implants will continue to increase the number of sensors they can fit per unit area, and I hope these increases will lead to new developments in the field of medicine and anatomy. I think this technology has a whole lot o f possibility even beyond what it already does. 

Can the Internet Predict the Future?

Data is constantly becoming more and more available across the internet as people rely more and more on computers for their day to day lives. With these ever expanding databases available to the general public, companies have begun attempts to pore through them and create “temporal indexes” of tranding statements on the internet. These programs work by searching through vast numbers of websites, of all types, and looking for predictions. One major company involved in this kind of industry is Recorded Future, which claims to search through 100,000 websites hourly of any type imaginable. Generally, their services go for nearly $10,000 per month, but lately they have offered a more individual version of the product for less than $200 a month. That’s something many individuals could afford, which makes me wonder, why would anyone need to predict the future like this?

I have a lot of skepticism about this kind of technology. First and foremost, I would like to know how the programs distinguish between factual information and speculation or opinion. I simply do not see how a computer, reading information at the rate of 100,000 websites per hour, can separate out the useful information from the junk. Assuming, however, that it can, there are more questions as to its methods. How does it treat information that is only up on a website for a short time then is taken down? I don’t think this should just be treated the same way as any permanent information, as there was obviously some reason for it to be removed, be it false, slanderous, or otherwise. Apparently Recorded Future’s more expensive packages are purchased by hedge funds who use them to “predict the future” and enhance their trading profits.

Assuming that these technologies are legitimate, and as reliable as they are said to be, they are extremely interesting to me. The hedge fund product predicts stock values five days in advance, which is absolutely remarkable. I would love to see some sort of data concerning the accuracy of its predictions. Five days is a lifetime in the stock market – someone with that long a foresight could easily out trade their competitors, who were bound to working with real-time data. This seems obvious to the experienced investor, but these programs have proven that the news really does affect the stock market. It’s said that when people expect corporate restructuring, the stock of the company in question has a tendency to drop approximately 2 percent over the next month. I think this is proof of a previously only intuitive concept.

I actually fear the day when everyone has access to this type of technology. If everyone is trading stocks with a five day window into the future, how will that affect the market itself? I can’t see how it could possibly retain stability with millions upon millions of people trading with knowledge of the future. 

Why Using the Internet is Getting More Dangerous

Scientists are worried about the future of data transmission throughout the internet. People seem to consider the Internet as a permanent thing that can never be absent, but that is actually incorrect. Supposedly, Amazon and Google have both experienced outages in their respective business and mail clouds (basically a huge shifting conglomeration of data) due to a sort of “Internet failure”. I had never considered the Internet as something that could break down, but it does make some sense that it has its weaknesses. The internet bears a larger and larger data “burden” by the hour and it isn’t some untouchable, invincible thing – logically, it is bound to falter at some point or another.

Being that almost everyone uses the internet daily for a range of tasks, varying in importance to their lives, it’s actually kind of scary to consider the possibility of some sort of “Internet blackout”. Think about what you do every day that involved the internet – the first things that come to mind are probably trivial, such as social networking. However, some deeper thought will likely lead to more significant uses: checking the news; staying in touch with family members; making purchases or sales of things. Imagine the implications an all-encompassing internet outage would have for the stock market or for financial transactions in general. Banks wouldn’t be able to access their stored information which would either dramatically complicate or altogether halt money transfer, and commerce would slow or stop.

In addition to the possibility of “overloading” the internet to the point of its failure, there is also the possibility of increased hostility of users of the internet. If data transfer is 100 times faster, you can fairly logically state that hacking, identity theft, and other malicious activity via the internet will become 100 times faster. This means that money needs to be spent on beefing up security systems. Just today (Nov. 13^th), there has been some sort of scandal going on across facebook as a result of the actions of the hacking group “Anonymous”. If the internet were 100 times faster, the obscene material being broadcast by this group would circulate that many times more quickly. While in this particular case, no one is being physically harmed, it’s quite possible that more immediately harmful things could be done via the internet in the near future. Hopefully I don’t sound like some sort of crazy doomsayer, but these things seem pretty feasible to someone who has a basic understanding of how networking works, and I do not want to fall victim to any form of abuse over the internet.

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality, in its most base definition, is the use of computing technology to simulate real events, place, people, or environments. To date, we haven’t really created virtual reality technology like that in Neuromancer, but I’d say we are on our way there. Tron (the original version, not the recent remake) is considered to be the first movie that toyed with the idea of virtual reality, back in 1982. It’s really interesting that in the less than three decades we have even conceived of virtual reality technology, we have come so far. I’d like to talk about a few of the more advanced forms of VR technology currently out there right now.

The US Military uses virtual reality to train people. One of the bigger implementations of virtual reality as this kind of mechanism is its use in aircraft pilot training. The Air Force currently uses flight simulation to give their training pilots a “taste” of what flying is like before they really get into the air. This is potentially lifesaving, in that it can let flight instructors know what weaknesses a trainee may have before they actually get behind the joystick and fly a real plane. The problem with this type of training is that it cannot yet approach the realism of actually flying a plane. Consider yourself in a math class, taking a math test. If you know that test is a practice version, chances are high that you won’t put forth as much effort on it as you would if it were a final exam. The test itself might have the same questions, but the stakes of the test are different. This same principle applies in the context of virtual reality as a flight training mechanism.

Perhaps a less immediately significant use for virtual reality technology is in the gaming industry. We’ve discussed the huge uses of VR technology in gaming in class, but I’d like to explore what’s already out there. As most of you probably know, Xbox 360 and Wii both have motion sensing technology (the Wii is based around it entirely, whereas the Xbox has an optional Kinect feature). One of the biggest limitations of virtual reality technology in gaming is its inability to project images as actual size. Most of us, unfortunately, do not have access to a room that is made up entirely of screens on all four sides, the floor and ceiling. This is what I picture when I think of the future of virtual reality gaming: a room made up of nothing but screens, and a suit for the player of the game to wear. His or her movements will determine how the avatar in-game moves. I’m personally really looking forward to the advent of technology this complex, but I am unsure as to when we can expect it. Sooner than later, hopefully!