Robotic Monkey Arms
Man I love the title of this post. A couple days ago, the journal Nature published a report about monkeys that have learned to control a robotic arm with their thoughts, via a sensor implanted in their brains. Let me write that again. The monkeys can control robots with their brains. This is seriously cool stuff.
This is not entirely groundbreaking. Scientists have been working with this stuff for a while, and have been able to use brain waves to control simple things, like a cursor on a screen. I could be mistaken, but I think some of the technology started with the Air Force, which was researching thought-controlled computers for aircraft.
It sounds like this experiment was a serious step forward, however. You can read the NY Times article here, but I’ll summarize things quickly. The monkeys first learned to control the mechanical arm with a joystick, to get a feel for its movements. Then a chip was implanted on their their motor cortices , a portion of the brain that controls hand and arm movements. At first, the scientists used the computer to help the monkeys move the arm, but after a couple days, the animals could do it themselves.
Here’s a mental image: The monkey sits with its arms restrained. Using its thoughts, it causes the mechanical arm to reach out and grab food, which it moves to its mouth and eats. The researchers said that the animals even learned to adjust movements to compensate for sticky food.
This has obvious implications for prosthetics, but the long-term implications are so much bigger. Nearly everything humans do depends on our body’s ability to manipulate the world around us. Brain-technology interfaces could change the way we use computers, the way we drive, the way we work. More abstractly, they will change what it means to be human.
My friends will tell you that this is one of my favorite topics of discussion. After a few beers, I just won’t shut up about this stuff. The story of humanity is really the story of technology. From the club to the iPhone, we better ourselves by bettering our technology. A kid with a computer has access to information that people would have killed for only decades earlier.
Things are changing, however. Faster computers, nano- and bio-technology, brain-computer interfaces, better understanding of our our own biology…These things make new technology fundamentally different, in my opinion. We’re approaching a time when our technological potential outweighs our biological potential. When technology really makes us superhuman. Maybe this is the so-called Singularity…I don’t know. What I do know is that the future will bring closer integration between technology and our bodies and minds.
Sign me up for robotic monkey arms of my very own.
The Anthropocene Epoch
I heard an interesting interview on NPR while driving home today. Some scientists are arguing that we are entering a new geological epoch, characterized by human impact on the planet. The proposed name is the Anthropocene Epoch. The last 12,000 years have been classified as the Holocene Epoch.
The scientists interviewed gave some examples of how human actions were recorded geologically. With the widespread cultivation of arable lands, fossil records will show the shift from grasslands and forests to farm fields. Rising ocean temperature and acidity may threaten coral activity, which would also be noticeable in fossil records. Development has drastically changed the ways in which sediments are moved and deposited.
I’m not really writing this with any strong opinion, though some of the changes are clearly problematic. It’s just strange to think that the actions of our species will be recorded in the very geology of our planet. We’ve come a long way (for mostly-hairless monkeys).
Check the interview here.
College Rankings
Time published this story about the college ranking system. Apparently a substantial group of liberal arts colleges (124 schools), will not be participating in the classic U.S. News and World Report rankings, because of concerns about how those rankings are decided.
I didn’t know this, but 25% of a school’s ranking under the U.S. News system is based on a survey of school reputation, filled out by college administrators and presidents. That seems like a poor way to rank schools. Reputation doesn’t necessarily equate to performance, and given the fierce loyalty that some people have to a school (and the equally fierce dislike for rival schools), I have a hard time believing that survey data.
It’s interesting, because the U.S. News rankings are well-known and widely-cited. MSU tells everyone who will listen that we have the highest-rated education program in whatever, and so on. The more people who believe it, the more the reputation persists. [A note to MSU fans — this is not intended to be a disparaging remark in any way]
I’m guess I’m just not sold on college rankings. It seems like you can get a decent education most places, if you care enough to try. If you’re devoted to half-assing your way through, you can probably do that anywhere.
