[Hplusroadmap] Recursive self-improvement via open source rTMS (was Re: Magnetic brain stimulation and speech, with video)

[Bryan Bishop]

On Saturday 17 May 2008, Sean Hobin wrote:
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/e
>arth/2008/05/16/scibrain216.xml

http://heybryan.org/mediawiki/index.php/rTMS

Open source rTMS project:
http://transcenmentalism.org/OpenStim/

Alan Synder, Savant for a Day
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9506EFD81538F931A15755C0A9659C8B63

Recursive self-improvement:
http://heybryan.org/recursion.html
http://extropy.org/ and http://maxmore.com/
http://www.singinst.org/upload/LOGI//seedAI.html

Among other things. I am interested in getting these projects 
jumpstarted. The big problem is in their designs; parts acquisition is 
easy. I know of only two reported cases of home-made rTMS setups [by 
that I mean, told *to* me].

The text from the Telegraph article that Sean mentioned:

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

How a magnet turned off my speech
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
Last Updated: 4:01pm BST 16/05/2008


Words failed me. I stuttered as Prof Vincent Walsh turned off the speech 
centre of my brain for a few thousandths of a second to demonstrate the 
power of transcranial magnetic stimulation, a popular way to interfere 
with the most complex known object in the universe. 
DIY brain therapy could halt migraines

Sitting in the basement of a lab in Queen Square, London, where the 
nation's greatest concentration of brain surgeons can be found, I am 
told to recite a nursery rhyme as a way to see if the experiment has 
worked.  	
Watch as Roger Highfield's speech is turned off



For this remarkable demonstration of how to boggle a brain, the 
professor is wielding what looks like a giant black key against my 
head. 

I am reciting a nursery rhyme as he moves the coil about and delivers a 
high powered pulse, signified by snapping noise, a twitch on my scalp 
and an unpleasant, though pain free, nervy feeling in my mouth. 

Prof Walsh is shifting the coil around the left side of my head, hunting 
for the speech area of my brain, named Broca's area after the 19th 
century doctor. 

Disconcertingly for me (Prof Walsh seemed unconcerned), he had 
difficulty finding my Broca's and only succeeded after he called for a 
bigger coil to be used, as powerful magnetic pulses were delivered 
through my skull by his colleague, Dr Neil Muggleton. 
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I was reciting Humpty Dumpty and hoping that all the Queens Square's 
neurologists and all the Queens neurosurgeons would not have to put my 
brain back together again. 

Finally he located my Broca's and the train of pulses stopped me in my 
tracks. I wanted to recite the rhyme but stumbled and stuttered as my 
speech area was disabled. 

Intriguingly, I could still sing Humpty Dumpty as he buffetted my 
Broca's: it turns out that singing is controlled by the right side of 
the brain, the opposite hemisphere to the one he stimulated. 

"That is why you can sing but not talk." 

This is also why some people with stroke can sing sentences, even though 
they cannot speak. 

The first practical demonstration of TMS was made 23 years ago by Prof 
Anthony Barker at the University of Sheffield. 

Since then, it has become a relatively simple, non-invasive, and 
painless way to interfere with the workings of the brain, though there 
is a risk of epilepsy. 

Many scientists now use it for basic research. Some have used it to 
induce electrical changes in the brain's temporal lobes, which have 
been linked with religious belief, because some sufferers of temporal 
lobe epilepsy seem to experience hallucinations that bear a striking 
resemblance to mystical experiences of holy figures. 

Many doctors believe it has a role in helping a damaged brain to heal. 

TMS offers a kinder alternative to electroconvulsive therapy, the 
treatment of last resort for people with severe depression who do not 
respond to drugs. 

Others have used it to treat severe epilepsy, and there are efforts to 
use it to quieten the voices heard by schizophrenics and to track nerve 
development in infants. 

A few even believe that it could actually enhance cognitive skills. 

Prof Allan Snyder, at the University of Sydney believes TMS can act 
as "a creativity-amplifying machine". 

But Prof Walsh is highly sceptical. "Brain stimulation does not release 
hidden talents and when it is used to improve things in patients, it 
comes at the cost of blocking some nerve pathways to encourage others."

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

- Bryan
________________________________________
http://heybryan.org/