The new interface is being developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The project plans to connect the human brain and modern electronics, the source said.
A bio-compatible chip would be no larger than 1 cubic centimeter and act as a translator to convert "electrochemical language used by neurons in the brain and the ones and zeros that constitute the language of information technology," ScienceAlert reported.
If things turn out as planned, the new interface would allow the US military to have cyborg-soldiers with enhanced battle capabilities through a digital system, the science news source said.
Although the military use would most likely be the first use for the new interface, its potential uses go far beyond the battlefield. The device could become a breakthrough advancement for neuroscience, synthetic biology and low-power electronics, just to name a few things, according to ScienceAlert.
The US military hopes that major defense companies will partner with the DARPA, so the agency could work on further research.
All comments
Reply 
| -2 | Edit | Delete Most of u.s. soldiers are brainwashed a chip is the final step to control them totally. Reply 
| 0 | Edit | Delete Why would smart cyborgs die in stupid wars, and follow high school-educated NCOs? Reply 
| 0 | Edit | Delete Make a machine out of man. "American dream"... live. Reply 
| 0 | Edit | Delete Can I have two please... duh... Reply 
| 0 | Edit | Delete This is the worst news I've read in a long time. While they offer military applications as a way of 'defending America', the civilian use will be carried initially without much fanfare.
Reply 
| -3 | Edit | Delete Jet fuel can't melt steel beams, How would this be used to control returning veterans of a conflict? No more political radicalization against war, no more law suits against the VA hospitals and at the flip of a switch a badly maimed veteran would take his own life therefore saving the government millions in rehab. Reply 
| -3 | Edit | Delete Baybars, Well you summed it up indeed. Reply 
| 0 | Edit | Delete Many problems:
Reply 
| 0 | Edit | Delete art, I'll happily go along with your critique. I too had serious doubts about what an enhanced soldier could do in the battlefield. It's comments like this that make me ask, do they (DARPA) know what they are talking about? I don't believe that they have studied neuropsych to any effective degree. I believe the americans have a saying about something being 'dumbass' :) Reply 
| 0 | Edit | Delete michael, I think they know what they are doing, just not telling us. Instead they give us this nonsense story as food for mass consumption. We will find out decades later what they were actually doing. They have a long history of doing ugly stuff in secret. Reply 
| 0 | Edit | Delete art, agreed. One of the problems for them I think, is that in creating misdirection or attempting to muddy waters, they forget that there are readers who have similar backgrounds to their researchers etc and can spot logical errors etc. :)
Show new comments (0)Jackov Smirnoff
klod.infobeez
jerrys57
Baybars
Imagine being convicted of pot possession in the U.S. where it is still a federal crime and you become subject to whatever 'rehabilitation' technologies the government decides to apply. Slowly the U.S. population, with the highest incarceration rate in the world becomes linked to a central brain. All of these 'rehabilitated' citizens would be at the beck and call of the various government agencies that implanted the technology which means people in power will have slaves to carry out whatever nefarious actions are needed to get rid of an ex-wife, steal, set up fake companies, etc.
Upon the downfall of the U.S. infrastructure due to natural or man made cataclysm these rehabilitated humans would be without a central command. Would they just carry on as normal or would they turn to zombies lacking direction? I smell a book contract out there.
Baybars in reply to (Show commentHide comment)
in reply toBaybars (Show commentHide comment)
art
//A bio-compatible chip would be ..//
The modern implantable medical device industry is over 50 years old and still the unsolved biggest problem they have is "biocompatibility". Understanding the basics of biocampatibity is improving but no where even close to make a biocompatible synthetic material. Sooo.... there is no such thing as "biocompatible chip". The best you might say is "time-limited biotolerable".
What is it supposed to do?:
//.. the new interface .. allow .. soldiers with enhanced battle capabilities
..//
What is "battle capabilities"? Physical (like doping)? Mental? Informational (while unconnected to superior)? Experience-wise? Tactical? Strategic planning? Discipline? Resolve? Good decision making process?
I have no clue how the chip can enhance any of these qualities, well except preventing uncontrolled urination and crying when captured by enemy.
Is the chip implantation reversible? Or the soldier is doomed with it and can never return to normal life? Or worse, like the last Tom Cruise mission impossible, the chip can be activated remotely to kill the soldier?
michaelin reply toart(Show commentHide comment)
artin reply tomichael(Show commentHide comment)
michaelin reply toart(Show commentHide comment)
in reply to(Show commentHide comment)