He is so fascinated by robots that he predicts that soon we will all have integrated circuits in our bodies. This cybernetics teacher has already implanted several devices, he has connected his nervous system with that of his wife and almost convinced our journalist Cristina Sáez.
Kevin Warwick has no doubt: in the not too distant futurewe will all have microchips implantedin our body. With them we can explain our feelings, memories or ideas without words. We will be able to communicate better with our partner; goodbye to fighting for misunderstandings. We will also learn a new language in a matter of hours, we will increase our ability to store data in memory to incredible limits and we will be able to connect directly to the computer to download the information we need or update our brain. Warwick is a professor of cybernetics at the University of Reading, in England, and the greatest passion of his life is robots. He has been researching for more than 15 years how to compensate for our limitations and enhance our skills by implanting a hint of chips. He has even used himself as a guinea pig to become the protagonist of some of the most revolutionary experiments in this area of science. In fact, 11 years ago he became thefirst man-machine.
-I want to be a cyborg. May l?
-Of course! It would not be the first. Every week between 10 and 12 people come to my laboratory who want to become part of my research. They ask me to implant them, they want to experiment.
-And what is there to do?
-It’s not easy. There are many ethical considerations to take into account. In fact, each and every thing we do requires the approval of an ethics committee. Some people come to me for help because they have a disease and they think a chip will fix it. Sometimes people with mental problems also visit us who believe that someone has implanted a chip that is driving them crazy and want me to find out where they are and who they have been. An illusion.
-In 1998 you became the first cyborg in history.
-Yes, I implanted a chip in my forearm.
-What was it for?
-For very simple things, like IDs. It was a radio frequency transmitter with which he controlled the doors, the lights, and the temperature in the hallway and the department’s offices.
-I don’t see much use for it.
“Well, it does!” For example, for disabled or epileptic people. Cyberimplants can contain information about the medication that the latter need, so that, if they suffer an attack, the emergency doctor will be able to know what treatment to follow. In 2000 I implanted in my wrist a device much more complicated than the mentioned chip. I had more than a hundred electrodes connected to my nerves, and with it I could control a robotic hand from a distance that reproduced my movements. There are many more applications; I recently had an electrode implanted that linked my nervous system to a computer.
-He also managed to convince his wife to wear one.
-The goal was to link our nervous systems electrically, and that’s what we did. No one had ever done it before! We were able to carry out a very basic form of telegraphic communication, from one nervous system to another.
-What did they feel?
-When she moved a hand, my brain received an electrical impulse and recognized that my wife was sending me a signal. Our brains can adapt, they are highly intelligent devices capable of correctly interpreting what is happening. She moved her hand and I could count one, two or three impulses. Okay, it was a very basic form of communication, but it was direct, brain to brain.
-What’s your determination to become a cyborg?
-I want to be for two reasons. On the one hand, I have a purely scientific interest. I want to test how far technology can be used to help people with disabilities. I would like those with partial paralysis to be able, for example, to drive with thought. On the other hand, and perhaps that is the main reason, it is about realizing how poor we humans are mentally and how we can take advantage of technology to improve our brain abilities.
-Are we so limited?
-Very much! We barely perceive 5% of the signals that surround us. Sight is the best of our senses and even then it is very limited in the frequency spectrum. Instead, using technology we can see infrared light, ultraviolet light, X-rays … In addition, with it we are able to receive different sensory inputs at the same time, so that we get a much more complex and complete understanding of the world in which we live. . Now let’s think about our memory, which is extremely poor compared to that of a computer, or our communication system. We should be ashamed! Without a doubt, the one with the machines is much better.
-What if our brains collapse with so much information? They may not be ready to take in all that extra data.
-Our brains are very plastic and adapt to take on new situations. We can demand more and challenge them, even when we are older. We live in a technological world in which machines communicate in a much richer, more complex and efficient way than we do; is what happens with the internet. Humans have already come into contact with these powerful networks and our brains have already understood – albeit passively – the new communication possibilities. So when you give them the opportunity to improve, they adapt and accept the challenge. How much can they afford? That’s the big question. Perhaps if we force them too much we can damage them, although there is only one way to find out.
-How will technology contribute to improve our communication system?
-Let’s think about what our brains contain: ideas, memories, colors, images, dreams, etc. Then let’s think about how we communicate all of that to other people. The truth is that we cannot verbalize all the complex signals that are in our mind. We are not capable of transmitting all that data through speech! Language launches coded messages that store information similar to our original thoughts. On the other hand, the possibility of directly connecting our brain with that of another person and sending signals, or sending them to a computer, opens up many new communication possibilities. And not only in terms of language, but also in terms of colors, images, concepts, abstract thoughts, feelings, emotions … We will be able to communicate in a much broader and richer sense than we know now.
– Will it be easier for us to understand each other? Will we avoid more than one discussion due to misunderstandings?
-There are many disagreements even in couples who have been together for many years and who know each other very well. They still have trouble understanding. One says one thing, the other interprets it backwards and they get angry. But if you deliver a simple message and put it in context, with its associated feelings and different attributes, then everything becomes much clearer. The other person understands and answers you, you answer, and so on. The wealth of brainstorming could take a real giant step.
-We will build a network of brains.
-Of course! The big question is to what extent we will be able to understand the signals about the feelings and emotions of another person. Will we learn it automatically or will an adaptation process be necessary? It is exciting! We have before us the opportunity to unite our ways of thinking.
-And now you have an implant?
-No, I have to say that I am currently a completely normal person. I am working on the development of a computerized brain implant. We try to develop a brain.
-How?
-We extract neurons from rat embryos, we cultivate them, we make them grow and we introduce them into a robot body. Our research tries to create biological brains for machines. We are also trying to do the same with nerve cells obtained from human embryos, so that in the future we can have robots with human appearance and neurons. The goal is to investigate diseases such as Parkinson’s or to study the parts of the brain that stop working after a stroke. We also want to find out if we can expand or enhance our memory and, in addition, add new neurons that improve our mental capacities, which would be a great advance in fighting diseases.
-Is there any other application outside the field of health?
-Of course. Robots could be all over the house. And instead of being mere pieces of technology, they will become true biological brains that we can treat as friends. In the military field there are immediate applications. Surely, in the next 15 years, soldiers will no longer go to war to lose their lives. They will be replaced by robots.
-Like in Terminator ?
-Probably. In fact, many of the things that appear in movies may happen. In this science fiction film, intelligent machines decide they don’t like what humans do and take control of the situation. And I honestly believe that we should consider that possibility.
-¡Glups!
-Yes it’s correct. Movies likeTerminator they predict a future of terror for people under the tyranny of the machines. But we still have time to redraw that future and avoid it. How? Updating our capabilities, becoming cyborgs! We don’t have to give the machines a chance to treat us as they might like.
-In other words, the replicants of Blade Runner are more than possible.
-Many of the scenarios that emerged from science fiction are dangerous and feasible. Therefore, it is logical that people are afraid because they do not know what is going to happen. I think we have to be concerned in fair measure. We can’t say, “Bah, it’s just a movie.” Although we are within our right to be scared, we have to face that potential future. Still, for me it is super exciting, because we can also appreciate the many beneficial possibilities of cyborgs: helping people with disabilities, allowing them to lead normal lives and improving our communication.
-A couple of years ago, when little Madeleine McCann disappeared from a hotel in the Portuguese Algarve, you proposed to implant a chip in children. An idea that was very controversial.
-True, the children’s rights associations were not too amused. Although I honestly believe that there are a lot of parents who would like to have that option. A chip could be placed on the child that would provide reasonable coverage and indicate to the parents where it is. It can be very useful in the event that the child is lost or kidnapped, but it also raises many ethical issues. Is it lawful for parents to know where their child is all the time?
-In a nightclub in Barcelona, customers can put a chip that works like a kind of credit card that accumulates the amount of drinks that its bearers ingest.
“Yes, I heard it!” It’s fantastic! I hope they make me an honorary member for free. I would love for you to send me a special invitation for being a cyborg. The idea seems very interesting to me. I never thought before that implants could be used for social purposes, especially not for going out to a nightclub.
