The fate of the meat world
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“Homo sapiens, the first truly free species, is about to decommission natural selection, the force that made us. Soon we must look deep within ourselves and decide what we wish to become.” — Edward O. Wilson, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge …

“Just as Copernicus’s heliocentric notion of universe is now bedrock truth, the Neuro Revolution will bring about new ideas of human spirituality that will forever reshape our understanding of humanity’s role and place the universe. A quiet transformation has begun, albeit one that may take centuries to play …

Singularity Hub reporting:
The world’s first patient-ready and commercially available brain computer interface just arrived at CeBIT 2010. The Intendix from Guger Technologies (g*tec) is a system that uses an EEG cap to measure brain activity in order to let you type with your thoughts. Meant to work with those with …

One of the projects being developed by the group is a form of assistive technology they call a brain co-processor. This system, also referred to as a cognitive assistive system, would initially be aimed at people suffering from cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. It would monitor people’s activities and …

“Who knows? Maybe, in another ten years, we’ll be here with the ultimate sixth sense brain implant.” — Pattie Maes

Wired:
The researchers’ algorithm is composed of a series of five equations through which data from cameras can be run. Each equation represents tricks used by fly circuits to handle changing levels of brightness, contrast and motion, and their parameters constantly shift in response to input. Unlike Lucas-Kanade, the algorithm doesn’t …

… and just perhaps, they will help to define the most familiar and comforting path toward substrate-independent posthumanity …

SmartHand device. (Credit: Image rights American Friends of Tel Aviv University)
Ekenstam told a television interviewer, “I am using muscles which I haven’t used for years. I grab something hard, and then I …

It’s important now to recognize that nowhere in the concept of sentience is there a mention of mind, intelligence, or self-awareness.
In fact, much of what we perceive is irreducibly complex, as our emotions cannot be broken up into their constituent chemicals nor our music into its disparate vibrations while still …

Stanford CodeX: “Human brainpower as purchasable and fungible as additional server rackspace.” File under Augmented, Extended, Emergent Cognition Grid.

Technology Review (via KAIN):

Oh, there’ll be no body category, class, or type limits — within the bounds of the laws of physics — for your inevitable substrate independent migratory path; just one niggling little problem holdin’ up the show: spec’n out the I/O ports.

More extraordinarily high-signal outputs from the seemingly inexhaustible cognition engine behind Sentient Developments:
Cognitive liberty is not just about the right to modify one’s mind, emotional balance and psychological framework (for example, through anti-depressants, cognitive enhancers, psychotropic substances, etc.), it’s also very much about the right to not have one’s mind …

As presented Sunday 2009.10.18 at the Society for Neuroscience conference in Chicago and reported by Technology Review:
Scientists at Brown University have developed an entirely implantable version of a neural prosthesis used to translate neural signals from the brain. The ultimate goal is to use this kind of device to allow …

IEEE Spectrum: A new generation of contact lenses built with very small circuits and LEDs promises bionic eyesight
These visions (if I may) might seem far-fetched, but a contact lens with simple built-in electronics is already within reach; in fact, my students and I are already producing such devices in small …