The Brain-Machine Interface: Nanotechnology and Cybernetics 60 Years After Norbert Wiener

Abstract

Electrical stimulation has been used for at least two millennia to treat nervous system disorders. The brain-machine inter face - physical contact between brain tissue and an implanted device - has under gone dramatic refinement over a much shorter period, the past century. Feedback guided electrical stimulation (a key component of cybernetics) is more recent still-less than a quarter century. Examples of major advances in the technology employed in the brain-machine inter face are presented, for both electrical and chemical activity in the brain. A first step towards a “neural prosthesis” or implanted replacement for a principal component of the brain's network architecture - a bioinspired synapse - is described. As noted by Norbert Wiener 75 years ago, technological advancements come with the danger that they may be used for nefarious purposes.