Chapter 1065 Dr. Z Strikes Again!

When Comrade Li Gaoliang was equipped with titanium alloy value through neural access technology to make him stand up again, the information technology experts of the Institute for Advanced Study once discussed this topic with him.

Not just getting paraplegics with damaged spinal nerves back on their feet.

If complex visual signals and auditory signals can be compiled and simulated like motion signals, and the device can be directly connected to the neural prosthesis or brain, it is impossible to say the kind of neural access that allows consciousness to sneak into the digital world in fantasy. Virtual reality technology will no longer be a fantasy.

At that time, Lu Zhou said that this is indeed an interesting topic, and he can study it, but at that time there were a lot of more important things waiting for him to do, so he left this matter behind.

Now, just as there was an innovative breakthrough in carbon-based chip technology, and there was nowhere to spend the points on his body, after being reminded by the person named Ye Nan, Lu Zhou recalled this matter again.

Thinking of Vera who was still lying in the sleeping cabin, Lu Zhou felt that if he couldn't wake her up for the time being, at least he had to try to do something for her.

Although he also knows that the hope that this thing can work on her is quite slim...

After changing his clothes, Lu Zhou, sitting in front of the computer, sorted out what he had written.

In simple terms, the core components of the technology can be divided into three main modules.

One is the collection of neural signals, the other is the processing of neural signals, and the last is the simulation of neural signals, which is the final stage of feeding information back to the brain.

The technical difficulty of these three core components is increasing in order.

The acquisition of neural signals is very simple. As early as the 1980s, there was already such a thing as an EEG sensor, which is the so-called EEG sensor. And today, how advanced this technology is, it has even surpassed the imagination of ordinary people who have no access to this technology.

Whether it is the VR system created by Silicon Valley's Eyemynd that allows users to navigate the virtual world through ideas, or the sensation caused by 16 students from the University of Florida completing the world's first brain wave drone competition in 2018, it is this technology a manifestation of.

As for the second item—that is, the processing of neural signals, the difficulty is more complicated than the acquisition of neural signals.

Although it seems that this thing is just a test of the computer's ability to process information, in fact it is a rather complicated procedural problem.

This complexity lies in the fact that human beings know very little about their own brains. Except in limited cases, visual signals, auditory signals, and olfactory signals are far less powerful to brain stimulation than motion signals.

Want to distinguish these signals, and compile a set of instructions for building a virtual reality world, as well as an operating system... This series of work can be classified as the second item.

As for the third item, transmitting the electrical signal processed by the neural signal modem to the brain, which is the most intuitive presentation link that affects the user's experience, is the most complicated and difficult part of the entire neural access virtual reality technology. .

the reason is simple.

Just like the difficulty that people encounter in developing the second core component of the technology, if the machine cannot even understand the brain, how can it output signals that can be understood by the machine?

The current cutting-edge approach is to implant a neural prosthesis at the position of the cerebral cortex.

However, at present, this technology is mainly used to repair functional impairments caused by nerve damage, and there is still a long way to go before simulating a series of signals such as vision, hearing, and smell.

At present, in this field, the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Barcelona, ​​Spain, is at the forefront of comparison. Based on graphene materials, researchers at the Institute are designing a "electrode that interacts with the brain tissue interface." Neural interface", as for the specific research step, only they themselves know.

In fact, for the third core component, Lu Zhou does not have much technical reserves.

The "answers" he exchanged for the points were mainly focused on the second part—that is, the neural signal debugger.

As for making the brain understand the signal from the modem, he can only do the visual simulation.

As for a series of sensations such as hearing, smell, even touch and excitement, they can only be realized with the help of external stimuli.

For example, a headset built into the helmet or something.

Thinking of this, Lu Zhou still has some regrets.

If all-round simulation of all perceptions can be achieved, the final form of virtual reality technology will probably be realized.

That is, connect the entire consciousness to the virtual Internet world, and obtain a second life in virtual reality.

At that time, whether you want to experience skydiving, rock climbing, things that you want to do but have not done in reality, or live a lifetime with paper people, you can do it.

As for other uses, you can think about it slowly.

It's just a pity that his subject level is not enough for the system to answer the second half of his questions. If he uses points to forcibly redeem it, he will be punished by at least two levels of scientific research efficiency.

The only thing that made him happy was that at least the system marked the amount of points spent, which meant that this problem could still be solved in his lifetime.

It's just that it's more difficult.

Thinking of this, Lu Zhou sitting in front of the computer thought for a while.

In the spirit of a scholar who enjoys being alone is worse than being happy with others, he finally selected a theoretical part that is not so advanced and does not involve patents from the sorted out materials, and compiled it into a paper.

He did not expect this paper to ignite the revolutionary fire of virtual reality technology all at once, but only hoped that this paper could play a role in inspiring other scholars engaged in this field to make more valuable achievements in this field .

As for the author of the paper...

Considering that the core content is mainly in the two fields of computer and biology, Lu Zhou once again put on Dr. Z's vest.

Thinking of the last time he had an oolong, and was almost recognized by his own people, this time he learned his lesson and did not touch Arxiv, but opened the preprint website BioRxiv dedicated to biologists.

After thinking about the process of uploading the manuscript for a while, just when Lu Zhou was about to hang up the thesis, he suddenly reacted with excitement.

Wait, if this is thrown on BioRxiv, wouldn't it be tantamount to self-reporting?

Thinking inwardly that it was dangerous, Lu Zhou shut down the BioRxiv website with black lines all over his head, and reposted the paper on Arxiv.

Although there are not as many biologists who pay attention to Arxiv as there are on BioRxiv, from another perspective, more and more researchers in the fields of mathematics, computer, and physics have joined in the research of biology over the years. The probability of scholars who are engaged in machine neural network and biological neural network research at the same time should be much higher than that on BioRxiv.

Of course, biological neural networks and mechanical neural networks are one of the most difficult areas in biology and computer science respectively. It is not an exaggeration to say that scholars who can master both fields at the same time are rare.

In fact, although Lu Zhou is looking forward to meeting enough outstanding researchers who share the same aspirations as him to perfect this technology together... it is best to be the one who can solve all the troublesome things for him.

But, in fact, he didn't have much hope for it.

His biggest purpose for releasing this paper is to warm up the technology, so that it will not appear too abrupt when he fully presents the entire technology.

After all, if this thing is directly taken out, the jump is still a bit big, and ordinary people may not be able to see it, but those who really study this field will definitely feel a lot of disobedience.

This feeling of discord is probably like the mass-energy equation of relativity has not been deduced, and the atomic bomb has already been built.

Although he doesn't care what other people think, but since he has the conditions to avoid this happening, it's worth his time to do it.

After uploading the thesis, Lu Zhou leaned back on the chair and stretched, regained his energy and sat up from the chair.

"Xiao Ai, are you ready?"

The drone whined and floated over, and a string of text popped up on the small TV.

【Ready! Master master, where do we start? ()】

Looking at the mechanical arm on the wall that had begun to dance up and down restlessly, Lu Zhou pondered for a while before speaking.

"Get a recliner out first."

【……Eh? recliner? ()】

"Well, playing while lying down... It should be more comfortable to use, and the experience can't be sloppy. I went to the Internet to search for pictures of ergonomic chairs. Anyway, you are idle, and the materials are also available here. I have to give You find something to do. And then the helmet... This part has to be well designed, the neural signal modem and EEG sensor have to be integrated on it, let me think... well, let's do it like this..."

Sitting at the computer desk while thinking, while operating professional 3D design software, Lu Zhou has gradually entered the working state.

At this moment, he didn't know that the paper he posted on Arxiv under the name of Dr. Z, whether it was the author's name or the content of the paper itself, was completely popular in the entire biological community.