We Are All Bewildered Machines

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

I have always loved science and have been forever intrigued with the prospect of telepathy and telekinesis. This gets close

http://nautil.us/issue/66/clockwork/we-are-all-bewildered-machines

Bewilderment is the antidote to scientific reductionism.
By Kevin Berger November 15, 2018

When did you realize you were a machine? A fancy machine, for sure. But one whose parts and operations can be described like the components of a computer. I remember a day in 2012 when this thought pierced me to the bone. I was in the lab of John Donoghue at Brown University. Donoghue is a professor of neuroscience and a pioneer in the development of brain-computer interfaces. With easygoing authority, Donoghue was detailing for me the ways he and his colleagues taught Cathy Hutchinson, a 58-year-old woman who had lost control of her limbs in a stroke, to control a robotic arm with her thoughts and sip coffee from a bottle. It was a matter of basic math and biology, Donoghue said, with, yes, some sophisticated technology.

Surgeons implanted a microelectrode array with 100 sensors in Hutchinson’s motor cortex, the brain’s control center for movement. Donoghue then had Hutchinson watch a cursor moving across a computer screen and imagine she was moving the cursor with a mouse. As she pictured moving the cursor left and right, forward and backward, the microelectrodes picked up electrical “spikes” in her neurons. Donoghue’s team recorded the pattern of spikes associated with each direction, then programmed the robotic arm to recognize them.

When it was coffee time, Hutchinson wore an electronic device on her head that looked like a tiny top hat. It registered the spikes from her implanted array and relayed them to the robotic arm. The woman, who had not been able to feed herself for 14 years, directed, with her thoughts alone, the robotic arm to pick up the bottle and bring it to her lips. Donoghue showed me a video of the historic drink. When Hutchinson finished her coffee and had the robotic arm remove the straw from her mouth, a smile glowed across her face.​

​

 

[ABikerSailor]

Telepathy is real. Not only do they have thought guided machines like this, but there are also wheelchairs, games, a whole bunch of stuff.

Incidentally..................have you ever been walking down a street, didn't see a soul on it, but you could still feel a distinct tingle that told you were being watched? That is telepathy.

Another way to demonstrate it to yourself, is to sit down in a room and find someone who is looking away from you and stare at the back of their head, thinking for them to turn around and look at you. Interesting thing is, after only about 30 sec. or so, they will "feel" you looking at them, and turn around and look back at you.

I also know that couples or friends that have known or been married for a long time can not only finish each others sentences, but they sometimes seem to have a whole conversation about something and they didn't say a word to each other.

And finally, have you ever heard the phone ring, and knew who it was before you looked at the caller ID without having any reason to expect a call from them? How about feeling like a friend you haven't seen for a while is gonna show up, and then the door knocks and they are standing on your porch? That also is a form of telepathy.

But, that is a form at about the level of a baby learning to make noises before they learn to speak. To get proficient at it requires practice.

By the way, did you know that your brain is constantly burning enough electricity at all times that it is strong enough to power a 25 watt bulb?

 

[fncceo]

I have always loved science and have been forever intrigued with the prospect of telepathy and telekinesis. This gets close

http://nautil.us/issue/66/clockwork/we-are-all-bewildered-machines

Bewilderment is the antidote to scientific reductionism.
By Kevin Berger November 15, 2018

When did you realize you were a machine? A fancy machine, for sure. But one whose parts and operations can be described like the components of a computer. I remember a day in 2012 when this thought pierced me to the bone. I was in the lab of John Donoghue at Brown University. Donoghue is a professor of neuroscience and a pioneer in the development of brain-computer interfaces. With easygoing authority, Donoghue was detailing for me the ways he and his colleagues taught Cathy Hutchinson, a 58-year-old woman who had lost control of her limbs in a stroke, to control a robotic arm with her thoughts and sip coffee from a bottle. It was a matter of basic math and biology, Donoghue said, with, yes, some sophisticated technology.

Surgeons implanted a microelectrode array with 100 sensors in Hutchinson’s motor cortex, the brain’s control center for movement. Donoghue then had Hutchinson watch a cursor moving across a computer screen and imagine she was moving the cursor with a mouse. As she pictured moving the cursor left and right, forward and backward, the microelectrodes picked up electrical “spikes” in her neurons. Donoghue’s team recorded the pattern of spikes associated with each direction, then programmed the robotic arm to recognize them.

When it was coffee time, Hutchinson wore an electronic device on her head that looked like a tiny top hat. It registered the spikes from her implanted array and relayed them to the robotic arm. The woman, who had not been able to feed herself for 14 years, directed, with her thoughts alone, the robotic arm to pick up the bottle and bring it to her lips. Donoghue showed me a video of the historic drink. When Hutchinson finished her coffee and had the robotic arm remove the straw from her mouth, a smile glowed across her face.​

​

I have no problem being compared to a machine ... machines are awesome

 

[sparky]

By the way, did you know that your brain is constantly burning enough electricity at all times that it is strong enough to power a 25 watt bulb?

no......but given my work history, you've definitely got me wondering what my 'wattage' might be....

 

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

Telepathy is real. Not only do they have thought guided machines like this, but there are also wheelchairs, games, a whole bunch of stuff.

Incidentally..................have you ever been walking down a street, didn't see a soul on it, but you could still feel a distinct tingle that told you were being watched? That is telepathy.

Another way to demonstrate it to yourself, is to sit down in a room and find someone who is looking away from you and stare at the back of their head, thinking for them to turn around and look at you. Interesting thing is, after only about 30 sec. or so, they will "feel" you looking at them, and turn around and look back at you.

I also know that couples or friends that have known or been married for a long time can not only finish each others sentences, but they sometimes seem to have a whole conversation about something and they didn't say a word to each other.

And finally, have you ever heard the phone ring, and knew who it was before you looked at the caller ID without having any reason to expect a call from them? How about feeling like a friend you haven't seen for a while is gonna show up, and then the door knocks and they are standing on your porch? That also is a form of telepathy.

But, that is a form at about the level of a baby learning to make noises before they learn to speak. To get proficient at it requires practice.

By the way, did you know that your brain is constantly burning enough electricity at all times that it is strong enough to power a 25 watt bulb?

Oh I agree with you and it goes even a little bit further with me. Sometimes I've had dreams that actually then appeared in real life. I've also been fascinated by lucid dreaming and problem solving while asleep. I've solved a few software development problems when my brain continued churning away while I was sleeping and dreaming and eventually produced the solution I was seeking.

 

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

 

[ABikerSailor]

Telepathy is real. Not only do they have thought guided machines like this, but there are also wheelchairs, games, a whole bunch of stuff.

Incidentally..................have you ever been walking down a street, didn't see a soul on it, but you could still feel a distinct tingle that told you were being watched? That is telepathy.

Another way to demonstrate it to yourself, is to sit down in a room and find someone who is looking away from you and stare at the back of their head, thinking for them to turn around and look at you. Interesting thing is, after only about 30 sec. or so, they will "feel" you looking at them, and turn around and look back at you.

I also know that couples or friends that have known or been married for a long time can not only finish each others sentences, but they sometimes seem to have a whole conversation about something and they didn't say a word to each other.

And finally, have you ever heard the phone ring, and knew who it was before you looked at the caller ID without having any reason to expect a call from them? How about feeling like a friend you haven't seen for a while is gonna show up, and then the door knocks and they are standing on your porch? That also is a form of telepathy.

But, that is a form at about the level of a baby learning to make noises before they learn to speak. To get proficient at it requires practice.

By the way, did you know that your brain is constantly burning enough electricity at all times that it is strong enough to power a 25 watt bulb?

Oh I agree with you and it goes even a little bit further with me. Sometimes I've had dreams that actually then appeared in real life. I've also been fascinated by lucid dreaming and problem solving while asleep. I've solved a few software development problems when my brain continued churning away while I was sleeping and dreaming and eventually produced the solution I was seeking.

I've figured out a few ways over the years (after I figured out telepathy was real), to work on improving it.

One of the better ways is to use your pets. Animals have a way of picking up on what people are feeling, and many think that is telepathy. I concentrate on what I want my pet to do (jump on the couch, play fetch, etc), and then work on seeing if I can "communicate" with them by thought.

Another way I practice is using a technique that I call "cloud painting". It's where you hold an image of something in your mind, and then concentrate on a cloud, trying to get it to take that shape.

 

[RoshawnMarkwees]

I’ve always felt like I’m at least a little telepathetic.

 

[ABikerSailor]

I’ve always felt like I’m at least a little telepathetic.

Actually, everyone is to a degree. Post 2 gives a couple of examples, that many people have experienced.

 

[RoshawnMarkwees]

I’ve always felt like I’m at least a little telepathetic.

Actually, everyone is to a degree. Post 2 gives a couple of examples, that many people have experienced.

I said telepathetic.