Re: [Pigdog] FYI:The World Wide Neural Net & The Technomad (fwd)

Eugene Leitl (Eugene.Leitl@lrz.uni-muenchen.de)
Mon, 7 Apr 1997 21:52:51 +0200 (MET DST)


On Sat, 5 Apr 1997, Sylvia Maxwell wrote:

> [...]
> woldn't it be now possible to have a little radio receiver in one's head?

Technically it poses little (well, uh... no unsurmountable ones) problems
emplanting an bioinert electrode microgrid, juice either coming from a
semiconductor laser, or a EM induction coil, hooking the output to an
embedded, which in turn tunes into the datasphere via a cellular modem.
While generating activity vectors at will should pose little problems (stuff
is noisy, though), interpreting input will be darn hard, probably beyond
the capacities of an average adult (albeit not of a small child). Imagine
a headup video, accompanied with Earth magnetic field-, inertial
navigation-/Earth gravitation-, and GPS input tracking, and a 3rd cursor
you move around by simply willing it to move. Look, I just tweaked your nose
virtually...

Augmented reality is fun. Can't wait till it hits the market.

> the brain would become accustomed to nearly any form of communication
> signals and learn to interpret them. not a radio receiver that received

In principle one could imagine an agglutinating, ideogram-based wireless
cellular language, which directly invokes concepts/imagery (by poking the
right representation systems, the Cyberlaputan). But even English is
adequate for that. Otoh, i theory, one could activate representational
systems upon reception of a token automagically, bypassing all protective
filters. Say "bliss" and feel it (please don't try "agony". And never,
never, never say "death", for it instantly triggers the cranial implant's
lead azide charge (ack!!!)).

> voices, but rather impulses which are some language invennted ofr this
> purpose.

You would still have to learn that language. CoCo, common code ("mo, didya
grok that last _heavy_ syn-flood packet storm? -- Like wow, mo, me, I
awoke in the gutter").

> it is possible for people to "feel" fluctustions in energy fields around
> other popele. we interpret these as exhuded "moods" but they are not.

??? Not unless you are heavily augmented. Like SQUID arrays, to see EM
activity, and nitrogen cooled imagers to pick up IR blackbody. ("Hey, your
face suddenly shows much better circulation, it just turneed warmer by
0.2 K... And the slomo replay shows that intersting twitching of the side
of your mouth... Hmmm.").

> bees and seom animals are very clever at feeling these "moods". Such

Nothing but body chemistry, and interpreting subtle body language.

> signals can be pulsed at will as an alternative method of communication.
> It's not relaly light and not really magnetism, but something like it.

Uh... I hope this "something" has any roots in measurable, physical reality.

> It is too simple for us to notice, since we do not "need" it.

Darwinian evolution has made us adept of tracking gaze direction, and
interpreting subliminal body language and face mimics. Basic survial
skills, in other words. It wouldn't have skipped a clue that crucial. So I
gather it does not exist.

> > One of the aspects of this which interests me most is its ramifications
> > for the technomad and specifically for the technomad seeking an
> > accreditated education. As universities begin to offer accreditated
> > degrees via the Web, students are no longer limited in where they exist.
> > The individual can participate from nearly any place in the world. With
> > direct neural access this is taken a step further. Nearly every
> > neurological stimulus could then be sent and retrieved, thus enabling a
> > full spectrum of communication within the collective cybernetic
> > consciousness.
> >
> > Bridging ethical boundaries for a moment. This technology might even
> > enable an instructor to directly access a student's memory to ascertain
> > just what exactly the student has retained. Of course this is only a
> > small part of education, and only one of many ways in which direct
> > neural interfacing could conceivably be used in education.
> >
> > Explore and play!
> > --
>
> memory retention and education are different and a web-university could
> frighteningly be sensitive to this. The concept of "teachers" plugging
> into student memory is too 1984-ish for me. I think that such "education"

It won't work anyway, relax. Microchanges in local synapse LTP are unique,
and reading them remotely (ignoring the utterly trivial problem of their
interpretation), is physically impossible (at least with that crude type
of implant we are talking about).

> should foster nimbleness and differences of mind, and perhaps as
> importantly it should facilitate communication not only among student and
> teacher, but among students. In a way, if communication were absolute,
> there woudl be no class distinctions among teachers and students Instead
> there would be modal distinctions.
>
>
> > Gregory Houston Triberian Institute of Emotive Education
> > vertigo@triberian.com http://www.triberian.com
> > phone: 816.561.1524 info@triberian.com
> > cellular: 816.807.6660 snail: PO Box 32046 Kansas City MO 64171
> >
> > "Empowered, impassioned, we have a lust for life insatiable!"
> >
> >
> >
>
>

ciao,
'gene

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