Summary
Highlights
Chips placed directly on the brain allow paralyzed individuals to play video games, send emails, solve crossword puzzles, operate wheelchairs, control appliances, and manipulate mechanical arms. The next goal is to enable control of mechanical legs and exoskeletons, with plans for a paralyzed person to initiate a World Soccer Cup game using an exoskeleton, essentially becoming "Iron Man."
Hair-like fibers can be inserted directly into the brain. For chronically depressed patients resistant to other treatments, probes can dampen electrical activity in specific brain regions, leading to a cure. Similarly, during operations for epileptics, electrodes placed directly on the brain allow them to type simply by thinking about letters, as computers recognize and translate those patterns.
MRI scans can capture 30,000 dots of electrical activity in the brain, which a computer program can then decipher to reconstruct images of what a person is thinking. Examples include recognizing general shapes of humans and animals. Furthermore, the first steps towards photographing dreams have been taken in Kyoto and Berkeley, where a sleeping patient in an MRI has their brain scanned and a computer reconstructs crude images of their dreams. Dr. Kaku believes this technology will advance to allow people to replay their dreams.
Dr. Kaku, a physicist, explains that modern electromagnetic probes allow scientists to observe thoughts within the living brain. Computer simulations are now used to understand thought processes, making telepathy a current reality. He references Stephen Hawking, who uses an EEG sensor in his glasses to control a computer through brainwaves, though his movements are restricted.