#Neurotech#Neurorights#Privacy: "If you take it for granted that nobody can listen in on your innermost thoughts, I regret to inform you that your brain may not be private much longer.
You may have heard that Elon Musk’s company Neuralink surgically implanted a brain chip in its first human. Dubbed “Telepathy,” the chip uses neurotechnology in a medical context: It aims to read signals from a paralyzed patient’s brain and transmit them to a computer, enabling the patient to control it with just their thoughts. In a medical context, neurotech is subject to federal regulations.
But researchers are also creating noninvasive neurotech. Already, there are AI-powered brain decoders that can translate into text the unspoken thoughts swirling through our minds, without the need for surgery — although this tech is not yet on the market. In the meantime, you can buy lots of devices off Amazon right now that would record your brain data (like the Muse headband, which uses EEG sensors to read patterns of activity in your brain, then cues you on how to improve your meditation). Since these aren’t marketed as medical devices, they’re not subject to federal regulations; companies can collect — and sell — your data.
With Meta developing a wristband that would read your brainwaves and Apple patenting a future version of AirPods that would scan your brain activity through your ears, we could soon live in a world where companies harvest our neural data just as 23andMe harvests our DNA data. These companies could conceivably build databases with tens of millions of brain scans, which can be used to find out if someone has a disease like epilepsy even when they don’t want that information disclosed — and could one day be used to identify individuals against their will.
Luckily, the brain is lawyering up. Neuroscientists, lawyers, and lawmakers have begun to team up to pass legislation that would protect our mental privacy."
Did you know that peripheral "vision" with The vOICe visual-to-auditory sensory substitution offers higher visual acuity than normal vision by eyesight? https://www.seeingwithsound.com/acuity.htm Retinal implants and brain implants for vision thus far offer zero peripheral vision; #BCI#NeuroTech
Interestingly, I see no blind people complaining on social media about the lack of progress in visual prosthesis development (retinal implants, brain implants for restoring vision, no invasive devices on the market); #NeuroTech#BCI#blind#blindness
"To be able to discern a face or enough of the outlines of objects in the real world to navigate, say, a room, a blind person would need to have between 1,000 and 2,000 electrodes inserted surgically into the visual cortex." The vOICe offers that resolution w/o surgery.
Neuroscientists have made a "brain computer interface" that allows a #paralyzed man to walk again by creating a wireless "digital bridge" between #brain and #spine. #AI is used to process nerve signals, filtering the ones that matter and decoding the intent before relaying them across this wireless bridge and stimulating the appropriate leg muscles. Amazing use of #tech!