Lifeboat Foundation

DBS delivers electric currents to an electrode implanted in the brain.

Neurotechnology – or – while still an emerging industry, has attracted both major capital investments, and extensive media coverage in recent years. As tech relentlessly searches for the next “big tech platform” in the aftermath of the smartphone era [1], we propose that the answer may lie within our own minds. At NTX Services, we definenology as any technological intervention that interacts with the brain or central nervous system either directly or indirectly, and as attempts to integrate human and machine to enhance both, applications of the technology are broad ranging.

Often described as a new field, is actually based on decades of academic research, previously held back from commercialization at scale due to technological limitations, and slow changes in government policies and regulations. Although humans have been researching the brain and its bioelectrical signals since the 1600s [2], the first major breakthrough in was the invention of the electroencephalogram (EEG) by Hans Berger in 1929 [3]. Since this initial invention, several key developments have influenced the evolution of the industry until 2016, when Neuralink was founded [4].

It is increasingly clear that memories are distributed across multiple brain areas. Such “engram complexes” are important features of memory formation and consolidation. Here, we test the hypothesis that engram complexes are formed in part by bioelectric fields that sculpt and guide the neural activity and tie together the areas that participate in engram complexes. Like the conductor of an orchestra, the fields influence each musician or neuron and orchestrate the output, the symphony. Our results use the theory of synergetics, machine learning, and data from a spatial delayed saccade task and provide evidence for in vivo ephaptic coupling in memory representations.

Bryan Johnson is the world’s most famous biohacker – and perhaps the “most measured man in human history”. He’s on a mission to maximally reverse the quantified biological age of each of his 70 organs, extending his lifespan and healthspan, and then roll out his protocol on a platform to ensure others can benefit from his experience, research and experimentation.

Johnson’s ethos can be summed up pretty neatly as don’t die, and to that end, he has written a book, or novel, to be more accurate, entitled Don’t Die, the uncorrected advanced reading version of which is downloadable as a free ebook from his website. Johnson’s nom de plume for this venture is Zero, described in the book as the “first individual H. sapiens to surpass five hundred years of age,” who dies in 2,478 (in an accident, rather than from old age), just weeks away from “becoming Homo Deus.” Johnson credits Zero with the invention of Zeroism and the resurrection technology undie, as well as the fathering of “millions of biological and digital offspring who now live in the far reaches of the solar system and beyond”

Longevity. Technology: Because Don’t Die is a novel, Johnson can explore his philosophy in a different way, inviting us to observe the narrator, Scribe, on his last day on Earth, as he muses on humanity’s future evolution, the nature of death and free will and the impact of age reversal and programmable biology. Scribe is joined by a Pilgrim’s Progress-like cast of characters, including Cognitive Bias, Dark Humor and Game Play and Self Critical.

A first-of-its-kind flexible sensor turns a pair of earbuds into a device capable of recording brain activity and analyzing sweat, making them useful for diagnosing diseases and health monitoring.

The background: Health monitoring wearables can measure our blood pressure, track our heart rates, and even detect infections before we start to feel sick, helping us take better care of ourselves and potentially even giving us a way to prevent the spread of diseases.

The devices are useless if no one wants to wear them, though, so finding designs that are comfortable and easy to integrate into daily life is key. Because earbuds are already popular, researchers have used them as the basis for health monitoring devices that record brain activity to predict strokes, epileptic seizures, or Parkinson’s disease.

Epilepsy is a neurological condition that causes people to have recurring seizures. Epileptic seizures may be mild and barely noticeable or stronger ones, causing severe muscle spasms or loss of consciousness. These may last a few seconds or several minutes. Anyone can develop epilepsy at any point in their life.

face_with_colon_three Year 2017

Ray Kurzweil is an inventor, thinker, and futurist famous for forecasting the pace of technology and predicting the world of tomorrow. In this video, Kurzweil suggests the blueprint for the master algorithm—or a single, general purpose learning algorithm—is hidden in the brain.

The brain, according to Kurzweil, consists of repeating modules that self-organize into hierarchies that build simple patterns into complex concepts. We don’t have a complete understanding of how this process works yet, but Kurzweil believes that as we study the brain more and reverse engineer what we find, we’ll learn to write the master algorithm.

Continue reading “Ray Kurzweil: Our Brain Is a Blueprint for the Master Algorithm” »

Year 2022 face_with_colon_three

Mental phenomena influence the material world.

The human mind does not like to make mistakes—and makes time to avoid repeating them. A new study from University of Iowa researchers shows how the human brain, in just one second, can distinguish between an outcome caused by human error and one in which the person is not directly to blame.

Moreover, the researchers found that in cases of human error, the brain takes additional time to catalog the error and inform the rest of the body about it to avoid repeating the mistake.

“The novel aspect about this study is the brain can very quickly distinguish whether an undesirable outcome is due to a (human) error, or due to something else,” says Jan Wessel, professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Iowa and the study’s corresponding author. “If the brain realizes an error was the cause, it will then start additional processes to avoid further errors, which it won’t do if the outcome wasn’t due to its own action.”

Elon Musk’s Neuralink is looking for a volunteer for its first clinical trial of a brain implant chip. The trial, which begins next year, has attracted thousands of prospective patients. The ideal candidate must be an adult under 40 with all four limbs paralyzed. The procedure involves inserting electrodes and wires into the brain, with a small computer replacing part of the skull. The computer will collect and analyze brain activity, sending the data wirelessly to a nearby device. Neuralink aims to translate thoughts into computer commands. However, the company has faced criticism for animal testing practices.