[UT] T9 Neural Interface

[David Johnston2]

If neural interfaces don't give sensory feedback, there's not much point to them.

[Langy]

Originally Posted by z0boson

Bionic eyes and limbs seem a much smaller problem to me because the nerve interface is much better defined. When replacing the eye/limb you "just" need to reconnect a bundle of well defined and well localized and easy to reach (the eye/limb being cut away) nerves. In contrast, for the neural interface you have to access multiple zones deep inside the brain (in particular for all the senses involved with total VR).

Not really. You'd just need to hook up the ear, nose, and eye nerve bundles and the spinal cord. That would give you a full neural interface that can simulate all human senses, but it wouldn't require any actual *brain* surgery at all.

A TL9 neural interface might just replace all the normal input/output of the brain without impacting any of the actual processes of the brain.

[z0boson]

Originally Posted by Langy

A TL9 neural interface might just replace all the normal input/output of the brain without impacting any of the actual processes of the brain.

That's a good point - I didn't think of interfacing with the spinal cord. This seems to me to be the most practical solution at T9.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

If neural interfaces don't give sensory feedback, there's not much point to them.

Actually, sensory feedback is on some level the low-ambition version.

Rather than overriding your regular sensory feeds, there's the potential to introduce entirely new ones...which is actually potentially easier than cracking the encoding for the pre-existing feeds as well.

How much new bandwidth you can introduce to the brain without trouble is a question, though.

[DangerousThing]

Originally Posted by Langy

Not really. You'd just need to hook up the ear, nose, and eye nerve bundles and the spinal cord. That would give you a full neural interface that can simulate all human senses, but it wouldn't require any actual *brain* surgery at all.

A TL9 neural interface might just replace all the normal input/output of the brain without impacting any of the actual processes of the brain.

Thus we could create Span in a Can (what a gaming friend called a brain in a life support device that wasn't humanoid).