Decoding the Human Brain

Understanding the brain, the most complex and important organ of the human body, is one of the defining challenges for humanity in the 21st century. The stakes in this competition are enormously high and as it turns out, Switzerland is right in the midst of it.

In 2013 the European Commission decided on two projects for their record flagship grants of approximately one billion euros each for future and emerging technologies. The winners were the exploration of the «wonder material» Graphene and the Human Brain Project (HBP), a research collaboration of 135 partner institutions directed by the École polytechnique fédérale in Lausanne (EPFL). The goal of the HBP is to combine existing knowledge in the fields of neuroscience, computer science, robotics and microelectronics in order to build a whole brain emulation, a realistic computer simulation of the human brain, by 2023.

The potential benefits of being able to run a digital simulation of a brain are vast. For example, it could abolish the need to use animals to test new drugs or help to create new and better treatments for brain diseases like Alzheimers or Parkinson. On the other hand, creating digital «plagiats» of the human brain may have implications that not everybody will like. Absent of political reform, emulated brains are likely to substitute biological brains in the workplace since they can be replicated easily and basically work at the cost of their energy consumption. The stereotypic HSG capitalists may already be rubbing their hands with glee at the outlook of the exploitation of digital workers, however, bear in mind that this could very well mark the end of the hegemony of biological humans in general. Then again, following the argumentation of Nick Bostrom, the Oxford professor who wrote the ominous book that scares Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking, anthropomorphic artificial intelligence is hardly mankind’s greatest concern.

When biblical wonders become reality

The HBP mainly conducts basic research and it will still take some years until its effects become visible to the general population, however, the EPFL is one of the leading universities on the application side as well. In the Center for Neuroprosthetics (CNP) scientists are working on tools and therapies for people with disabilities. Their list of projects is impressive, their goals are often nothing short of literal biblical wonders. The centers research includes developing auditory brainstem implants to cure deafness, enabling people to walk again after a spinal cord injury, the restoration of vision or creating brain-computer-interfaces that allow to feel and move artificial limbs, bodies or robots.

prisma met with Bruno Herbelin, the manager and deputy director of the CNP, who elaborated on the functionality, impacts and limitations of the center’s research.

Mr. Herbelin, how can a brain communicate with a computer?

Put simply, we can do an electroencephalography (EEG), which measures electric currents on different points of the scalp. This yields a certain pattern of activity, which can be linked to an action if detected. Take for example a stroke patient who can’t move the fingers of his arm anymore. For therapeutic reasons it is important that the intention of the brain to move the hand is rewarded. When the computer recognizes the EEG signature for the contraction of his fingers, it electrically activates your muscles – as in the classic example of the frog leg – so that your hand forms a fist. However, this technology also has its limitations. An EEG is a little bit like putting a statoscope on the walls of a building in order to understand what the people are doing inside. You will probably register more concentrated noise around lunchtime but understanding what an individual types on his computer is next to impossible. Applications for motorly disabled people as for example ALS patients often only work with a binary distinction between «yes» and «no», which form patterns that are quite easy to detect. Letters or words are shown in order of their frequency and the patient confirms or negates. The downside of this technology is of course the very slow writing speed.

Despite all difficulties there has been some amazing progress over the last years in treating people with sensory handicaps. Might disabilities disappear altogether somewhen in the foreseeable future?

The short answer is no. There will probably always be some diseases or disabilities that we cannot fully cure, nevertheless, I hope to see a drastic reduction of afflications within my own lifetime, or at least that of my daughter. Furthermore, it’s not just a matter of technology; sometimes it’s also an ethical question.Let me give you an example: Today we know that deafness is quite limited. If we give a 4-year-old a cochlear implant, he or she will be able to live a normal life; listen to the radio, watch TV, go to a regular school class and so on. However, we have seen that not all deaf parents want their child to get an implant, mainly because they fear their offspring will grow up in a different culture. Can we force those parents to have their child operated? The tragedy of this situation is that because the community of deaf people is shrinking quite rapidly nowadays, those remaining in it are marginalized even more.

At the moment technologies like auditory implants are primarily aimed at helping people with disabilities to get to the level of an unimpaired person. Nevertheless, in theory they could also be used to improve perfectly healthy humans…

Yes, one day in the future we might actually be able to fabricate an auditory implant that will let you hear better, for example as a spy tool; or people will want a cochlear implant that integrates their phone. I assume that the societal acceptance of having technology implanted in your body will increase over time until it will hardly be treated differently than having a piercing or a tattoo. We certainly will be transformed in the future and in some way we will become superhumans. Nonetheless, lets not forget, compared to the humans who lived a hundred years ago we already are superhumans today.

Illustration: Janina Abrashi


1 Comment

  • Сурен Акопов

    Made a very important ( revolutionary and unpublished ) discovery – invention-the1.first practical device for reading human thoughts or Brain Computer Interface! My discovery is certainly ( exclusive ) exceptional, revolutionary nature! But I live in Russia, have a bad situation now and I can not to publish my discovery ( защитить свои авторские права ) and I invite partnership. Thank you. Сурен Акопов. Email : tyristcheget@gmail.com

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