Human Brain/Cloud Interface

Abstract

The Internet comprises a decentralized global system that serves humanity's collective effort to generate, process, and store data, most of which is handled by the rapidly expanding cloud. A stable, secure, real-time system may allow for interfacing the cloud with the human brain. One promising strategy for enabling such a system, denoted here as a "human brain/cloud interface" ("B/CI"), would be based on technologies referred to here as "neuralnanorobotics." Future neuralnanorobotics technologies are anticipated to facilitate accurate diagnoses and eventual cures for the ∼400 conditions that affect the human brain. Neuralnanorobotics may also enable a B/CI with controlled connectivity between neural activity and external data storage and processing, via the direct monitoring of the brain's ∼86 × 10⁹ neurons and ∼2 × 10¹⁴ synapses. Subsequent to navigating the human vasculature, three species of neuralnanorobots (endoneurobots, gliabots, and synaptobots) could traverse the blood-brain barrier (BBB), enter the brain parenchyma, ingress into individual human brain cells, and autoposition themselves at the axon initial segments of neurons (endoneurobots), within glial cells (gliabots), and in intimate proximity to synapses (synaptobots). They would then wirelessly transmit up to ∼6 × 10¹⁶ bits per second of synaptically processed and encoded human-brain electrical information via auxiliary nanorobotic fiber optics (30 cm³) with the capacity to handle up to 10¹⁸ bits/sec and provide rapid data transfer to a cloud based supercomputer for real-time brain-state monitoring and data extraction. A neuralnanorobotically enabled human B/CI might serve as a personalized conduit, allowing persons to obtain direct, instantaneous access to virtually any facet of cumulative human knowledge. Other anticipated applications include myriad opportunities to improve education, intelligence, entertainment, traveling, and other interactive experiences. A specialized application might be the capacity to engage in fully immersive experiential/sensory experiences, including what is referred to here as "transparent shadowing" (TS). Through TS, individuals might experience episodic segments of the lives of other willing participants (locally or remote) to, hopefully, encourage and inspire improved understanding and tolerance among all members of the human family.

Keywords: brain-computer interface; brain-machine interface; brain-to-brain interface; brain/cloud interface; nanomedicine; neuralnanorobotics; neuralnanorobots; transparent shadowing.

FIGURE 1

Artistic representation of neurons (with blue processes) and glial (white) cells. [Image credit: Yuriy Svidinenko, Nanobotmodels Company].

FIGURE 2

Brain-to-brain interface (BTBI) for information transfer between human subjects. The emitter subject is shown on the left, where sensorimotor cortex activity was recorded using EEG electrodes. The emitter performed an imagery based binary motor task: imagery of the feet (bit value 0) versus imagery of the hands (bit value 1). The receiver subject is shown on the right. The TMS coil was positioned differently over the visual cortex for 1 and 0 bit values, and evoked or did not evoke phosphenes (flashes of light), respectively. An Internet link was used for this brain-to-brain communication. Image reproduced from Grau et al. (2014).

FIGURE 3

Artistic representation of endoneurobot (left) with diamondoid depiction (right). Grooves and orifices might facilitate propulsion within the neurons. Extendable tendrils could project from a number of these orifices to enable stable anchoring and precise post-anchor positioning. [Image credits: (left) Frank Boehm - Nanoapps Medical, Inc. and (right) Yuriy Svidinenko - Nanobotmodels Company]. (These conceptual illustrations do not literally represent the actual neuralnanorobot design of the endoneurobots).

FIGURE 4

Artistic representations of gliabots, which would self-migrate to glial cells and position themselves intracellularly at the most appropriate intra-glial regions to perform supportive B/CI operations. [Image credits: (A) Frank Boehm - Nanoapps Medical, Inc. (B) Julia Walker, Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University]. (These conceptual illustrations do not represent the actual neuralnanorobot design of the gliabots).

FIGURE 5

Artistic representations of synaptobot (left) with diamondoid depiction (right) and calibrating at an axon (below). Oscillating piezo “fins” in conjunction with a central ovoid orifice might enable flow-through propulsion. In one configuration, ultrasensitive extendible/retractable “cuff” nanosensors might externally encircle synaptic gaps to monitor neurotransmitter traffic. [Image credits: (left) Frank Boehm, Nanoapps Medical, Inc. and (right and below) Yuriy Svidinenko, Nanobotmodels Company. (These conceptual illustrations do not represent the actual neuralnanorobot design of the synaptobots)].

FIGURE 6

Artistic representations of wireless nanoscale transmitter (left), and in its diamondoid form (right), which might interconnect to form an evenly distributed mesh network, subsequent to self-embedding at the periphery of the brain, on or within the skull. [Image credits: (left) Frank Boehm – Nanoapps Medical, Inc.; (right) Yuriy Svidinenko – Nanobotmodels Company. (These conceptual illustrations do not represent the actual neuralnanorobot design of the wireless nanoscale transmitter)].