Can We Really Achieve Brain-to-Brain Communication?

[Isotope|1v1|]

All u need is a reciecver and transmitter right? Then why can't a sumthing be sent brain to brain , when it runs on electrical impulses? I would liek to hear ur imagination run wild with this.

 

[honestrosewater]

These messages were sent from one brain to another brain, weren't they?
The basic Shannon-Weaver model is
$$\begin{array}{c}\mbox{[Source]} \stackrel{\mbox{message}}{\overrightarrow{\qquad\qquad}} \mbox{[Transmitter]} \underbrace{ \stackrel{\mbox{signal}}{\overrightarrow{\qquad\qquad}} \mbox{(noise)} \stackrel{\mbox{received signal}}{\overrightarrow{\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad}}} \mbox{[Receiver]} \stackrel{\mbox{message}}{\overrightarrow{\qquad\qquad}} \mbox{[Destination]} \\ \mbox{channel}\end{array}$$
What kind of channel would you use? How would you convert the message to signal?

 

[JamesU]

The mouth= transmitter the ear=reciever

 

[Isotope|1v1|]

<3 yomama ahhaha

 

[Ouabache]

The fingers (on keyboard) = transmitter; the eyes (on monitor) = receiver
(or as honestrosewater stated, these messages were sent from one brain to another brain).

Though I believe what Isotope|1v1| is asking to attempt a gedanken experiment and theorize how telepathy may work between brains. Who knows, this may be the next evolutionary leap in our brain development.

One simple model for telepathic communication, is that it be similar to radiowave communication. Our brain would need a means of modulating our thoughts onto a RF frequency. Resonate that energy so that it may radiate from our head and propagate across space. The person receiving this signal would sense this modulated frequency and their brain would isolate the thought pattern from the RF carrier. Our brains do behave electro-chemically. However, for the brain to generate an RF frequency may be tough
(RF=radio frequency).

For frame of reference, our brain waves are very low in frequency: delta waves < 3Hz, theta waves 3.5-7Hz, alpha waves 7.5-13Hz, beta waves >14Hz whereas the lowest radio frequencies are around 10,000Hz (10KHz).

 

[selfAdjoint]

I think Oabache has pretty well ruled out telepathy based on electromagnetism, and the only other longrange force is gravitation. But gravity waves are expected to be much longer than a human body - let alone a head, so they don't look like a good medium either.

This leaves the possibility of a field which does not interact with the others, or else it would have been detected. But if our brains can code and send thoughts via it, they must interact with this supposed field. But the cells of our brains work electro-chemically, so if they could interact with the new field, so could electormagnetism, and the field would have a noticable effect on electrical measurements! Bummer, doesn't look like it's possible that way either.

 

[LURCH]

I don't see the necessity of converting brainwaves to radio waves and back again; if our brains already produce EM waves in a certain frequency range, then they could be left at those frequenceis. It would seem to me that the problem is symply one of transmitter power and receiver sensitivity. If ellectrodes can record brainwaves while outside the skull (sitting on the surface of the scalp), then brainwaves are broadcasting to the outside world. What would be needed is a broadcast of sufficient power, or a receiver with sufficient sensitivity, so that other brains can sort out the signal from the background noise.

 

[Ouabache]

I think selfAdjoint poses some poignant thought on potential telepathic mechanisms.

Lurch also ties in some interesting concepts. Though I wouldn't go so far to say brain waves are broadcast to the outside.
They are detectable across the scalp using electrodes and a conductive paste, but otherwise not radiated into the surrounding space.

It is still unknown whether the waves we detect in this manner, carry any useful information pertaining to communication, thinking (or other brain directed activity)

If they do carry useful information, I was thinking; to conduct some experiments on interbrain communication, we might use http://www.nanoscience.cam.ac.uk/schools/nano/breakthroughs/medicine.html to transmit and receive the brain or RF modulated-brain signals. We would need to know how to transduce those signals back to the specific neurons involved with communication and thought. Although it would be interesting to learn the meaning of the brain's waves, it may not be a necessary for nano-telepathic communication. We might make an assumption, that all brains of the same species are capable of sorting out and understanding the information carried by brain waves. So once we establish transcievers between brains, we could let them work out the decoding.

 

[JamesU]

<3 yomama ahhaha

I'm confused as to why you called me "<3yomamma"

You want 3 of me to keep you 3 times as entertained?

I'm 3 times funnier than expected? huh?

I'm coming on the snort mobile to find out!

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