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A proof-of-concept neural brain implant providing speech

(arstechnica.com)
120 points LorenDB | 2 comments | 29 Jun 25 12:16 UTC | HN request time: 0.804s | source
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x187463 ◴[02 Jul 25 12:05 UTC] No.44442722[source]▶
Curious how much intentionality is required from the user to produce sounds. It would be unfortunate if this device just started firing off speech for what would otherwise be thoughts one would not say out loud. I suppose that depends on the mechanism required to activate the neurons to which the device is connected.
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AnotherGoodName ◴[02 Jul 25 15:01 UTC] No.44444595[source]▶
Even without this device there's been some consideration to the thought that the conscious brain is merely an observer since it appears to activate after the unconscious brain takes actions. You just go along with what the unconscious mind did in actions and speech and you convince yourself you meant to do that after the fact.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3746176/

So here it could indeed just fire off speech and you know what? We'd probably convince ourselves that we absolutely meant to do that. In fact it could be a very interesting experiment (with willing participants). Mess with the inputs the device receives so it's not really the person activating it, let it do it's thing and see if they notice when they do/don't have control of it.

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1. simplify ◴[03 Jul 25 02:04 UTC] No.44450929[source]▶
Even though the conscious brain doesn't always directly control motor skills, I wouldn't call it "merely an observer". It's your consciousness that decides your goals and beliefs; the rest of the body "learns" those things and is then preconditioned to react accordingly.

But they are separate systems. Harsh experiences (traumas) can teach your body some bad lessons in such a way that not even your conscious mind can overcome. In these situations, you can't "think your way out" of these traumatic consequences in, say, a talk therapy session; you need to deal with the body directly/somatically to recover instead.

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2. Munksgaard ◴[03 Jul 25 04:04 UTC] No.44451529[source]▶
> It's your consciousness that decides your goals and beliefs; the rest of the body "learns" those things and is then preconditioned to react accordingly.

Quotation needed.