Mind Control & Neuroprosthetics with Cindy Chestek and Parag Patil

About This Episode

Are we nearing the singularity? On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly learn about brain machine interfaces and prosthetics you can control with your mind, with biomedical engineer Dr. Cindy Chestek and neurosurgeon Dr. Parag Patil.

Learn about engineering robotic limbs and teaching artificial intelligence how to interpret neural signals. How do you get a brain implant to work with the body’s electrical and chemical signals? How do you decode its messages? Is the brain’s motor cortex in the same place for everybody? How do you know which part of the brain controls the hands? 

How safe are brain implants? Find out about electrodes, circuits, and how someone with a neuroprosthetic can keep a sense of embodiment. Does scarring get in the way of the device? Can this technology allow paralysis patients to regain control of their limbs? We discover how machine learning is utilized to learn about the language of the brain. How is one thought different from another thought that creates movement? 

Will we be able to augment ourselves using neural interfaces? Could brain machine interfaces be used for mind control? Could you physically change someone’s mind? We talk about the ethical framework behind brain implants, deep brain stimulations, and the cure to Parkinson’s Disease. How do you power a brain implant? All that, plus, how far away are we from the sci-fi world of mind control?

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