Our brains have an inertial reference unit (and FuturePundit reacts by thinking it would be great to have a far better one bioengineered into us).
Researchers have discovered a sophisticated neural computer, buried deep in the cerebellum, that performs inertial navigation calculations to figure out a person’s movement through space.
These calculations are no mean feat, emphasized the researchers. The vestibular system in the inner ear provides the primary source of input to the brain about the body’s movement and orientation in space. However, the vestibular sensors in the inner ear yield information about head position only. Also, the vestibular system’s detection of head acceleration cannot distinguish between the effect of movement and that of gravitational force.
Dora Angelaki and colleagues published their findings in the June 21, 2007 issue of the journal Neuron, published by Cell Press.
But if this inertial reference unit (IRU) place in the brain was really great then it could integrate a history of motion for a long time and tell you how far you've travelled on a trip just like aircraft IRUs can. So this discovery makes me think some scientists have found the location of a brain subsystem that is in need of a great deal of design improvement.
Can we come up with micro-miniature gyroscopes that can out-perform the semicircular canal of the inner ear in detecting motion and rotation?
Angelaki and colleagues based their brain studies on the predictions of a theoretical mathematical model postulating that the brain could compute inertial motion by combining rotational signals from the semicircular canal in the inner ear with gravity signals.
We need better gyros and better accelerometers. Plus, we need a better integrating biocomputer that constantly calculates one's location and velocity.
By Randall Parker at 2007 June 27 11:00 PM Transhumans Posthumans | TrackBackSounds good, but at first glance doesn't seem like particularly high priority (in contrast to bioengineered improved skulls and torso protection, for example).
FuturePundit, or TranshumanistPundit? You be the judge.
Hi Michael,
And if transhumanism is the future... What then?
yeah, humans suck, i mean were on the verge of extinction because our bodies are so poorly adapted to this world. such an awful design full of flaws. i am embarrassed to be human and hope that imperfect beings can make us (closer to) being perfect.
IMO direct interfacing to chip implants is more promising than enhancing or tuning up parts of the brain.
Chips to enhance normal thought would be very useful. Initially they would simply be a better memory bank for explicit facts.
Functions such as: exactly where am I, the ability to 'see' a city map, or a global one, where are other members of my family, what is on my shopping or to-do list or schedule, accurate mental arithmetic, language translation, a dictionary, what time is it?
Many functions could be purely internal, others would require some communication and that will be harder to devise and control.
Political control is the beast we all want to avoid. We don't want either government or anyone else to monitor what we think and our every action.
K, we also don't want to inadvertently engineer ourselves out of our subjective conscious states and become zombies, even if it's zombies of the transhuman variety. At least I don't want to either inadvertantly become a zombie or someone living under transhuman zombie overlords.
Actually, you all need to learn how to read a map.
Reading a map isn't the problem. It is not having a map when you need it.
But Hopefully missed my point. Nothing about this is about our subjective conscious. It is simply about having a more accurate and accessible memory.
Consider the gadgets we deal with today and some coming soon. A watch to know the time, but cell phones can do that too, so the watch may be going away. GPS - lug one as needed, some cars have them. Keyless cars -just car a fob in your pocket - some control only locks, some will also start the engine, or honk the horn so you can find where you parked, etc.
Need facts? Probably 10M in the US carry a laptop full time. Some use Blackberrys or such too. Anyone still use a calculator? Yes, sometimes it just works best. And sometimes a book still does. Each generation of devices add functions and usually displaces something simpler. The trend is constantly toward one device that does it all. Whatever 'it' will come to mean.
It would be nice if we could just 'know' more. And 'know' with less error. Certainly brilliant people enjoy it. And I bet they would advocate knowing much more than they already do.
As I said before, first enhancements will in effect increase memory and allow accurate fast calculation. Then perhaps some limited reception from outside - exact time, temperature, where is my car, what groceries did I intend to buy after work? Last would be two way communications - open the trunk, stop the engine, I'll be late for dinner, what is my bank balance?
I foresee no zombie state problems. I look upon it as a convenience and effectiveness tool. Obviously the more communication the more thoughts and information can be intercepted. That is why I can visualize problems with the external portions.
More and more I'm finding it interesting just how adapted humans are to the realm of guestimates. We're horrible at getting exact measurements of anything by use of senses alone without mechanical help. But it seems almost to be a perfect level, where we're good enough to not get killed off by lions, but bad enough that we feel a desire to use our minds to come up with something more accurate. And, in doing so, raise both intellect and the standard of our species in the process.
K, you expressed fear of such innovations leading to totalitarian mind control. I think it's reasonable to have a similar fear of inadvertant zombiefication through escalating cycles of cognitive enhancement/modification.
Randall - the brain is good enough to do what you want. It's the sensors that need improvement.
Hopefully re your last:
Well differences in opinion accounts for horse races. And why we don't all kill each other pursuing the same woman.
My concern was not about mind control. It was about message security if an enhanced person could actually send information outside of his body, say to his bank or lawyer. More or less the same concerns we might have using a wi-fi network today.
Obviously any communication system could be assaulted by hacking - trying to commandeer your thoughts or knowledge to benefit the hacker. Or mischief, such as denial of service by sending you huge amounts of undesired information.
I am unsure whether these communication or external problems could ever be overcome. It certainly couldn't be soon. That is why I stressed that initial benefits would be in calculation and memory precision which works within us and can be summarized by 'knowing more'.
Brock: I agree it is mostly sensors that need improvement, otherwise this discussion is futile. But I see no reason to think the brain can't be a lot better at many tasks.
Brock,
A built-in magnetic north sensor would be very handy. Though I'd want a mental switch for turning it on and off. Ditto for any other additional sensor. We need the ability to focus and reduce distractions.
Also, we need very miniaturized sensors. I wonder if a cellular magnetic north device could get built from porphyrin rings that get used in red blood cells. Or bind up a lot of iron in a single protein?
didn't einstein prove that there was no difference between the effect of acceleration and that of gravitational force?