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RE: Third arm?
By Brandon Hill (blog) on 5/29/2008 3:10:45 PM , Rating: 2
Wouldn't you have to have the brain "pathways" to control a third arm first?

Otherwise, it's be like turning a pedaling on a bike without the chain attached to the rear wheels...

That's my reasoning, and I'm sticking to it ;)

RE: Third arm?
By AlvinCool on 5/29/2008 3:45:43 PM , Rating: 2
Actually, you might not have to have a different set of pathways for the third arm. The monkeys are not moving their original set of arms (lets hope the researchers didn't lop them off with cleavers). This gives rise to the thought that they know that simply thinking of moving the arm makes the mechanical arm move. So if they can do that it may be possible for you to move the real arm without thinking of the mechanical one. So the question is, can I use the set of pathways to move one or the other, but not both at once.

RE: Third arm?
By elpresidente2075 on 5/29/2008 4:10:53 PM , Rating: 2
The thing is, the brain does not work in the linear fashion that you seem to think it does. Since it is a self-healing, highly adaptive network, one could learn to use any number of any sort of peripherals, from arms to keyboards (sans keys) to PBX switches, much as you are able to learn to play golf or play cards.

Now, while my last example is a bit out there, the realm of potential for brain-machine interfacing is much greater than mere artificial limbs.

And yes, this research does open the door to the kind of hardware found in The Matrix, in much the same way the discovery (invention?) of the wheel opened the door to the Space Shuttle.

RE: Third arm?
By Baov on 5/29/2008 4:11:28 PM , Rating: 2
I'd think of it as software emulation of the hardware pathway for the third arm. Higher brain functions can imagine all kinds of crap, just like you can control control another person's movement by telling them, in words, to move left or right or stop. Not the most efficient way of doing it of course, just like it's more efficient for a GPU to decode your bluray movie vs CPU.

RE: Third arm?
By DeltaZero on 5/29/2008 4:42:25 PM , Rating: 2
I believe we are only talking about motion neurons here. Higher brain functions like "imagining" are much more complex.
For one thing, how can you learn to control an ability that you did not know were there? Not in two days you can't.

RE: Third arm?
By apollo7 on 5/30/2008 12:32:44 AM , Rating: 2
quote: is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.

RE: Third arm?
By bobdeer1965 on 5/30/2008 2:36:48 AM , Rating: 1
What does "turning a pedaling" mean.

Look at your post below.



That's my reasoning, and I'm sticking to it ;)

RE: Third arm?
By aBott on 5/30/2008 4:26:46 PM , Rating: 2
What is wrong with you?

RE: Third arm?
By Visual on 5/30/2008 5:42:00 AM , Rating: 2
In an earlier set of experiments, a monkey has been trained to control a cursor on the screen, and a robotic arm in a different room. This was initially done by monitoring its brain activity while it was using a joystick to move the cursor and eventually re-programming the computer to react to the brain activity instead of the joystick. For a while the monkey continued using the joystick even while it was actually controlling the cursor directly with its brain, but soon it learned that it doesn't need the joystick and was eventually able to control the cursor completely independently from its hand.

What I'm trying to say is, there are no hard-coded "pathways" in the brain. They can change and adapt and new ones can be created - that is called brain plasticity.
So it is completely likely that people might be able to learn to control a third or fourth arm, a tail, wings, wheelchairs, lights at home, TV channels and USB printers ;) OK maybe not the last one... there sure is a limit to this adaptability, but who knows where it is? Maybe we can even control a whole second body? Or a small army of them...

RE: Third arm?
By geddarkstorm on 5/30/2008 1:52:01 PM , Rating: 2
Yep, right on. The brain has the ability to change shape even in response to the simple thoughts and day dreams we entertain throughout the day. It is truly an incredible organ with potential limited mostly by only our imagination. As long as the interface works well enough, it wouldn't be too hard to learn to use a third, robotic arm, or four of them like Doc Oct.

