Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
任何足够先进的技术，与魔法无异。
——Sir Arthur Charles Clarke
亚瑟·查理斯·克拉克爵士
脑机接口，用意念完成人类跃迁
译者：武守晗
校对：倪凌晖
策划：刘 璠
Using thought to control machines
用意念控制机器
Brain-computer interfaces may change what it means to be human
“脑机接口技术”可能会改变生而为人的意义
本文选自 Quartz | 取经号原创翻译
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TECHNOLOGIES are often billed as transformative. For William Kochevar, the term is justified. Mr Kochevar is paralysed below the shoulders after a cycling accident, yet has managed to feed himself by his own hand. This remarkable feat is partly thanks to electrodes, implanted in his right arm, which stimulate muscles. But the real magic lies higher up. Mr Kochevar can control his arm using the power of thought. His intention to move is reflected in neural activity in his motor cortex; these signals are detected by implants in his brain and processed into commands to activate the electrodes in his arms.
技术往往被认为是有变革意义的。对于威廉·科切瓦来说，诚然如此。科切瓦骑自行车发生事故导致肩膀以下瘫痪，但他设法做到了自己独立饮食。这一显着成就的达成部分要归功于植入他右臂用来刺激肌肉的电极。但是真正的魔力远不止于此。科切瓦可以用意识控制手臂。他的动作意识反射在他运动皮层的神经活动中;这些信号被他大脑中的植入物检测到,信号随后被处理成命令从而激活他手臂中的电极。
stimulate / ˈstɪmjuleɪt; ˋstɪmjəˏlet/ v ~ sb/sth (to sth) make sb/sth more active or alert; arouse sb/sth 使某人[某事物]奋发起来;刺激﹑激励某人[某事物]
An ability to decode thought in this way may sound like science fiction. But brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) like the BrainGate system used by Mr Kochevar provide evidence that mind-control can work. Researchers are able to tell what words and images people have heard and seen from neural activity alone. Information can also be encoded and used to stimulate the brain. Over 300,000 people have cochlear implants, which help them to hear by converting sound into electrical signals and sending them into the brain. Scientists have “injected” data into monkeys’ heads, instructing them to perform actions via electrical pulses.
通过这种方法来解码意识可能听起来像科幻小说中的情节。但是，像科切瓦所使用的“脑门系统”这样的“脑机接口技术”证明了意识控制是可行的。无论是人们听到的语句还是看到的图像，研究人员都能够从单独的神经活动中将其分辨出来。他们也可以对信息编码并用于刺激大脑神经。人工耳蜗将声音转换成电信号并将其发送到大脑来帮助人们听到声音。已有超过30万人使用这项技术来助听。科学家则将数据“注入”猴子的大脑，指示它们通过电脉冲来执行行动。
As our Technology Quarterly in this issue explains, the pace of research into BCIs and the scale of its ambition are increasing. Both America’s armed forces and Silicon Valley are starting to focus on the brain. Facebook dreams of thought-to-text typing. Kernel, a startup, has $100m to spend on neurotechnology. Elon Musk has formed a firm called Neuralink; he thinks that, if humanity is to survive the advent of artificial intelligence, it needs an upgrade. Entrepreneurs envisage a world in which people can communicate telepathically, with each other and with machines, or acquire superhuman abilities, such as hearing at very high frequencies.
正如我们“技术季刊”对这一问题所说的那样，对脑机接口的研究速度和决心与日俱增。美军和硅谷都开始关注大脑领域。Facebook正在研究如何用意识输入文字。创业公司Kernel在神经科技领域投入1亿美元。埃隆·马斯克成立Neuralink公司。他认为，如果人类要在人工智能时代生存下去，那我们就需要自我升级。在企业家们设想的世界中，人们可以通过心灵沟通，包括人类彼此之间的沟通还有人类与机器之间的沟通。人类还可以获得超能力，比如听到很高频率的声音。
These powers, if they ever materialise, are decades away. But well before then, BCIs could open the door to remarkable new applications. Imagine stimulating the visual cortex to help the blind, forging new neural connections in stroke victims or monitoring the brain for signs of depression. By turning the firing of neurons into a resource to be harnessed, BCIs may change the idea of what it means to be human.
要实现这些能力还需要几十年的时间。但是在那之前，“脑机接口技术”可以为非凡的新应用程序打开大门。想象这样一种场景：刺激视觉皮层来帮助盲人，为中风患者建立新的神经网络，监测大脑抑郁症的迹象。通过把神经元的发射转化为可利用的资源，脑机接口可能会改变生而为人的意义。
That thinking feeling
Sceptics scoff. Taking medical BCIs out of the lab into clinical practice has proved very difficult. The BrainGate system used by Mr Kochevar was developed more than ten years ago, but only a handful of people have tried it out. Turning implants into consumer products is even harder to imagine. The path to the mainstream is blocked by three formidable barriers—technological, scientific and commercial.
质疑者当然会嘲笑。将医用“脑机接口技术”从实验室转移到临床实践已被证明是非常困难的。科切瓦使用的脑门系统是十多年前开发的，但只有少数人使用过。要实现大脑植入物的商品化更是难以想象。摆在“脑机接口技术”面前的有三道难关:技术，科学和商业。
scoff / skɔf; US skɔːf; skɔf/ v I, Ipr] ~ (at sb/sth) speak contemptuously (about or to sb/sth); jeer or mock 嘲弄; 嘲笑
Start with technology. Non-invasive techniques like an electroencephalogram (EEG) struggle to pick up high-resolution brain signals through intervening layers of skin, bone and membrane. Some advances are being made—on EEG caps that can be used to play virtual-reality games or control industrial robots using thought alone.
先从技术难关谈起。像脑电图（EEG）这样的非侵入技术很难获取高分辨率的脑信号，因为它要通过皮肤、骨骼和薄膜的层层阻隔。我们已经在这一领域取得了一些进展。脑电图电极帽的诞生让VR游戏和用意识来控制工业机器人成为可能。
But for the time being at least, the most ambitious applications require implants that can interact directly with neurons. And existing devices have lots of drawbacks. They involve wires that pass through the skull; they provoke immune responses; they communicate with only a few hundred of the 85bn neurons in the human brain.
但至少目前来说，最雄心勃勃的运用仍然需要用到能够直接与神经元互动的植入物。现有的设备有很多缺点。它们会用到穿过头骨的电线;这会引起免疫反应;它们只与人脑中850亿个神经元中的几百个进行交互。
But that could soon change. Helped by advances in miniaturisation and increased computing power, efforts are under way to make safe, wireless implants that can communicate with hundreds of thousands of neurons. Some of these interpret the brain’s electrical signals; others experiment with light, magnetism and ultrasound.
但这种现状很快就会改变。随着小型化和计算能力的提高，人们正在努力制造安全的无线植入物，可以与数十万个神经元进行交互。其中一些解读大脑的电信号;其他则对光、磁和超声波进行试验。
Clear the technological barrier, and another one looms. The brain is still a foreign country. Scientists know little about how exactly it works, especially when it comes to complex functions like memory formation. Research is more advanced in animals, but experiments on humans are hard. Yet, even today, some parts of the brain, like the motor cortex, are better understood. Nor is complete knowledge always needed. Machine learning can recognise patterns of neural activity; the brain itself gets the hang of controlling BCIS with extraordinary ease. And neurotechnology will reveal more of the brain’s secrets.
解决技术难关后另一个科学难关开始浮现。大脑仍然是陌生领域。科学家们对大脑的工作原理知之甚少，特别是当涉及像记忆的形成这样的复杂功能时。科学家们对动物大脑的研究更为先进，但对人类的实验却很困难。然而，即使在今天，大脑的某些部分如运动皮层已经能被很好的研究了解。况且研究有时无需知道完整的知识。机器学习可以识别神经活动的模式;大脑本身就非常容易地控制着“脑机接口”。神经科技将会揭示大脑更多的秘密。
Like a hole in the head
The third obstacle comprises the practical barriers to commercialisation. It takes time, money and expertise to get medical devices approved. And consumer applications will take off only if they perform a function people find useful. Some of the applications for brain-computer interfaces are unnecessary—a good voice-assistant is a simpler way to type without fingers than a brain implant, for example. The idea of consumers clamouring for craniotomies also seems far-fetched.
第三个难关是商业化。医疗设备的获批需要时间，资金和专业技能。只有人们觉得“脑机接口”技术有用时，它才能实现商业化应用。一些“脑机接口”技术的应用则是不必要的。例如，就“无指打字”来言，一个好的语音识别技术比大脑植入更简捷。况且，顾客们也不会为了要用这项技术而吵着要给自己做开颅手术。
Yet brain implants are already an established treatment for some conditions. Around 150,000 people receive deep-brain stimulation via electrodes to help them control Parkinson’s disease. Elective surgery can become routine, as laser-eye procedures show.
然而，对于某些病况，大脑植入已经是一种成熟的治疗方法了。大约有15万人接受电极深层刺激治疗来控制帕金森病。如激光眼科手术那般，选择性手术可以常例化。
All of which suggests that a route to the future imagined by the neurotech pioneers is arduous but achievable. When human ingenuity is applied to a problem, however hard, it is unwise to bet against it. Within a few years, improved technologies may be opening up new channels of communications with the brain. Many of the first applications hold out unambiguous promise—of movement and senses restored.
所有这些都表明神经技术领域的先驱者们构想中的未来之路尽管艰巨但可以实现。当人的独创性被应用于一个问题时，尽管困难，但看好它才是明智的。几年之内，更先进的技术可能会开辟与大脑沟通的新渠道。许多上文提到的“第一次应用”给了我们一个希望——“脑机接口”技术可以帮助患者恢复运动和感官能力。
But as uses move to the augmentation of abilities, whether for military purposes or among consumers, a host of concerns will arise. Privacy is an obvious one: the refuge of an inner voice may disappear. Security is another: if a brain can be reached on the internet, it can also be hacked. Inequality is a third: access to superhuman cognitive abilities could be beyond all except a self-perpetuating elite. Ethicists are already starting to grapple with questions of identity and agency that arise when a machine is in the neural loop.
但当我们把目光转移到“增强人类能力”上，无论是出于军事目的还是商业目的，人们都会对它有一系列担忧。隐私问题是显而易见的：内心的声音可能会被窃听到。安全问题则是另一种隐忧：如果大脑可以连接互联网，那么它也可能被黑客入侵。不平等是第三种担心：只有永生的精英才可以获得超人般的认知能力，其它普通人想都别想。伦理学家们已经开始着手解决，当一台机器拥有神经回路时会出现的身份和代理问题。
These questions are not urgent. But the bigger story is that neither are they the realm of pure fantasy. Technology changes the way people live. Beneath the skull lies the next frontier.
以上这些问题并不紧急。但重要的是，他们不纯粹是人们的幻想。技术改变人们的生活方式。头骨下埋藏的是下一个尖端领域。
frontier / ˈfrʌntɪə(r); US frʌnˈtɪər; frʌnˋtɪr/ extreme limit, esp of knowledge about sth 极限（尤指有关某事物的知识的）; 尖端; 边缘
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