Fang Hongzheng read the documents in his hand, showing that the team had successfully implanted chips in the brains of three little pigs, including the prototype developed by the team was worn on the head of a monkey, and the expected experimental results were also obtained.

And this year it was finally approved to start human clinical trials.

So-called neuronal spikes are transient pulses of electrical signals produced by neurons after receiving enough excitatory input, which are usually used to transmit information and communicate with other neurons.

The brain-on-a-chip developed by the team is mainly to detect the spikes in the firing of neurons in the brain, and by processing these spike data, it can realize the interpretation of the user's intention, that is, by accurately detecting the activity of neurons in the brain, real-time communication between the human brain and external devices.

After a while, Qin Feng said, "The brain-on-chip tested this time is a new type of brain-computer interface that can not only enhance the connection with the brain's visual, tactile, auditory, and motor cortex to help treat various neurological diseases, but also expand the way we interact with the world and ourselves. In short, you can control your phone, your computer, and almost all your devices indirectly just by thinking."

It is worth mentioning that people's concerns about brain-computer interfaces are also a common topic, and this kind of equipment comparable to "mind reading" makes people feel uneasy, and now big data can only monitor browsing records, describe user portraits, and even know users better than users.

If the brain-computer technology is successfully released, what if the brain-computer chip virus becomes popular? What about sensory experiments, thought stealing? Is it possible to connect neurons directly to the brain? Although neurons can't be transmitted backwards, it's just that.

Nowadays, mobile apps are all kinds of privacy permission theft, so isn't the brain computer directly physical mind reading? If you don't know that in the future, there will be advertisements not only when you open your eyes, but also when you close your eyes.

Discussions like this are not uncommon online.

Fang Hong, who was reading the materials, seemed to say to himself: "It is initially positioned as a medical device with a pacemaker, and it is right to go in this direction."

Cardiac pacemakers also have risks, such as encountering electromagnetic pulses or something that may stop working, or even human intervention, but the medical device has not also been used, and for patients, instead of worrying about future risks, it is important to be alive now.

All in all, starting with medical devices, there will be much less resistance to opposition.

Qin Feng continued, "The research team's next plan is to design a device that converts brain signals into action, and two application directions have been identified. One is to restore people's vision, and the other is to help people who are unable to move their muscles to control devices such as smartphones, and even restore the whole body function of people with spinal cord injury."

When this technology matures, the initial users will be those who have lost their limbs, and the paralyzed will be able to stand up and walk again, which is undoubtedly a rebirth for a disabled person, who is absolutely willing to take those risks in order to be able to get out of a wheelchair and be able to take care of himself, even if he can really be read by someone. What does privacy compare to?

Fang Hong's gaze moved away from the material, looked at Qin Feng and asked, "The application of restoring vision is aimed at acquired blindness?" Can people who are born blind be effective?"

Qin Feng immediately said, "It depends on the situation, even if a patient is born blind, as long as the part of his cerebral cortex that perceives vision is still there, there is a possibility of restoring vision. At present, the brain chip of this model needs to be surgically implanted into the skull, and the operation itself is not difficult, and a good neurosurgeon can handle it. There are tens of thousands of microelectrodes on the chip that connect to the neurons in the brain, which are then regulated by wireless communication technology."

He added: "In the future, this technology can also be made non-invasive or wearable, not only for patients, but also for healthy people, and it can be enhanced to become an Internet access terminal device, which is also the ultimate goal of brain-computer interface technology, and of course the technology is also very difficult to overcome."

Fang Hong also finished reading the materials, put them aside and thought about it and said in a deep voice: "This team still has something, at present, there is no scientific research institution in the world that has made an invasive brain-computer interface by using flexible electrodes thinner than a human hair, which solves the problem of rejection and damage

's invasive brain-computer interface technology is more effective than non-invasive technology."

The so-called invasive brain-computer interface, to put it bluntly, is to "open the brain" in the physical sense, and the non-invasive brain-computer interface, to put it bluntly, is a wearable device, such as a wearable helmet or something.

Qin Feng also nodded and said, "The blocking of EEG signals by the brain skull is physical, and it is difficult to accurately detect brain waves without craniotomy, nor can it effectively stimulate brain neurons to form vision."

Fang Hong suddenly changed his words: "That is, the technology is not in place enough, and we have to continue to research technical research. As a medical device similar to a pacemaker, invasive brain-computer interfaces can be said to assist specific groups of people, and the resistance will not be so great, and the target group is also a small number of specific patient groups, and they are also in urgent need."

"But as an entertainment terminal device like smartphones and computers, for a non-specific group of people with comprehensive health, there will be a lot of resistance from all kinds.

"Being read by others, having no personal privacy, being embedded in advertisements at night, etc., these are all secondary, and people's biggest concern is the fear of becoming a 'brain in a vat' and being controlled by others without knowing it, and even knowing that there is nothing they can do, even if this possibility is extremely low, not too many people will be willing to try, this fear is too suffocating."

Qin Feng nodded again and said, "Indeed. In order to achieve true universal access, everyone has to have one for everyone, like today's smartphones, and it has to be a non-invasive wearable device."

Make a non-invasive wearable device, such as wearing a perception helmet device, like a VR headset device, people's acceptance will be very different, and the psychological threshold of fear will be greatly reduced.

That is, I have the ability to say "no" at any time, the power to "refuse" at any time, and I can follow the decision of my own will at any time, that is, I don't want to use it to just take off the perception helmet I am wearing to disconnect, and I don't need to take too many risks.

Although the invasive interface can also be disconnected, it requires surgery to open the head again and take it out, not to mention the great hassle, and the risk of surgery on the head is also very high.

All in all, the difference between intrusive and non-invasive, down-to-earth, the former is easy to get on the car and difficult to get off, once there is any unknown change, it may even be called heaven and earth, which is quite desperate; The latter can jump out of the car at any time when they get on the bus, and when they see that something is wrong, they can avoid risks by taking off the sensing helmet equipment without opening the head.

……