14 DAY TRIAL // "I think human beings are remarkable adaptive," Andrew Chien, vice president of research and director of future technologies research at Intel Labs, said. "If you told people 20 years ago that they would be carrying computers all the time, they would have said, 'I don't want that. I don't need that.' Now you can't get them to stop [carrying devices]. There are a lot of things that have to be done first but I think [implanting chips into human brains] is well within the scope of possibility."
It is a well known fact that man and machine have been moving closer to each other, with technologies such as voice recognition and (multi) touch interfacing giving humans direct control over the computers' primary functions. Intel's research scientist Dean Pomerleau is convinced that people will want to give up the need for an interface in favor of a more direct and quick way to command the actions of their machines.
Pomerleau says that researchers are close to gaining the ability to create brain-sensing technology based on functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Machines using this feature supposedly have the ability to determine the words and pictures imagined by someone based on the changes in the cerebral blood flow. Theoretically, the brains of two distinct individuals show similar activity when imagining the same scene in their minds. With these similarities as the basis for the chips' understanding of brain activity, they would be able to understand what the person is thinking and would send the according commands to a computer.
"We're trying to prove you can do interesting things with brain waves," Pomerleau added. "Eventually people may be willing to be more committed ... to brain implants. Imagine being able to surf the Web with the power of your thoughts."
Verily, anything is possible. But the dilemma is just how much humans would benefit from chips being implanted into their brains. A more brain-friendly method would be to come up with devices capable of interpreting the actual brain waves being emanated by the cortex itself or use the fMRI in devices other than implants, devices capable of remotely analyzing brain activity. If every computer were to be outfitted with such a receiver, human beings would not have to jeopardize their actual neurons. True, such a feat is harder to achieve, at least with the current technology, but the fact remains that humans still have no idea how the brain works, which makes experimenting on it even more of a risk.
Nevertheless, there is the probability that medicine will advance in the field of cerebral research and shed some more light on the brain itself. One can only wait and see.