How technology is reaching our mind
Our mind has always been a mystery but research for new devices able to read brain signals is giving us ever more new products that could help us know more about diseases but could also be scarier when they can truly read our thoughts.
The startup Kernel has spent 5 years developing mind-reading helmets that work as well as the most expansive machines you’ll find at medical clinics and research centers, but cheaper, smaller, and with a few added benefits.
The company hopes will be developed breakthrough treatments for neurological diseases, mental health disorders, and even aging itself.
Although we already have machines that can clue us into specific aspects of the brain, MRIs let us see brain tissue, MRAs reveal blood flow, etc. Those machines are typically big, expensive, and require expertise to run. In addition, they usually require patients to be immobile during testing which limits their use.
Brain implants overcome the mobility issue, but those typically provide data on just one part of the brain and they also require surgery, putting patients at risk of infection. Moreover, they degrade over time.
Kernel’s goal has been to shrink both the size and cost of brain-reading devices, and it’s now ready to start putting its first 2 products: Flow and Flux into researchers’ hands.
Kernel Flow is a helmet that measures real-time changes in the brain’s blood oxygen levels. The same underlying technology, TD-fNIRS (Time-Domain Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy), has previously been used to study aging, PTSD, pain, and more.
Kernel Flux, meanwhile, is a helmet that measures electromagnetic activity. The tech supporting it, MEG (magnetoencephalography), has been used in studies of Parkinson’s disease, psychedelic drugs, and epilepsy.
The devices can record brain activity while a person is talking or moving, too, just like implants, but they aren’t limited to a single part of the brain, they can record activity across the entire organ.
Kernel will begin shipping Flow helmets to dozens of early access customers, including Harvard Medical School, the University of Texas, and the Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies, within the month.
As for what researchers plan to do with the mind-reading helmets, Boston University scientists will use their devices to study the brains of people with neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease.
They also plan to strap the helmets onto the heads of stroke survivors and watch their brain activity as they relearn how to walk and talk. Previously, this type of activity was only recorded before and after months of therapy, not during the process.
Canadian startup Cybin, meanwhile, has sponsored a study that will use Flow helmets to see what happens in the brain as people trip on psychedelic drugs. It hopes to then use what it learns to develop psychedelic-based mental health treatments.
At the end of 2021, all of the prototype helmets will be replaced by production models. Kernel’s immediate effect may be to dramatically increase researchers’ access to brain data, but that’s not its ultimate goal.
The startup hopes to be selling the mind-reading helmets at about the price of a smartphone by 2030. At that point, the average consumer could use the devices to monitor their mental health the same way people use other wearables to track their physical health today.
However, research in this field is not only exclusively medical-oriented but may be aimed at several applications, especially when we’re dealing with reading thoughts, such as in commercial uses like neuromarketing or neurogaming for example.
Our thoughts are our secret island where our shame, fears, griefs, dreams, etc. And they make who we are just because are only ours. So, when they are violated to predicts our choices, our moves, or worse to manipulate us, what’s left of ourselves? Mind reading can also have forensic or military purposes. Just think about a more reliable lie detector or the prediction of enemies’ moves or strategies. They can be useful but the risks of misuse are high even though they could help people communicating, especially when they’re in an unconscious state. However, they can violate our right to silence with the danger that we could be unable to protect our inner privacy but also sensitive data like PINs, bank data, or location information. Not to mention all the political implications like vote prediction and its manipulation.
These BCI (Brain Computer Interface) are already reaching the entry-level market, and some like NextMind are reality. With this device, you can digit a PIN, control other devices (like TV or lamps), play games or make music. Just with your mind.
What will it happen when they will be used to hack our brain?
Source freethink.com
