Washington (CNN) – The U.S. military is spending millions on an advanced implant that would allow a human brain to communicate directly with computers.
If it succeeds, cyborgs will be a reality.
The Pentagon’s research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), hopes the implant will allow humans to directly interface with computers, which could benefit people with aural and visual disabilities, such as veterans injured in combat.
The goal of the proposed implant is to “open the channel between the human brain and modern electronics” according to DARPA’s program manager, Phillip Alvelda.
In January, DARPA announced it plans to spend up to $62 million on the project, which is part of its Neural Engineering System Design program.
The implant would be small — no larger than one cubic centimeter, or roughly the size of two stacked nickels — according to DARPA.
The implantable device aims to convert neurons in the brain into electronic signals and provide unprecedented “data-transfer bandwidth between the human brain and the digital world,” according to a DARPA statement announcing the new project.
DARPA sees the implant as providing a foundation for new therapies that could help people with deficits in sight or hearing by “feeding digital auditory or visual information into the brain.”
A spokesman for DARPA told CNN that the program is not intended for military applications.
Read more at CNN
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