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'Sophia' Bio-Neural System

For god's sake do you not know thwe makeup of the brain?
The veins are outside the brain, they're attached to the sack that protects it. Also, even with it being spreadout, it's still added mass and volume!

And Neko's are living, breathing semi-organic machines. They're ment to be that mentally efficent.
 
Well, I was thinking that if I approved it, I might also make a submission:

Trimethyl-Antisophiase, a (ficitonal) enzyme that would retard the growth of the organism, resulting in serious brain degradation (and probably death).

I'm not too keen on approving it, though.
 
Uh, why not just not approve it and save yourself the trouble of creating a ficticous enzyme ment exclusivly for retarding the use of this one thing.
 
Chris, please, stop talking as if the end of the world was coming or something. Or at least use some other word combination than "For God's sake" Maybe "God Sake For" or "Rof Dog! ekas" lol

Just present your objections without having to make it a big exclamation. Taking a more neutral 'sounding' stance might make it harder to argue against you, actually ~_^

Anyhow...

That thing is supposed to form at the bottom of the brain, right? There's blood there. Or, nothing stops it from having a sort of root system.

Plant-thing growing in my brain! *shudders* Eww!
 
Well, the problem is mostly with the thing being inside of the brain. The solution would be to put it outside of the brain. Attach it to the brainstem and spine, then have a lattice of nerves which would tie into the brain. Mind you, I mean to attach it from the outside, maybe attach the bugger like a leech.

Either that, or purchase some Lorath neural interface devices, or modify some Lorath slave collars.
 
Well, then again, it's not like I spend all my time looking at brains. I mean, my exposure to brains mostly comes from the Battle Angel mangas... and whenever you see brains come up in those graphic novels, they usually get turned from solid to pudding pretty quickly. Not the most instructive source.

Oh, ick. I'm pulling out of this conversation. Had more than enough of this brain talk.

My stance on non-approval remains. I say this thing should have its capabilities disminished to edeitic memory enhancement and nothing more.
 
That ignores the fact that the very purpose of this technology is as a bio-neural interface. Having it as an eidetic memory enhance only completely defeats its purpose of existance.
 
A Bio-neural interface that copies the brain in it's entirity, allows access to the SARP's Interbutt, and allows remote access to machinery?

How can a single orgianism do all that?
 
Dear lord....hearing someone ask HOW a single thing can do something in this place is scary. With the insane level of technology I would think something like this would be simple. Even if its biotech.
 
This thing is intended on being a save card, file sharing and a remote control. I don't care what tech level this place has, when you can engineer a living creature with the capabilities of wirelessly interfacting and interacting with machinery, in addidtion to saving the entirity of a person's brain as well as having the capability of surfing the internet, along with the capasity of sending and reciving messages. Where do you draw the line?

This thing has the capabilities of neural-cyber ware, Neko telepathy and a remote interface/controller all rolled into a sperm cell.
 
Well I'm reaching on this one but if the creature is designed for the soul purpose of entering the brain and making these things possible then prehaps its actually merely making it possible for you to do and not itself exactly. If it can hold and send information within itself and work with the electrical impulses in the brain then with the correct modifications to the design of the creature I could see it managing to use your brain to broadcast information.

But I'm not a scientist so I'm only making this shit up as I go along.
 
What?

Chris, haven't you even read the post? The organism doesn't do the wireless connection, or the majority of the memory storage. Almost the entirety of what is done is by the nano-bot latice. The organism is simply something that stores the memory that the latice gathers in chemical form - the latice is the thing that does everything in this product.
 
I'll say this upfront. Rather than try to shoot you down and hiss like a child, I'll simply be an ass. I'll be a useful ass though and tell you what's wrong so you can fix it and provide you with some useful materials.

Okay, let's go:

1) Okay, the first issue I can see here is the lattacue and the egg/growth process itself.
How does this not introduce unwanted pressure (which is potentially catastrophic) within the brain? (this is a recurring problem)

2) You cannot theoretically "unlock" the processing speed of the brain as you've stated. You've said the speed is risen. The brain itself is not slow by any means. It's problem is the fact it's "underclocked" so a fairly specific number of neurons fire per second or less otherwise the brain overheats and again, catastrophic damage becomes a problem.

Dispite the urban-ledgend, 100% of the brain is used, just 10% of all circuits are active at any one time. This is infact a common misinterporetation of the works of William James (1908, "We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources" (from The Energies of Men, p. 12) and Karl Lashley.

If you want to accelerate the brain, either find a way of producing a higher number of connections or replace slow areas of the brain with devices or more efficiently engineered cells (also known as sectoral replacement, a drastic process performed on some children with Epilepsy whereby around 45% of the brain matter is removed.)

3) Total recall is a very very dangerous thing psychologically. If an individual cannot bury unplesant events, they tend to move into depression (a process which not only lowers the amount of dopamine in the brain but lowers recall. Depressed people have really crappy memory). This will become a vicious cycle and you'll find your test subjects throwing themselves out of 40 story hospital windows: the patient or subject is going to unwire themselves psychologically trying to switch it off.

4) EMP is actually dangerous because in high resonance bursts, it damages the blood-brain barrier and again, can lead to catastrophic brain dammage so no, the patient won't be unaffected by EMP. It won't fry them but their cognitive functions will not go unaltered.

5) There is no such thing as a symbiote in such terms: It is an engineered parasite with a useful engineered feedback. They still act like parasites in regards to the immune system: They're wonderful until they're compromised or damaged and the immune system attacks, thinking it's foreign tissue and then you risk brain damage because of the incurred swelling (and thus pressure in the skull which if it isn't vented with either a cordavol or a lumbar puncture, it's very very nasty to watch). Please tell me you've covered this.



Right, now to the positive feedback and my suggestions:

What I would do: A better concept might be say, drastic surgery involving removal of portions of the brain used to regulate body temperature the primary motor cortex or if you're really adventerous, the hippocampus and exchange it for a highly dense micro neural network. Occupy say 10% of it's capacity and connections with those which were lost and through training, teach the individual to train the neurons back into place which would make the best use. Say, memory as you said but have the thing contain a fail-safe whereby systems such as total recall can be deactivated.

Security: As for security, just use a flip-bit or a shared key between sources. So long as the key is long enough and it's disclosed securely, the cypher cannot be hacked within practical time-frames by all but quantum computing platforms (which even would take hours to try and dissect say a few GB of transferred data and by then, it could have even been scrambled because of a layoral protocol or encryption scheme which if you're feeling especially nerdy can be "confirmed" between users with highly specialist body language ques!).

Learn more about security: If you want to learn about information security in scalable terms (Read: which will affect computers and information systems long after we're dead) then take a look at the Security Now podcast at http://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm. Current topics include sandboxing, objective layers, kernel insersion and buffer-overruns. I Recommend you slap this on your mp3 player of choice and listen to it during transit. Very vERY good stuff.


Final comments:
Dispite being an ass, I don't hate this idea as I have with many of your past ideas.

It's breaking out into new ground but again, I would recommend you do 2 weeks of hard research and attempt to "wrap" your concept around your research to make it theoretically feisable. This is how I work and it's why there is such a wide space between my updates and entries.

If you read this far down, you clearly read it through and didn't scoff or grumble.
For this I commend you and wish you good luck on resolving these problems.

I'm no Medical Diagnostician but I'm sure Hou- er... Miles is.
 
What about the other benifts this things produces, like neural interface with the internet, or remote mental control of machines?
 
Kotori said:
Firstly, Zakalwe took a convulted way of explaining the thing. I also don't think something not 1/10th of the size of a brain would be able to give a substancial resistance to EMP. Also, it's yet another excuse to have people have telepathy. We already have other artificial means, like the nepleslian cybernetic components for example.

The thing isn't supposed to protect the lattice from EMP, it's supposed to be a failsafe, a backup, in case the lattice is disabled by such an occurance as an EMP.

Kotori said:
...Also, it's yet another excuse to have people have telepathy. We already have other artificial means, like the nepleslian cybernetic components for example.

Er...this IS cybernetic. Cybornetic = merging of organic and mechanical. Or did you forget the nanobot lattice?

Kotori said:
Also, I see this as another cheap way of allowing people to have it easy to make ST backups. There's already the two other powerful methods of making mental backups at a distance: the NH-23 Empress PANTHEON Nekovalkyrja body (Yui) and that thing the Lorath royalty has. I don't thing anymore is needed.

This is NOT sounding like a foolproof backup. It's useless if the body is destroyed, which, imo, could very easily be done. Or did he add a out-of-body, computer-based backup when I wasn't looking?

Kotori said:
Also, I'll admit to being annoyed that everything Novacorp concieves does comes from Ephesus. If NovaCorp is a Corporation, it'd be nice to see more people developping things aside from Mister Winged-Turkey-With-An-Addiction-To-Coffee.

I don't really know what Zakalwe is doing with that, but the way I see it "developing" usually involves a team, especially with projects as large and complex as he keeps posting. Yes, Ephesus couldn't possibly be single-handedly R&Ding all of these things but, sometimes, doesn't the credit for a project go to the team leader or the person who first organized the project? ("Hey, I have an idea and here's how to do it!" "Alright! We'll get right on it, but all the credit will go to you!" <--That sort of situation.)

Cora said:
It's a living "thing" that apparently doesn't take up any room inside the confined space of the brain within the confining space of a skull. It doesn't need to eat, drink, breathe or manage waste, and it can replicate neural pathways, and it's better at archiving and accessing the memory engrams then the brain itself.

Yeerks. Those brain beasties from Star Trek III. Another set of parasites featured in a TNG episodes that almost took over all of Starfleets head brass. There are a number of brain-infesting (but not destroying) symbiots/parasites in sci-fi. The only tweak I'd offer is have the egg injected closer to the brain or implanted directly inside the skull.

Cora said:
Tell me, Where the hell is genetic/nanotech science ANYWHERE in this SARP advanced enough to make THIS?

o_e The Nekos are made of nanites or at least heavily maintained by them, aren't they? And, give anything enough time, development, and an inventive set of minds working on it and you'll get what you want. This IS feasible. Note there is no timetable...they could have been working on this for the last thirty or fifty years, working off of some long-dead scientist's theories that he was working on for a completely different purpose but somehow applicable to this!

Cora said:
A Bio-neural interface that copies the brain in it's entirity, allows access to the SARP's Interbutt, and allows remote access to machinery? How can a single orgianism do all that?

Are you guys forgetting that the ORGANISM is just the BACKUP? It's the hard drive to the lattice's RAM functions. The LATTICE does the accessing and program execution. The organism is just another brain.


Oh, and one last thing. The brain itself does not feel pain. (see the brain-eating scene of "Hannible".)


I didn't finish the thread, but I either have to post what I have or lose it all (I'm on a shared comp that I can't save stuff on). If I missed anything in the last five or ten posts, my apologies.
 
Okay, after a re-read and a straight non-university wired mind, I can say a lot of what I said didn't apply properly.

I know this because Zalakwe confirmed I am indeed an ass. I thank him.

Okay, let's try this again.

First up, would it not be easier to inject the lattice into the skull or brain-stem so they're at a closer proximity to their target?

Your wording of the memory system is a bit confusing. Could you be a little clearer? You went into "although it also" so is it designed to do this or is this an extra function it can provide?

You shift between different forms of communication (from casual to uncasual which confused and threw me off: "While the natural memory is kept functioning and remembers the same things as it always does,").

Could you look at your wording and perhaps be more specific as to the different functions and components in titled sections? Personally, I introduce something, explain it's operational envelop (where it'll be used), give a list of the components and their basic uses. Finally, I explain how the components interact so the reader has a firm foundation as to the terminology you'd be using which gives a clear mental picture.

You use the term "broadband". You might wish to exchange this for a "high speed wireless connection" since broadband is a term used very specifically with wired connections in IT.

Now moving away from my pet peeves...

What is the mass of the system, proportionate to the brain?
Does it have any safety systems?

With this, I grew bored and decided to take things into my own hands in the greatest feedback I have ever given: a re-write and update, showing you not only how I intemperate the Sophia but what I personally would change.

If you see anything missing, forgive me. Happy reading.
If you want a version with markup included, drop me a line and I'll e-mail you it.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




General:

Name: NovaCorp Sophia
Manufactuer: NovaCorp
Class: Bio/Neural device

History:
NovaCorp have historically used bio/neural interfaces to a great degree, whether as a product or to increase the productivity of personnel.
Typically, these were the <name1> which was inserted and locked to the back of the neck and the <name2> which worked alongside <name1> to provide a higher maximum throughput for high-fidelity tasks such as controlling craft or complex machinery.

Recently, it came to the light of Ephesus, NovaCorp's most ambitious and significant scientific mind, that such devices were slow, large, uncomfortable, unattractive and behind the times, something which was very important to him.

After months of work with his team of designers and specialists, he unveiled the Sophia Bio/Neural interface extension unit, known as the "Sophia Bio/Neural" for short.



Installation procedure:
The Sophia is introduced to the body of a subject in a number of stages.

First, a dose of nanobots is introduced to the blood-stream. These nanobots are especially programmed to travel to the brain, building a lattice beneath the brain/blood barrier. (ADDITION:)The nanobots themselves have the capacity for neural-networking and storage within the lattice and power themselves with the excess electrical charge of the body. (ADDITION:)This lattice also has basic computing functions to communicate with external devices via high bandwidth wireless protocol on a range of radio-wave frequencies.
It is also able to read and write to nerve circuits and connections though it requires specific permissions in order to do so.

Next, an especially engineered organism is inserted into the arm in the form of a tiny egg. The organism, like the nanobots, is programmed to travel to the brain and pass through the blood/brain barrier by (EDIT:) only activating when a specific balance of temperature, hormones and enzymes is found.

There, it will grow slowly throughout the brain, replacing and optimizing neurological connections and circuits within the brain. The organism is programmed especially to protect the brain and not damage it, even if this means it is unable to function at full capacity.

(ADDITION:)Following this, the organism begins to re-enforce these optimized connections throughout the brain and activate the connections to the lattice.

A number of diagnostics are run and if the lattice or organism (herein referred to as implant collectively) are not communicating with one another or the brain properly, a notification will be given and the implant will begin further optimizing unless given an interrupt signal until the system is able to work properly.

Once active, a series of new connections, branching from the organism will over a series of either hours or days (depending on the physical state of the individual) will conglomerate around the nerve stem and cells provided by the organism will create new specialist nerves to create a communication array between physical jacks which have been installed into the body of the user, seeking out the indicator hormone released shortly after surgery.

Input/Output:
Ports
Rather than utilizing existing port standards at the back of the neck (typically half an inch in diameter or the size of a small coin), Ephesus chose instead to innovate a new standard with a higher data I/O capacity. These ports are much smaller, perhaps 5mm in diameter (or the size of a lead for a mechanical pencil) and wire thin, working with a jack (a series of connections, one after the other) rather than a socket/plug (a series of level connections).

There are four of these connectors upon the spine down the neck. A further three lie just beneath the shoulder blades, another in the very center of the spinal column and the final connector is at the very base. Their strategic position allows the nerve communication to "piggyback" the newly formed nerves within the spine not only back to the organism but to the brain-stem allowing for a far higher volume of information to be transferred safely between a user and the implant.

There are two modes of output: Either the device will respond as a physical extension of the user, complete with the user's reflexes and taught reactions (such as flinching) or the lattice will act as a buffer should the device not provide by-wire control and translate the information as so the flaws in a user's motions will not be sent, only the desired operation which the device will then perform should it comprehend and be capable.

The jack itself for these ports is very small, perhaps the diameter of a needle. The cord contains a motion controller which allows the jack's wire to move automatically and lock itself into the ports provided if they are detected on command.

Wireless connectivity is also provided but the physical jack has a far higher input/output speed.

Security:
The lattice within the Sophia acts as a buffer in most circumstances involving data input/output and as such, can encrypt information with a wide variety of encryption cyphers and key based systems. All incoming data is blue-pill/sand-boxeded and segregated away from the operating system but it is fooled into thinking it is running on it's destination platform. By monitoring what happens within the sandbox, the operating system decides whether the information can be allowed to enter or whether it is rejected. This system is refereed to as a "barrier maze" since the data must meet very specific criteria which are being updated regularly, much like a maze which is constantly changing.
Unlike a maze however, repeating the same instruction or following the same edge will not take the data to the exit of the barrier maze since all active memory and running applications go through a tight screening process and heavy memory buffer tests.

Applications which are loaded by the user themselves are sand-boxed and segregated similarly in that if the sandbox is compromised, the system and the user are unharmed.

Functionality:

1) Memory:
The memory properties of the lattice and the organism work carefully together in order to create a complete archive of both short-term and long-term memory for all events following successful installation. The organism will store memory addition (such as tagging and indexing information) neurally and the lattice will store specific information (stimulation from the environment through the sensorial areas of the brain) as binary data. This system runs 70% to 150% faster than the nerve-centers they have effectively replaced though the old nerve-centers remain active as a fail-safe.

The end result is that the user is able to take information in at a dramatically higher speeds while the Sophia is active and through the Sophia, information and memories can be recalled, indexed and additions can be made as the user learns to perceive and understand concepts around them.

Example: A memory is made viewing an aerial maneuver. Without prior knowledge, this is perceived as being how it should be. With memories of flight in similar systems, opinions can be added and specific details become clearer: the user is able to know upon recollection if the maneuver was sloppy, where corrections could be made and produce further estimates.
Memories can also be linked together, allowing for very effective problem solving).


2) Optimization:
The brain is now passively optimized for functioning with the bio/neural interface and will make extensive use of it whether the user is aware of this or not.

This means that specific connections are streamlined through the implant and are performed through the implant via a "jumper" though the original connections are stimulated during use to prevent their degradation should the implant fail. With permission, the implant is also able to write back and copy the new series of connections while maintaining coercion of connections around the specific circuit meaning they are not damaged.

Example: A user wishes to recall a specific type of flower or process a complex calculation.

In the former, the user will use the "jumper" provided and arrive at the correct series of nerves, boycotting dense nerves with "incorrect" responses though they are also activated regardless so the same tagging and associations are produced. In effect, recollection is several times faster, though associations made still take place.

In the latter, a series of numbers are given. A math matrix and estimation system within the lattice perform the math function as a computer might and feedback the information but they also pass back not only the results but the processes made. In write mode, the implant would educate the brain and "teach" the user.


3) Improved I/O speeds during interface with devices:
The lattice itself acts only as a buffer, memory bus and provides manual writing/reading tools for the organism. Because of it's large surface area and circuit optimization, read-speeds are many times faster and speeds continue to grow the more the system is used.
The highest physical speed achievable is 1000% that of existing bio/neural systems but the input/output of the device connected must be able to interface at these speeds to make use of them.

4) Potential backup functionality:
Because of the read/right capabilities of the lattice, it is able to store a buffer of the last thousand or so major changes (a decade of changes) or so by creating a single map and only recording the changes made. If an external medium is supplied, this map can be exported and the lattice can begin creating another foundation map.

By using the two together, it is physically possible to un-write a neurological disorder or even repair brain-damage but only if extra matter is provided in the form of empty connections (which would require major surgery).

(addition:) It is also theoretically possible to export a brain image/pattern from this system and emulate the brain functions of the user on a computing platform though a suitable platform and program would need to be created to emulate the activity of neural connections and a suitable input/output.

Furthermore, by planting this image in a platform and only transmitting referenced instructions and intentions with the image interacting between the machine and the user ergo proxy, it would be possible for a far higher level of automation between the machine and the user.

5) Specific low-level applications
Disciplined users are able to make use of the lattice as a very basic computing platform with very very basic resources and low speed. As such, they are able to write basic applications for the Sophia.

This takes place through a process known as Application Authoring and involves the following steps:
1) The user must visualize the end goal of the application. This is recorded.
2) Using the recording as a reference, the user must then elaborate on the steps involved. These are saved as a series of processes.
3) These steps can be interpreted by NovaCorp computing platforms as computing instructions which are then in turn translated into PRAXI, a programming language especially developed by NovaCorp to fill their computing needs.
4) The code is then optimized and sent back to the implant to be compiled and re-optimized to any specific changes and to suit the mental circuits of the user.
 
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