In recent years, DARPA has managed to debug the human brain itself - and use it as a real computer. All this, to help fighter pilots detect threats in real time, and in a way that exceeds the normal and conscious use of the brain by tens of thousands.
We have known for many years that the human mind is nothing but a computer. It may be one of the most sophisticated (and oldest) computers in existence today, and certainly the least understood of them all. Most of us use it constantly, or at least pretend to, but we often feel that we are not using all of its capabilities. There is no surprise in this. After all, we are similar to computer users who are only able to put in input and output - but without really understanding the algorithms behind the creation of the output.
Among the software people, the action of debugging is known, which describes a process designed to filter out defects in programming. In this process, the programmer monitors the activation of a certain software, and checks its activity at predefined breakpoints. Often the process also involves running the software at high speed, or running specific and limited parts of the software.
In recent years, DARPA has managed to debug the human brain itself - and use it as a real computer. All this, to help fighter pilots detect threats in real time, and in a way that exceeds the normal and conscious use of the brain by tens of thousands.
For ground fighter pilots, the ability to spot targets from great distances can be the difference between life and death. When it is not possible to use the sophisticated radars, or the information coming from drones, the fighter pilots rely on their sight alone to scan the environment. Such a scan is particularly difficult because it spans a wide area, while the human eye is inherently limited to a relatively narrow field of view, and the pilot cannot scan the area with his gaze for a long time without tiring. There are indeed technologies such as binoculars and cameras, but even with their help it is not possible to avoid a high percentage of possible targets being missed: at least 47 percent. This high miss rate leaves fighter pilots exposed to many positions that could launch anti-aircraft missiles.
The American agency DARPA launched a program in 2008 that was supposed to help pilots identify targets and threats. Now the reports about the product arrive, and if they are to be believed, they exceed all expectations: the invented technology is able to identify up to 91 percent of the targets during training, with a small number of false alarms, and at the same time also expands the pilot's field of vision to 120 degrees . And all this, by using the human brain as a computer.
The system is based on three different technologies. Two of them are quite routine: an extremely sharp video camera with a 120-degree field of view, and algorithms that process the resulting images and identify potential targets. These two technologies are used in many places where detection of suspicious targets or objects is required, and they do a good job. Too good, in fact, because the algorithms are able to detect almost any unusual point in the image, but are unable to verify whether it is indeed the desired target. Because of this, using these two technologies alone yields many suspicious images - 810 per hour - which are nothing more than false alarms: a bird in flight, a branch swaying in the wind or the shadow of a passing cloud.
How can the problem be solved? This is where the third technology comes into play: the human brain itself. Throughout evolution, our brains have acquired a particularly sophisticated talent in discovering unusual phenomena and standing on their character quickly. This talent was essential in nature, where a millisecond delay in responding to a tiger lurking in the trees could mean the difference between life and death. There is a need, therefore, for the human brain to review the images, but can one really be expected to review hundreds of images in an hour?
Darpa decided to take a unique course of action. Their detection system projects the images at a speed of ten images per second in front of the eyes of the pilot or operator. The speed of changing the images is so high that they are not clearly absorbed by the conscious mind, but the more primitive parts of the brain are able to quickly characterize them and identify suspicious appearances in the image - even before the thinking parts of the brain are sufficient to receive the information.
Electrodes sitting on the subject's head measure his brain waves while he looks at the images, alerting to the emergence of an information processing pattern that indicates that the brain is trying to evaluate or categorize a new stimulus. This signal appears in the recesses of the brain, even before our consciousness understands and processes the information. But the electrodes are sensitive enough to catch the different brain stimulus as soon as it appears, and inform the central computer of the images that provoked the response. This is, in fact, a de-bugging of the brain, which yields products at a much higher speed than those obtained in normal and daily brain activation.
How effective is the system? According to the data coming from Darfa, it was a resounding success. The integrated system was tested in field conditions in desert areas in Arizona, under tropical climate conditions and in the open field in the California region. By using the human brain, the number of false alarms dropped to just five per hour, and the target detection rate jumped to 91 percent.
This data has not yet been verified by researchers outside the DARPA, nor is it likely that they will undergo such public scrutiny, given that this technology may enter active military service in the current decade. However, the understanding that we are beginning to decipher the capabilities of the brain as a computer - and the ways to make it produce information for us - participates in the other factors that indicate the beginning of a new era, in which the brain will stand at the center.
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Dan,
Daniel Kahneman's Thinking fast and slow talks about the system responsible for the emergency stop you describe, and the relationship between it and the conscious system. And in general also about the relationship between the system that processes the information in the images and detects danger among the flying birds, the moving branches, etc. interesting book.
ram
Three quarters of an article in which he explains the obvious - the abilities of the brain.. - until he reaches innovation, and even then not in a clear way. It is not explained here how 'under field conditions' electrodes are connected to the pilot's brain and he was able to fly from combat and intercept targets when his brain is also flying the plane, also thinks his own thoughts and is engaged by over 800 stimuli per second which he filters and reacts accordingly.
The article looks more like a content article for website promotion, than a professional article of science that conveys the knowledge to the readers.
1. Most interesting.
2. I answered - I'm also not sure what exactly he meant by using this phrase. Doesn't feel accurate, but still aspire to the news.
3. It can actually be said that what a psychologist does to his patient is "de-bugging".
There is nothing between this and debugging. You started well. Debugging is a method for debugging software
So far everything is fine, but here your brain made an error and continued to describe a method for detecting dangers in a method that is not related to detecting errors in programming.
Is what I'm doing right now is debugging by unpacking your train of thought and finding the point of error.
is that what you meant?
Did you at least have time to shout at him that he is a piece of idiot?
I was once driving on the road near Geder Haiha, I suddenly made an emergency stop, I remember it took me a split second to understand why I was actually stopping - someone burst out running from the bushes to the road. In fact, the part that discovered danger and acted immediately, was not a conscious, thinking and analyzing part.