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Duke University neuroscientists have linked the brains of three rhesus macaque monkeys together using a brain-to-brain interface:
The neural network created, which the researchers call a 'Brainet', lets the animals share both sensory and motor information with one another, enabling them to complete tasks via their collective thoughts. This means they could potentially outperform a regular brain, because they now have access to the resources of a hive mind.
"Essentially, we created a super-brain," Miguel Nicolelis, the lead author of the study, told Hannah Devlin at The Guardian. "A collective brain created from three monkey brains. Nobody has ever done that before."
In the monkeys experiment, the researchers wired together three rhesus macaque monkeys and implanted receptors in their motor and somatosensory cortices to capture and transmit the brain activity. Once connected, the three monkeys were able to control the movements of a virtual avatar's arm on a computer screen in front of them. Each monkey had control over only two dimensions of movement, requiring the concentration of at least two of the three animals to successfully move the arm.
A separate experiment linked four rat brains together. From the abstract:
Cortical neuronal activity was recorded and analyzed in real time, and then delivered to the somatosensory cortices of other animals that participated in the Brainet using intracortical microstimulation (ICMS). Using this approach, different Brainet architectures solved a number of useful computational problems, such as discrete classification, image processing, storage and retrieval of tactile information, and even weather forecasting. Brainets consistently performed at the same or higher levels than single rats in these tasks. Based on these findings, we propose that Brainets could be used to investigate animal social behaviors as well as a test bed for exploring the properties and potential applications of organic computers.
Original Submission
(Score: 1, Disagree) by blackhawk on Saturday July 11 2015, @12:37PM
I can't tell if I should be appalled or not since the article didn't provide any photos of the three monkeys with their skulls sliced open and wires / crap joining them together in a never-ending painful experiment of man's inhumanity to past-man.
Science, you need to try and be better than the barbarism of 2000 year old religions or the calculated awfulness of a certain and near future.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2015, @12:50PM
Ditto. Additional reasons to be appalled -- the monkeys were effectively playing simple video games and the paper includes repeated mentions of "target acquisition time" and "target hit rate" (with all the military connotations).
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday July 11 2015, @03:17PM
"Simple video games" and "military connotations". Why are these bad?
"Simple video games" with a virtual avatar seem like a useful way to meet the study's goals of testing "visual discrimination, motor performance, and decision making".
It's also a term used in other studies [nih.gov] of eye movement and the brain, or astronomy [not.iac.es]. Do you prefer "overt visual search"? Notice that both of these studies were funded by the NIH and not the military.
See my other comment. [soylentnews.org]
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(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday July 11 2015, @05:33PM
Notice that both of these studies were funded by the NIH and not the military.
Chuckle. Ah, the Naivety!
So quaint and cute in this day and age.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday July 11 2015, @05:47PM
Yeh sure, I'm the naïve one for not 1.) making stuff up, and 2.) conjuring animal rights out of thin air.
Will the military link drones and humans with brainet technology? Maybe. It's overkill and a waste of money, and it probably won't be used domestically. Worry about what the CIA will use it for if anything.
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(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday July 11 2015, @06:38PM
You might be just a little more skeptical about why the NIH would be involved in this study, and not so convinced that WHO funds the study has anything at all to do with where the money really comes from, or where the science really goes.
Flying Military Drone strike missions all over the world out of Creech was thought to be too expensive and overkill as well. VR helmets weren't invented for gamers.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Informative) by blackhawk on Saturday July 11 2015, @12:52PM
In case you're wondering, I chased up a few links for you, although it was sickening to look at them, let's have a quick look anyway.
We'll start with the sort of shit we do to monkeys, one of our closest relatives.
http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/monkey.html [all-creatures.org]
And then cats, a species I love.
http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/cat.html [all-creatures.org]
And dogs, way up on my love list.
http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/dog.html [all-creatures.org]
Honestly, I couldn't look at the rest of the images, that was enough for me. You can view them here:
http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/index.html [all-creatures.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2015, @08:09PM
Here's links to something unrelated but they're horrifying please associate it with this article so that we may unite our pitchforks.
Here's a picture i dug up that applies and is equally relevant to the subject matter
http://i.imgur.com/cRAylHL.jpg [imgur.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday July 11 2015, @03:01PM
You currently have to get your skull cut open to have a useful amount of communication between brain and computer. Noninvasive electrodes are too limited. Humans, the other primate, sometimes get this type of invasive procedure done... if they are paralyzed. I doubt the surgical installation of the brain-computer interface caused much pain, or is as invasive as you think. The electronics required have gotten a lot smaller, and it's not hard to envision a version that uses nanobots [nextbigfuture.com] that are pervasive [extremetech.com], but not invasive. Before nanobots/nanodust, these electronics could be injected [kurzweilai.net] instead.
With that out of the way, what about the ethics of using non-human primates, rats, pigs, dogs, etc. for (valuable) science experiments? Well, beyond the immediacy of the pain caused, they don't understand what's happening and can't object to it. Not unless you bioengineer a "sapient" animal or something. And they don't have real "rights". They were bred to be used, and the scientific pursuit of knowledge is far more useful than slaughter for meat. Given your apparent compassion for animals, is it safe for me to assume you have been converted to vegetarian/veganism? Or at least some form of "humane" slaughter?
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(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2015, @03:16PM
Thank you for volunteering for the human experiment subjects for science group!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Saturday July 11 2015, @03:28PM
Overlooking your juvenile response: unlike animals, humans can and do volunteer to become experimental subjects. Animals don't have the right to protest their use in experiments.
Have you given up all meat yet?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday July 11 2015, @03:30PM
The brain itself feels no pain.
(Score: 1) by blackhawk on Saturday July 11 2015, @03:38PM
Cool, so you don't mind if I just start hacking around at random in your brain then?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday July 11 2015, @03:43PM
The frontal lobe is the seat of good manners, so I wouldn't miss that part at all.
(Score: 1) by blackhawk on Saturday July 11 2015, @05:40PM
Then you won't mind if I stroll by and simply cut it out of you.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday July 11 2015, @06:36PM
You can siphon the come out of my balls while you're at it, champ.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday July 11 2015, @03:24PM
I'm sure Dragan Dimitrov, Laura Oliveira, Tamara Phillips, Katie Z. Zhuang, Arjun Ramakrishnan, and Peter J. Ifft, among others, would be interested to hear your concerns about animal welfare.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2015, @04:16PM
That depends, research is often not pretty do pictures that make you uncomfortable trump the benefits to society animal testing has provide?
If your not sure, think of anyone you know who's diabetic and not dead. Anyone you know with a transplanted organ that's not dead. How many people would have died from polio? Even high blood pressure which was originally discovered by testing on dogs.
Should you be appalled? Personally i think grateful for the sacrafice these animals made and to the scientists who endured having to do these distasteful things to provide the benefits we take for granted. (most of which take no pleasure in the act)
(Score: 1) by blackhawk on Saturday July 11 2015, @05:49PM
Since animals aren't capable of consent, they can't consent to be a sacrifice. Therefore all animals used in such pursuits are done so without the consent of the animal required. In human terms it's murder, but since we don't provide animals any form of rights it's just commerce.
We could equally use humans who can't give consent. And let's face it, giving consent on their behalf is just a few donations away.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2015, @07:38PM
usual tired arguments gets upvote, story at 6
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Saturday July 11 2015, @06:39PM
Not all experimentation is equal, though. I'm fine with experimenting on the most appropriate species as required to learn how to save lives or make dramatic improvements — but not the "hey, wouldn't it be cool if we could do ___" category this falls into, given they're not likely to attempt to connect human brains in the future as it wouldn't be approved, nor would it save lives, reverse serious defects/injuries or treat severe persistent problems.
FWIW my maternal grandmother died long before my birth in the experiments to figure out how to successfully perform cardiac bypass... I had early post-experimental birth defect surgery as a toddler, then became the sole survivor of highly experimental trachea surgery at the same time the Challenger was lost — so I'm highly aware of the benefits & risks of animal/human experimentation.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2015, @07:00PM
Not all experiments yield the results people expect, many great discoveries were accidents.
Often "I wonder what will happen if..." turns into "OMG I just saved the thousands/millions"
It's pretty easy to sit on your high horse enjoying the benefits of centuries of animal testing. Eating your hamburgers and taking the side that gives you the perceived moral high ground. All the while having benefited directly and only being a live because of that which you condem.
The scrutiny animal testing labs is far greater than any slaughter house or fish processing plant. And contributes to less than one, one thousandth of a percent of the animals "murdered" for "our amusement"
But if the benefit isnt immediate, direct and obvious. It must be evil murder.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2015, @07:53PM
First let me start with a totally true personal story.
Then once your all sucked in and sympathetic, I'll oppose the thing that it sounds like i should support, therefore the audience will cheer for me.
This whole "well I of all people should appreciate this, but I don't so all of you shouldn't either" is a shitty argument "Now i'm going to draw an arbitrary line in the sand and decide that i dont see the merit in something, therefor its not worth doing, but if its something that just makes sense to me you go ahead and do all the animal torture you want, but this... well i can't imagine how this would help"
Thank god your just a guy commenting on the internet, and neither a scientist conducting research or a regulator opposing that which he may not understand.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday July 11 2015, @05:29PM
Dry run for the Borg!
Next will be human volunteers, (and yes, there will be people lined up around the block to volunteer).
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 13 2015, @01:06AM
They should have used three lawyers.