from Futurism Website
The primary purpose of BCIs have been developing better neuroprostheses, which is also one of the visions of DARPA's Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) program.
Through NESD, DARPA wants to develop high-resolution brain interfaces that could restore and enhance human senses.
Of the six awarded contracts, four will work on vision enhancement while the other two will focus on hearing and speech.
Digital Signals in the Brain
Back in 2016, DARPA announced that NESD will develop neural interface systems that will improve communication between the brain and the digital world.
The idea is to convert electrochemical signals in the brain into the binary bits of zeros and ones used in computers.
Braintree founder Bryan Johnson even thinks it's possible to make our neural code programmable through such systems.
Not only would this help treat persons with sense disabilities by inputting various senses directly into the brain as digital signals, it would also enhance them.
The ability of such neural interface systems to do this has led others working on similar technologies - like Elon Musk with his Neuralink - to consider BCIs as humanity's way of keeping up with the development of intelligent machines.
Indeed, the power of BCIs to meld the human mind with machines has led to the emerging field of neuroreality, which is a transformation of how we see and interact with the world around us.
For DARPA, it starts with helping those that suffer from sensory impairments.
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