Author: Walter Koroljow
Date: 14:33:29 12/12/00
I have recently done some work in hearing-aid technology and came across cochlear implants (try http://www.cochlear.com). If someone loses his hearing hardware (wetware?) but retains his auditory nerve, he is a candidate for a cochlear implant. A representative of the state of the art is a microphone attached to a processor which encodes the sounds in one of several ways (much as the ear encodes sounds spectrally). The processor output goes on 24 wires which are attached to the auditory nerve surgically. After 6 months or so of training (having somehow selected the processing option) the typical subject can understand speech well, at least in quiet (for the experts: 80-85% correct on the HINT test in quiet). To me this is astounding! By the way, there are also BRAINSTEM IMPLANTS (see the same URL) which are for people who have also lost their auditory nerves. The results are not as good, but people can detect sounds, at a minimum. So, we have, TODAY, at least some direct computer-brain interfaces which result in very effective subjective perception of computer-processed data. The next steps are limited only by one's imagination. One instantly imagines, e.g., a chess engine which calculates and a human who subjectively perceives the calculation and then exercises his judgement to select a move. This is advanced chess with a vengeance! Doubtless, this would be very frustrating for an opponent (like me and Albert Silver!) who had devoted considerable time to practicing calculation, but something of this form is coming. Cheers, Walter
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