Introducing the InnerSpace Foundation
The InnerSpace Foundation and The IF Prize
"The IF takes the position that the most rapid timelines to solving humanity’s most serious problems — including providing complete and lasting cures for the most diseased and disabled — will be accomplished through widespread improvement of memory and mind, rather than through the best efforts of people who are well-meaning but of naturally limited abilities." - Dr. Pete Estep
Apr 30th, 2008 (Palo Alto): Dr. Pete Estep will discuss the InnerSpace Foundation (IF), a new nonprofit being developed to promote and support neuroengineering approaches for the enhancement of memory and learning – biomedical goals that have the potential to improve not only the lives of those suffering from a specific malady, but everyone’s life.
This new organization is pursuing human intelligence enhancement as a humanitarian goal.
Looking at their website, Theodore Berger is involved. You may remember Berger as the team leader of the prosthetic hippocampus project that we mention here at Accelerating Future so often. On the IF website, Berger says, "Given sufficient funding, the development of a functional memory prosthetic device is as good as done." Berger is Director of the Center for Neural Engineering at the University of Southern California. The rest of the advisers page is a list of world-class neuroscientists, many of which I've never heard of. The organization was founded by Preston Estep and James Clement.
The organization is offering two prizes: The IF Prize for Learning and The IF Prize for Memory. From the site's FAQ:
"The IF Prize for Learning will be awarded for the successful development and demonstration of a device similar in function to a flash drive (a.k.a. thumb drive) for computers. This device will store standardized information that can be accessed by the brain (sometimes referred to as "downloading") by thought alone (volitional access). This will allow someone to "learn" information in a completely revolutionary way. The other device will also be similar to a flash drive but will write or store a person's memory information (sometimes referred to as "uploading"), which can be subsequently retrieved by thought."
One more question from the FAQ:
Q: Are these technologies extremely futuristic, maybe even science fiction?
A: No. Nearly all of the technologies we use daily and take for granted, such as cell phones, airplanes, submarines, microwave ovens, and digital computers, once existed only as scientific possibilities and fiction. Ten years ago, thought-driven brain-computer interfaces were science fiction. But, recently, neuroengineers have made dramatic advances in interfacing electronic devices with the brain, and have demonstrated thought-controlled prosthetic limbs, computer desktop functions and gameplaying, and even basic speech synthesis.
Is this the beginning of a true intelligence augmentation effort?
April 22nd, 2008 - 08:17
The hippocampus prosthesis thing is mentioned a lot, but are there more recent news from it than five years ago (and hopefully from a less sensationalist source than New Scientist)? I find it plausible to assume that it’s just still under development, but a lot of people probably won’t be too impressed with the only link being that old.
I found a 2004 article, but that’s only slightly better (and that’s from New Scientist, too).
April 22nd, 2008 - 08:39
Good find, Michael.
I would personally use the word “cognition” rather than intelligence. I’m not sure, precisely, what impact having augmented memory will have on cognizance, but I am fairly certain that it won’t improve on the raw characteristic of problem-solving ability. So in terms of our generic “Friendliness Problem”, this is a relatively safe one.
April 22nd, 2008 - 10:01
I agree. Good find.
Berger’s point that, “Given sufficient funding, the development of a functional memory prosthetic device is as good as done†is important and widespread as far as cognitive enhancement technologies go. We could do some really impressive cognitive enhancement with today’s technology if we had the collective will to do so.
April 22nd, 2008 - 10:24
I agree Kaj, the article is from a few years ago, and New Scientist is untrustworthy. We should ask Dr. Berger what the current status of the project is.
April 22nd, 2008 - 10:39
Michael, if you get even an e-mail correspondence interview with Mr. Berger you will be even higher in my esteem than you are today! :)
April 22nd, 2008 - 16:42
I’d love to see such an interview too, add my vote to IConrad’s.
Mike, do you have a few examples you could point me at? I’m not as up on cognition enhancement as I’d like.
April 22nd, 2008 - 21:02
Neat! I just donated twelve dollars.
April 23rd, 2008 - 07:03
I just donated five dollars too! I love that some intelligent people are working on these avenues of technology and science.
Though I am not convinced that it is quicker to alter the brain then solve problems then it is to just solve the problems in the first place. Considering that the human brain remains somewhat of a mystery, I’m not sure these technologies will be developed within the foreseeable future.
Still, I’m exited.
April 23rd, 2008 - 10:27
Ryan wrote:
Ryan, I would //suggest// a line of investigation for you. I won’t bias it by suggesting my own results are valid. However, it would be productive for you to compare the correlation between the increasing difficulty threshold for becoming a polymath and the increasing cost per new technological/scientific breakthrough.
April 23rd, 2008 - 17:23
This is great news! Finally someone is actually taking intelligence enhancement seriously!
April 23rd, 2008 - 20:08
kraryal- sure. Here- http://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/cochran/overclocking.html is a relatively oldie but even more valid today. As far as a couple non-gene therapy techs that I think are quite underlooked today as far as serious cognitive enhancement potential, I’d point to neurofeedback and deep brain stimulation. There are quite a few other potential approaches, though.
April 23rd, 2008 - 20:35
Like IConrad implied above, Intelligence augmentation could mean the rebirth of the “Renaissance Man.†No more super-specialization in the scientific world. That is something to be exited about.
IConrad also proposes an interesting avenue for study, I suggest you everybody read and think about it.
April 24th, 2008 - 10:02
Thanks Mike!
April 27th, 2008 - 13:16
Indeed, BCI augmentation tech which would lead to (easier, more proficient) polymathic, transdisciplinary funciton(ing) would surely further accelerate synergetic cross-fertilization of overlapping (or at least tangent) disciplines/sciences/areas-of-knowledge. Again, we’re hopefully on the very verge of a (both individual and social) cognition/intelligence explosion (or at least amplification). And in combo with FAGI (even a “seed” or proto-version thereof), we may indeed be on the verge of cognition/intelligence zooming off into the wild blue yonder (to paraphrase Irving J. Good’s musing on what he called UIM’s, Ultra-Intelligent Machines…)
THANKS, Michael for this info… ;)
January 16th, 2010 - 06:00
What happen with Pete Estep InnerSpace Foundation? The website is off line.
Whell, I think his work is very interesting — it’s a very clever and respected scientist.
But I think that the future of cognitive enhancement is nonbiological, an artificial neocortex, a hardware structure that could launch artificial minds, like future Google (that, probably, will be the first intelligent machine) or other reasonig softwares.
“Even someone with the raw intelligence of Einstein would not look very bright if they had never received training.”(Gregory Cochran) But artificial neurons could use previous training.
——
P.S. – An interesting work on brain machine interface has been done by Brazilian scientist at Duke, Miguel Nicolelis.
February 17th, 2011 - 08:15
You actually wrote about a number of interesting things on this page. I found this article by searching Google and I’ve got to admit that I am currently subscribed for your blog site, it is quite decent :D
December 3rd, 2011 - 06:25
I wanted to thank you once more for the amazing web page you have created here. It’s full of ideas for those who are seriously interested in that subject, particularly this very post. You’re really all actually sweet and thoughtful of others as well as reading the blog posts is a wonderful delight in my opinion. And exactly what a generous surprise! Tom and I usually have pleasure making use of your guidelines in what we must do in the future. Our collection of ideas is a kilometer long and tips is going to be put to excellent use.
December 25th, 2011 - 11:02
Nice topic, wish I could come up with news like that for my site, hehehe.