6. Slava Bobrov on Brain Computer Interfaces

In this episode I discuss Brain Computer Interfaces with Slava Bobrov, a self-taught Machine Learning Engineer applying AI to neural biosignals to control robotic limbs. This episode will be of special interest to you if you're an engineer who wants to get started with brain computer interfaces, or just broadly interested in how this technology could enhance human intelligence. Fun fact: most of the questions I asked were sent by my Twitter followers, or come from a Discord I co-created on Brain Computer Interfaces. So if you want your questions to be on the next video or you're genuinely interested in this topic, you can find links for both my Twitter and our BCI discord in the description.

Outline:

00:00 introduction

00:49 defining brain computer interfaces (BCI)

03:35 Slava's work on prosthetic hands

09:16 different kinds of BCI

11:42 BCI companies: Muse, Open BCI

16:26 what Kernel is doing (fNIRS)

20:24 EEG vs. EMG—the stadium metaphor

25:26 can we build "safe" BCIs?

29:32 would you want a Facebook BCI?

33:40 OpenAI Codex is a BCI

38:04 reward prediction in the brain

44:04 what Machine Learning project for BCI?

48:27 Slava's sleep tracking

51:55 patterns in recorded sleep signal

54:56 lucid dreaming

56:51 the long-term future of BCI

59:57 are they diminishing returns in BCI/AI investments?

01:03:45 heterogeneity in intelligence after BCI/AI progress

01:06:30 is our communication improving? is BCI progress fast enough?

01:12:30 neuroplasticity, Neuralink

01:16:08 siamese twins with BCI, the joystick without screen experiment

01:20:50 Slava's vision for a "brain swarm"

01:23:23 language becoming obsolete, Twitter swarm

01:26:16 brain uploads vs. copies

01:29:32 would a copy be actually you?

01:31:30 would copies be a success for humanity?

01:34:38 shouldn't we change humanity's reward function?

01:37:54 conclusion