Sheila

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When thinking about futuristic developments in the automotive industry, people usually think of autonomous cars operating with machine learning systems amongst others. Thinking a step further, one could also envision flying vehicles. But what if I told you that we are not that far away from cars reading our minds. The thought of that can be rather scary. Mindreading cars remind society of Sci-Fi movies and make such technologies appear as invasive tools to invade humans privacy.

Let’s take a step back and look at this phenomenon in detail, starting with the technology that even enables this advancement. You may have heard of brain-computer-interfaces (BCIs) before. Most people believe this technology to be very futuristic and immediately think of chips being inserted into our brains. However, this is not the case. BCIs solely measure brain activity, extract certain information from that and then further convert that information into outputs. The outputs enable the BCI to replace, restore, enhance, supplement, or improve human functions. The current state of the technology has not reached implants yet but rather works with wearables. In more detail, the wearable contains an electrode that measures neuronal activities, which does not sound too ‘Sci-Fi’ at all. Experts in the field describe the unfamiliarity and false marketing of the BCI technology as the greatest obstacle for the industry. The devices are not reading our minds or invading our privacy at all. Instead, they solely measure what we are focussing on through our brain waves.

Coming to the initial topic of cars reading our minds, we can now better understand the underlying process behind it. Mercedes Benz has introduced the Mercedes Vision AVTR last year during a conference in Las Vegas. The self-driving car does not have a steering wheel and reminds of a spaceship rather than an average car. AVTR stands for ‘Advanced Vehicle Transformation’ but also relates to the movie AVATAR since the vehicle is a collaboration between Mercedes Benz and Disney. If you have watched the movie, you are probably familiar with the Avatars connecting with nature through their nerve ends. During the recent IAA Mobility 2021, Mercedes showed how the vehicle will be controlled by mind control and minor touch. The BCI is found in a wearable that can be calibrated to the driver taking around 30-40 seconds. Further, the driver can calibrate their body to the car by placing their palm on a control pad, recognizing the driver through their heart rate. Mercedes explained that proper focus is needed to use the BCI, so the car will not just drive a certain way after a short thought. Further, Mercedes explained that the wearable is only necessary due to the current state of the technology. In the future, however, the BCI may be part of the car’s headrest or something similar. Further, researchers are currently working on chips the size of a sand grain that can be surgically inserted into our skull making a wearable redundant.

BCIs are not only emerging technologies in the automotive sector, but also in healthcare and many other industries. This promising technology might enable paralyzed people to draw or type amongst others. Research is also investigating the use of BCIs in the military sector.

Personally, I believe BCIs to be a promising technology. It has the potential to facilitate multiple aspects of life and offer opportunities to people that are currently disabled to do certain things. Certainly, we are still far from seeing BCIs in our daily lives, however, I believe we will get there in the future. Would you get a BCI implant if the technology reaches that state? Let me know in the comments!

Sources:

Daimler. (2021, September 6). Mercedes-Benz VISION AVTR: operating the user interface with the power of thought – Daimler Global Media Site. MarsMediaSite. https://media.daimler.com/marsMediaSite/en/instance/ko/Mercedes-Benz-VISION-AVTR-operating-the-user-interface-with-the-power-of-thought.xhtml?oid=51228086In-text citation

Krames, E., Peckham, H. P., & Rezai, A. R. (2018). Neuromodulation: Comprehensive Textbook of Principles, Technologies, and Therapies (2nd ed.). Academic Press.

Neurable. (2021, August 9). From Brain Chips To Wearables: The State Of BCI Technology Today. https://neurable.com/blog/from-brain-chips-to-wearables

Norris, M. (2020, August 27). Brain-Computer Interfaces Are Coming. Will We Be Ready?RAND. https://www.rand.org/blog/articles/2020/08/brain-computer-interfaces-are-coming-will-we-be-ready.html

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Have you ever wondered if what you perceive as reality is real life? Who decides what is classified as real and what is not? The majority of the population probably classifies the thought of living in a simulation as rather surreal. Nevertheless, there are several reasons why this might be true and not such an absurd thought at all. Currently, Elon Musk is one of the most famous public figures advocating the pro simulation stance. His explanation is simple; several years ago video games were as simple as two rectangles and a dot advertised as a game called pong. Today, we have virtual reality, augmented reality and photorealistic 3D simulations amongst others. Those technologies bring video games so close to reality that it becomes difficult to tell the difference. It enables several players to play real-life games simultaneously and collectively. With the speed technology has advanced over the last years, we will soon have video games indistinguishable from reality. Even if the speed of advancement decreases significantly, humanity will reach the state of creating such games at some point. This advancement could take thousands of years while still counting as revolutionary due to that length being rather insignificant on an evolution scale. Elon Musk believes this argument to be the primary reason for us living in a simulation. We cannot know if this advancement has already been made in the past. If yes, we already live in a game so close to reality that we cannot tell the difference anymore. Due to artificial intelligence, we advance throughout the game and will eventually reach the point where we create further simulations within the simulation we already live in. Musk rates our chance of not living in a simulation to be one in billions. Not only Elon Musk but also several other professionals in the field support this theory. Another famous advocate, Nick Bostrom a philosopher at the University of Oxford, believes the simulation hypothesis to be as follows. Our experiences and lives are a result of an advanced civilization setting up millions of computers where several simulations are running, with our reality being one of them. Below you can find the link to the full two-hour interview of him explaining this theory further. In addition, you can find the link to a website collecting all information that could hint to us living in a simulation. Even though there is no hands-on evidence, several arguments do sound very convincing. What do you believe? Is this world ‘real’? Leave a comment below and let me know how you feel about this!