DARPA plans to facilitate accelerated learning by enhancing your brain

[Deleted]

I don't know what to say. It does sound as great... but then, if some people will do it, will you not be forced to do it to get faster onto the job market? In a way, it almost seems like the story of the Deus Ex game is becoming reality, and this is quite scary.

http://europe.newsweek.com/darpa-wan...r-brain-439411

"The secretive U.S. military research division DARPA has announced plans to create a device that could accelerate learning in the human brain.

The targeted neuroplasticity training (TNT) program uses a method that claims to be able to improve cognitive skills by stimulating peripheral nerves.

“Recent research has shown that stimulation of certain peripheral nerves, easily and painlessly achieved through the skin, can activate regions of the brain involved with learning,” said TNT program manager Doug Weber.
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“This natural process of synaptic plasticity is pivotal for learning, but much is unknown about the physiological mechanisms that link peripheral nerve stimulation to improved plasticity and learning.”

DARPA—which stands for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency—already has programs underway involving the peripheral nervous system, which it hopes will eventually be used as a substitute for drugs to treat diseases and help accelerate healing.

Unlike previous programs, however, TNT aims to not just restore lost function but also advance capabilities beyond normal levels.

Few details have been given about the device DARPA plans to engineer to facilitate the accelerated learning, other than it will be “non-invasive.”

“You can think of peripheral nerve stimulation as a way to reopen the so-called ‘critical period’ when the brain is more facile and adaptive,” Weber said.

“TNT technology will be designed to safely and precisely modulate peripheral nerves to control plasticity at optimal points in the learning process.”

DARPA is hosting a Proposers Day on April 8 at the Westin Arlington Gateway in Virginia to familiarize neuroscientists, biomedical engineers and other potential participants with TNT."

[Ripster42]

I'd be interested in how this interacts with the struggle with alzheimers.

[Youn]

That must go with the research actually that was done on Parkinsons. In the case of a Parkinsons patient they used two invasive rods in the brain and passed a signal between the two poles using an item like a Tens unit.

This sounds like they are testing what happens when you hook a Tens unit upto a human's head in the right places. Simply by passing a signal through the brain it might stimulate the brain. ... or fry it.

[Independent voter]

Maybe we can get a super hero out of this.

[AeneasBK]

I just love how in Fallout universe it's called Defense Experimental Research Projects Agency.

As you were.

[Yvaelle]

Maybe we can get a super hero out of this.

Often times the villains are the ones with super-brains - Lex Luthor, Megamind, Ozymandias, Doctor Octopus, etc.

[Deleted]

where do I sign up

I promise I won't become a super villain

muhahahahaha

[Jonnusthegreat]

Sounds awesome. Also sounds like it's just a hypothesis, though.