Facebook is Ditching Plans To Make an Interface That Reads the Brain (technologyreview.com) 24
The company's research into a consumer mind-reading device is over, for now. Some scientists said it was never possible anyway. From a report: The spring of 2017 may be remembered as the coming-out party for Big Tech's campaign to get inside your head. That was when news broke of Elon Musk's new brain-interface company, Neuralink, which is working on how to stitch thousands of electrodes into people's brains. Days later, Facebook joined the quest when it announced that its secretive skunkworks, named Building 8, was attempting to build a headset or headband that would allow people to send text messages by thinking -- tapping them out at 100 words per minute. The company's goal was a hands-free interface anyone could use in virtual reality. "What if you could type directly from your brain?" asked Regina Dugan, a former DARPA officer who was then head of the Building 8 hardware dvision. "It sounds impossible, but it's closer than you realize."
Now the answer is in -- and it's not close at all. Four years after announcing a "crazy amazing" project to build a "silent speech" interface using optical technology to read thoughts, Facebook is shelving the project, saying consumer brain-reading still remains very far off. In a blog post, Facebook said it is discontinuing the project and will instead focus on an experimental wrist controller for virtual reality that reads muscle signals in the arm. "While we still believe in the long-term potential of head-mounted optical [brain-computer interface] technologies, we've decided to focus our immediate efforts on a different neural interface approach that has a nearer-term path to market," the company said. Facebook's brain-typing project had led it into uncharted territory -- including funding brain surgeries at a California hospital and building prototype helmets that could shoot light through the skull -- and into tough debates around whether tech companies should access private brain information. Ultimately, though, the company appears to have decided the research simply won't lead to a product soon enough.
Now the answer is in -- and it's not close at all. Four years after announcing a "crazy amazing" project to build a "silent speech" interface using optical technology to read thoughts, Facebook is shelving the project, saying consumer brain-reading still remains very far off. In a blog post, Facebook said it is discontinuing the project and will instead focus on an experimental wrist controller for virtual reality that reads muscle signals in the arm. "While we still believe in the long-term potential of head-mounted optical [brain-computer interface] technologies, we've decided to focus our immediate efforts on a different neural interface approach that has a nearer-term path to market," the company said. Facebook's brain-typing project had led it into uncharted territory -- including funding brain surgeries at a California hospital and building prototype helmets that could shoot light through the skull -- and into tough debates around whether tech companies should access private brain information. Ultimately, though, the company appears to have decided the research simply won't lead to a product soon enough.
They probably realized that.. (Score:5, Informative)
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...there is nothing to be seen in the brain of a FB user, move along!
... they found out after testing the prototype. Took a while to realize the prototype was working.
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Just Johnson-Nyquist noise.
side step (Score:2)
easy.
Just create a corporation independent of fb.
using fb financing
Makes Sense. (Score:3)
Facebook is an Advertising company. They have never developed anything. From a business perspective, this makes sense. Keep to your core business.
From my perspective, it would have been great to see them blow billions of dollars and spin their wheels. Of course, I'm a biased human being.
--
Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world. - Marilyn Monroe
What I think versus what I type . . . . (Score:4, Interesting)
What I want to type: "Your arguments are fallacious and indeed dangerous. Here are some of the reasons why."
What I'm actually thinking: "Your arguments are among the stooopidest I've ever heard, and everyone here is now dumber for having read them. At no point therein did there appear anything that could be interpreted as a rational or logical thought. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."
Which one will it type?
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For now. My concern would be that if they can read the portions of the brain that are voluntarily controlled, it probably isn't a huge leap to read those that are not.
Probably moot in my case, though, since as I get older I have less of a filter, and more and more frequently say what I'm thinking anyway, rather than what I should. :)
Another more obvious concern is that if Facebook can do this now, then what's to prevent that technology from getting into (arguably) more malicious hands, allowing, say a pros
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Oh man, I wish HTML had a subtext tag so you could post both! :D
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That would be awesome!
subtext: Although good luck getting it approved, 'cuz the W3C are blithering idiots, that wouldn't know a good idea if one bit them in the butt, sideways. :)
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I know, right?
subtext: I can't believe that idiot agreed. Hopefully the W3C isn't blithering idiots that would actually implement it.
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They implemented blink, didn't they?
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I'm sure it was just a one-off.
subtext: Oh fuck.
can't be done . (Score:2)
I understand their thinking. Musk & Facebook: "We tried and couldn't make it work. Therefore it can't be done." I've often thought the same, and it's really annoying when someone else makes it work.
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The Musk backed approach may work, it's very invasive surgery and basically not something one would idly do. While the company he backs is doing good stuff, it is consistent with other companies in that area for the 'hard part' and basically is working on streamlining the interface between the implants and the outside world. Think things like better controlled artificial limbs and less 'I would like to text faster', as the latter would not be sufficient to justify the surgery.
Facebook wanted a non-invasive
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They missed an off-label application (Score:2)
prototype helmets that could shoot light through the skull
This could potentially cure COVID, they should be researching that.
... for now (Score:4, Insightful)
Here's why they ditched it. (Score:3)
just formally... (Score:2)
This tech is already in wide use all across EU (at least) for quite some time:
https://www.reddit.com/r/consp... [reddit.com]
It's significant part of what is to come soon:
https://www.reddit.com/r/consp... [reddit.com]
...and opting for one that writes. (Score:2)
A facebook spokesperson said "It's the next logical step in facebook's business model".
brain reader (Score:1)