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Monkeys Play Videogames With Their Mind 70

Posted by simoniker from the I-for-one-welcome-our-etc dept.
Thanks to IOL/Reuters for their story discussing research on monkeys who control videogames with their thoughts. According to the piece, "Dr Miguel Nicolelis knew he had nailed it when the monkey stopped using her arm to play the computer game. An implanted device had allowed the monkey to control the game using only her thought." The research, to be printed in Public Library Of Science Biology Journal on Monday, is intended to help humans who "have partial or nearly total permanent paralysis."
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Monkeys Play Videogames With Their Mind More

Monkeys Play Videogames With Their Mind

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  • Humans can do this too (Score:3, Interesting)

    by keesh ( 202812 ) * on Sunday October 12, 2003 @08:32PM (#7196997) Homepage
    Kevin Warwick [kevinwarwick.com] has been doing this for ages.

    • Re:Humans can do this too (Score:4, Informative)

      by blincoln ( 592401 ) on Sunday October 12, 2003 @09:05PM (#7197108) Homepage Journal
      Kevin Warwick is really overrated by the media (and himself, IMO). The last time I checked, the extent of his "cybernetic implant" was a chip that did something like emit radio waves so that doors in his house would open automatically for him.

      The real pioneers of this technology are the ones who go to Europe to have electrodes implanted in their brain to participate in artificial vision research that's currently illegal in the US. I am not a fan of animal experimentation, and a human that can verbally describe what they're seeing seems like a more useful way to gather data than trying to infer it from a monkey's behaviour.

      In the case of this article, it seems like being able to tell someone "now try moving the robotic arm without moving your real one" is a lot more straightforward than waiting for a monkey to figure it out on their own.

      I'm sure there are many people with disabilities (and even some without them) who would be interested in participating in research like this. I know I would, if I became blind or lost the use of a limb. I'm glad that the article mentions that human trials are now beginning.
      • I know you're not a big fan of animal research, but I figured I'd try to enlighten you a bit.

        Many of the research conditions required by advanced neuropsychology require very direct control over the type of injury that a patient has. Because we're only "starting" to know a great deal about areas of the brain (both human, simian, and avian), we must control very carefully the types of injuries that our test subjects have.

        Studies such as these cost tens of thousands of dollars to perform - not because the t
      • I'll preface my remarks with this: I too get a bad feeling when I think about all those animals who can't consent to this procedures being forced to do really unnatural things. That being said: While I'm sure that some would be willing to participate in these kinds of experiments, I know a lot of people in the disability community that are tired of being treated like objects by doctors, and tools for experimentation. Many who live with chronic conditions suffer a great deal of pain or discomfort and are re

  • I for one (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ...welcome our new cybernetic monkey overlords!
  • It's only a matter of time before they're flying jets...
  • System.out.println("Balmer singing: ");
    while (true) {
    System.out.println("Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, ");
    }

  • Gah! More tech for "paralyzed people" (Score:5, Funny)

    by QuantumG ( 50515 ) <qg@biodome.org> on Sunday October 12, 2003 @08:44PM (#7197041) Homepage Journal
    I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to get in a car crash or fall off a horse before I can get some electrodes inserted in my head. I'm a programmer, I work with computers every day.. I think I qualify for a brain-computer interface better than someone who just happened to have the misfortune to lose control of their upper body! But no, every time some new piece of research discovers a brain-computer interface the first bunch of people they go running after are the paralyzed.

    "However, the results so far lead us to believe that these brain-machine interfaces hold enormous promise for restoring function to paralyzed people."

    Just once I'd like to hear "results so far lead us to believe that these brain-machine interfaces hold enormous promise for increased programmer productivity."
    • It reminds me of Ghost in the Shell... The ability to transplant your brain into a robot body... brain augmentations.... communication without speech...

    • Just once I'd like to hear "results so far lead us to believe that these brain-machine interfaces hold enormous promise for increased programmer productivity."

      Because stating it this way will make you lose your research funding.

      The people who decide where to give research funding are pathetic beaurocrats that want to think their job is important. They want to believe that they play a critical role in saving the world. Stroking that ego is how you continue to get research funding for stuff like this.

    • Programmer productivity? let's think about TRULY importants stuff. Is there any better reason to develop a brain-machine interface than to allow me to have l33t aiming ski11z in Quake 3? Who wouldn't go through surgety to become the ultimate railgun master?

    • Just once I'd like to hear "results so far lead us to believe that these brain-machine interfaces hold enormous promise for increased programmer productivity."

      So, what happens to people who go through invasive surgery only to find that their favorite IDE had already gone out of fashion?

      Implanting technology for only short-term gain is a very dangerous road to follow. For disabled people, there is much less of a moral problem, when they can have a few years of being less disabled. A programmer might hav
      • bah! There's upgradable hardware.. the connectors won't go out of fashion that fast. So you'd have a "standard" connector inserted, along with a whole lot of FPGA gates and you'd flash upgrade when necessary. Besides, what's wrong with going under the knife once a year?
        • Besides, what's wrong with going under the knife once a year?

          Because each surgery carries a real risk of death, due to anesthesiology being the black magic of modern medicine (not to mention risk of infection in modern understaffed hospitals). When they actually know what they are doing in the operating room and there are enough nurses to pass around, I'll be less apprehensive about non-essential surgery.
          • Who the hell is going to get implants done in a public hospital? No, this is going to be a private clinic affair.. and it will cost a fortune, and when things cost a fortune your doctors go to a lot of trouble to make sure you don't die.

  • Category, etc. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Noah Adler ( 627206 ) on Sunday October 12, 2003 @08:50PM (#7197060) Homepage

    Why is this not posted under Science? Just because it uses games as part of the research doesn't mean its all just for entertainment.

    Plenty of other brain-computer interface links have been posted under the proper category: Mind-Controlled Wheelchair [slashdot.org], Controlling Robots with the Mind [slashdot.org],Linking Hardware to Wetware [slashdot.org], etc. This article is a continuation of this field's story.

    Personally, I think this is one of the coolest areas of research around right now. The ability to, in the near future, help paralyzed people regain mobility and function would indeed be an incredible accomplishment, but that's just the start. This kind of research could help improve humans themselves. Imagine adding new cybernetic body parts, or even new senses (ability to 'see' infrared for example). There are a lot of potential possibilities. Forget the ad-hoc wireless computer networks, this tech could possibly enable something like an ad-hoc human brain network (telepathy anyone?) Seems very very cool and useful.

    If this rate of progress keeps up (which seems likely), perhaps Slashdot will need to create a Brain-Computer Interface category.

    • And also a brain-computer interface version for those users who choose to access /. not from their desktop computers or PDAs, but directly with their brain. :)

  • They've got nothing on my girlfriend (Score:4, Funny)

    by El ( 94934 ) on Sunday October 12, 2003 @09:10PM (#7197128)
    She's been playing mind-games for years!
    • Yeah, and mine has these cyberpsychic implants installed in her mind that send commands to the ones installed in mine. That way my will bends to her own without me even knowing it. It works out reat, the only down side being.... wait, what am I talking about, there is no down side. You know, I spend too much time on slashdot, I think I should go make dinner and then then clean up the kitchen.... mistress will be so pleased!
  • An implanted device had allowed the monkey to control the game using only her thought.

    That's nice and all, but wouldn't it be more useful to build a device that lets us control monkeys with our thoughts!

    After the apocalypse, when apes rule the planet, we'd be glad for such technology.
  • Dr Miguel Nicolelis knew he had nailed it when the monkey stopped using her arm to play the computer game.
    Should this story be in the Ximian section? And isn't it "Dr Miguel d'incaza"? Also, I didn't know the Ximian monkey was female...
  • the advanced technology of the Atari 2600
    http://videogames.org/html/images/mindlink.gif [videogames.org]

    Alex.
  • Explains why he couldn't communicate in english, at very least.
  • Monkeys Play Videogames With Their Mind
  • In recent news a new counter strike clan has formed and won CAL. The clan is a little more grown up then most clans. The clan is a monkey only group. Some humans are complaining that it shouldn't count. Nowhere, in CAL's rules does it say no monkeys. One player on the team that lost was heard to say "OMG TH()SE M#KEYS PWNS US!!!!!1!"
  • just imagine what we could do with a beowolf cluster of monkeys!
  • Maybe we can use intravenous tubes to feed the monkeys while their minds are playing videogames. We could keep them locked in some type of pod.

    The heat and electricity produced by many monkeys (maybe combined with some form of fusion) could be a valuable resource!
    • Remember that originally the humans in the matrix were used for masive parallel processing, but the studio tougth that was over the head of the averange joe so they change that into the 'maybe combined with some form of fusion'-batery plot (if they have developed fusion what the hell need humans for).

      I for once would like better the original argument.

  • PLoS is now online. (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I stayed up for the Public Library of Science to go online. (Yay!)

    ObBeKindServers: The actual article is 16 pages of neurobiology captured in a 3.3MB PDF file. Unless this is your field, you may find 13 of the 16 pages a difficult read.

    A 28KB synopsis PDF file is much more accessable to those outside the field: Retraining the Brain to Recover Movement [plosbiology.org]. Check it out first.
  • Wouldn't it be fun to let monkeys play themselves in role play games like The Sims [ea.com]? Or how about confronting a monkey head to head in Quake? Sure, the monkey would need better armor and weapons to match the experience of human players.
  • just like better than life

    or maybe not
  • better than life

    well, kind of.
  • Here's the NYTimes' fairly long piece on it [nytimes.com](free reg. req.).
    While there is great potential for helping people with paralysis there is also potential to use such technology for military purposes. This is a small step in the direction of creating Terminators.
  • I am not a monkey! I prefer the term game developer, you insenstive clod!
  • This reminds me of the article that was posted a while ago where somebody did a whole report on how the Matrix would be even possible, and somewhere in there it had something about attaching neurotransmitters into the brains and branching it out everwhere, and then have a computer detect what each neuron did, and then convert into movement.

    Imagine the possibilites for gaming and science... pure virtual reality, etc.

    Ghost in the Shell sure comes to my mind.
  • In soviet russia the computers control the monkey!

    What? Oh Ape Escape...
  • Before long, the scientists said, they will upgrade the monkeys so they can transmit their mental commands to machines wirelessly.
    Upgrade the monkeys?! I hope they remember to always use a scratch monkey [csd.uwo.ca] during upgrade testing.

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