Page 5 - BB Neuromedicine Highlights 2019

BreakThrough inno-
vaTions For soCieTy or
pandora’s Box?
With implanted brain chips that
provide information and function
to individuals, privacy and cyber-
security issues become notable
concerns. But the real issues
facing society—and even human-
ity itself—may be those that are
still undiscovered. Elon Musk in
pursuing his company’s brain-ma-
chine interfaces at Neuralink has
expressed a need for government
oversight in these areas. Like-
wise, Dr. Moran Cerf has noted
that granting superintelligence
to some could create social gaps
and new discriminations. If the
wealthy alone could afford such
The use of computer chips has The promise oF neuro- while also allowing on-demand technologies, the potential reper-
not been limited to brain chips, morphiC CompuTing For activity only. As a result, the need cussion these may have on social
however. The computing power The FuTure for cloud computing and server fabrics are noteworthy.
of these tiny pieces of technology Numerous companies are pur- processing would be dramatically The field of neuromorphic
has also been attractive to phar- suing neuromorphic computing reduced. In addition, processing computing is still in its infancy. But
maceutical companies. In fact, including IBM, Hewlett-Packard, speed would be tremendously unleashing the power of the brain,
more than 40 different pills that Applied Brain Research, Intel and enhanced with significantly less or the neuron specifically, onto a
have chips inside are currently more. Advances in neuromorphic energy required. This fact would computer chip still has unknown
in use. These chips provide data computing include creating chips enable machines and robots to effects on singularity and machine
concerning medication adher- that can handle all the computing completely function autonomous- autonomy. Indeed, these advances
ence, the body’s chemistry and power needed for most activities. ly while having greater learning offer great opportunities for neu-
more in advancing care. But these And it enables machine learning capacity. romedicine and other sectors. But
are the early uses of these tech- at a chip level rather than at a While the use of robotics with with these developments come
nologies that will likely advance processor level. neuromorphic computing has tremendous responsibility and
rapidly in the near future. The notable benefit of neu- clear neuromedicine advantages, caution. Balancing these issues will
Notably, one of these future romorphic computing is elimi- many others can be anticipated likely be critical as we move into
opportunities relates to accessing nating data transfers to servers as well. this brave new world.
data via a brain chip. Dr. Moran
Cerf, a business professor, and
neuroscientist at Northwestern
University predicts major changes
in as little as 5 years. Specifically,
he anticipates people will soon
have implanted brain chips that
will enable advanced intelligence
through web and computing
technology access. Instead of you
having to look at your smart-
phone, your brain chips would
provide the information instan-
taneously. This case has notable
applications in neuromedicine
and everyday life.