Total Access to Your Brain

Dr. Randal A. Koene

CSO, NeuraLink
CEO, Carboncopies.org
OPENING: OVERVIEW

The Problem and its

Solutions – Adapting to
Challenges

New Tools – Emerging

Neurotechnology

Mission & Method –

Carboncopies.org &
NeuraLink Co.

True BCI & a Neural OS –

Applications time-line to
personal enhancement
PROBLEM: BEING
PROBLEM: CHALLENGES
PROBLEM: EXPERIENCES
PROBLEM: HUMAN = AUGMENTED
PROBLEM: LIMITATIONS
SOLUTION: BIOLOGICAL MACHINE
SOLUTION: SUBSTRATE-INDEPENDENT
ADAPTABILITY
SOLUTION: NEUROPROSTHESES &
BRAIN EMULATION
SOLUTION: TERMINOLOGY

http://koene.carboncopies.org

Objective: SIM
Substrate-Independent Mind

Feasible method: WBE

Whole Brain Emulation

Bio to WBE transfer:

“mind uploading”

Like PC on Mac

See: http://koene.carboncopies.org
SOLUTION: SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION
SOLUTION: SIGNALS OF INTEREST
SOLUTION: PREDICT NEURAL SPIKES
SOLUTION: CRITERIA, PRESERVE 'SELF'
SOLUTION: BERGER NEUROPROSTHETIC
SOLUTION: CONNECTOME OF BLACK-BOXES
SOLUTION: WHOLE BRAIN EMULATION IS
MANY CONNECTED NEUROPROSTHESES
Structure: Connectome Function: each neuron?
Proof-of-concept 2012 Current Aim!
Whole Brain ROADMAP:
Deconstruct 100B neurons
into many connected
sub-systems as feasible or
smaller than Berger's

Connections tell us how

sub-systems can interact

Characterize function within

each sub-system

Emulate dynamic function

representations
Emulation: model Application &
platform Validation Test & Iteratively improve
 Representations &
Platforms: EMULATE

Test & Improve:

ITERATE

ROADMAP

TOOLS: REPRESENTATIONS
 spatial resolution
number of
by
parameters in
number of
system
parameters in
by
system to solve
number of
time points to
observe

number of
parameters in
system
by
computational
complexity

TOOLS: SWEET SPOT

TOOLS: COMPUTE POWER
TOOLS: TODAY
 Barcoded Individual Neuronal Connections (Zador et al.)

+ “Rosetta Brains” Molecularly Annotated Connectomics

With fluorescent in-situ sequencing (Marblestone et al, arXiv, 2014)

CONNECTOME TOOLS: DNA BARCODING

CONNECTOME TOOLS: VOLUME MICROSCOPY
CONNECTOME TOOLS: ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
CONNECTOME TOOLS: EM RECONSTRUCTION
FUNCTIONAL TOOLS: SCALE & RESOLUTION
FUNCTIONAL TOOLS: OPTO-ELECTRODES
FUNCTIONAL TOOLS: FLUORESCENT MICR.
FUNCTIONAL TOOLS: MOLECULAR
TICKER-TAPE
FUNCTIONAL
TOOLS: WIRELESS
NEURAL
INTERFACES
FUNCTIONAL TOOLS: HYBRID CLOUD
MISSION & METHOD: TRENDS & GOALS

Tech. requirements to iterate

towards on 4 pillars

Actual R&D activitiy based

on short-term interests

Trends may not lead to goals

without a special effort

What may happen if other

trends dominate, e.g. AI?
MISSION & METHOD: CARBONCOPIES.ORG

Maintain & Update ROADMAP

Publish & Inform about ROADMAP

Main purpose:
Whatever the Trends,
insure the Goal of SIM is
achieved
● developments Bottom-Up
combined Feasibly & Robustly
for Solutions to Top-Down
problems
● Encourage solution that Meet
Requirements
● Identify and Fill Gaps
● Involve Experts, find Common
Interests, create New
Collaborations, find People &
Resources for projects
MISSION & METHOD: NETWORK
MISSION & METHOD: 'ARCHITECTING'

Architecting: e.g. PoBAM &

Carboncopies.org

Grant funding encourages

specialized silos

Investment encourages
short-term focus

I carry out cross-disciplinary

consulting (esp.
neurotechnology)

Effort along multiple possible solutions

+
Sharing for hybrid solutions
METHOD EXAMPLE: FOCUS ON HIGH-RES
FUCTIONAL
High-resolution functional data
acquisition 'every neuron'

Boyden (MIT) to Silicon Valley

2012: Molecular Ticker Tape &
Brain Activity Map (BAM)

Carmena (UC Berkley) interest

in WBE, connect with Boyden:
joined BAM, ultrasound +
wireless probe at micron scales

PoBAM group: 'every neuron at

1ms' – BRAIN Initiative
METHOD EXAMPLE: PROTOTYPES
EMERGE – NEURAL DUST
'Neural Dust', 126um –
20um, 5um tail, ultrasound
power & communication

Animal trials in June 2014!

MIT/Harvard: similar, with

infrared 'RFID-like' system

Kording: bio-vector 'pulled'

nanowire array

Cross-disciplinary 'hybrid'
solutions toward a BrainNet
METHOD EXAMPLE: BCI 'QUANTUM
LEAP' STRATEGY
Long-term operational
interfaces to very large
number of neurons without
harm to the brain

Hi-Res BCI: In-Brain-Loop

Use data otherwise
inaccessible (sort memory)
Deliver data otherwise
impossible to generate
(parameter fitting, super
object recognition, etc.)

Needs to understand brain

circuit protocol (see Berger)
BCI & NEURAL OS: PIECE-WISE TO WBE

Interfaces – Prostheses –
WBE more feasible than
'clean-room' path

Pieces, e.g. retina,

hippocampus & small whole
brains (drosophila 2018?)

Sustainably to WBE – if a
body attends to big-picture,
iteratively deciding nudges
 Berger - The prosthetic
works better than the
original!

➔ Hippocampus prosthetic
trials in humans

➔ In primates, extension of
Berger-protocol to
prefrontal cortex

Repairs & Improves

Performance!

BCI & NEURAL OS: REPLACEMENT PARTS

BCI & NEURAL OS: NEURAL OS (NOS)
BY NEURALINK
BCI revoultion underway (e.g. neural dust)

No standard protocol / modular separation

NeuraLink: Identified based protocol for neural NOS + nexus ensemble

communication

Enables multi-layer neural OS:

- transparent plug&play I/O devices & nervous
system
- app development in 3 markets
device-agnostic (e.g. call “user_mood()”)

Dead-simple brain hacking:

- Experience another's body/mind states
- Translate, remap, share memories
- Store memories quickly, reliably
- Retrieve in new ways
- Networked knowledge feels like your own
- Fully immersive VR, AR and telepresence
- Automated motor-programs
- Neuroprotective actions&monitoring
BCI & NEURAL OS: NOS
CONVEYOR FROM RESEARCH
Platform is component in existing tool stack

➔ above: data stream handling, analysis

software, results target (DBS, sensory
prosthetic, diagnostic monitor,
communication for locked-in/ALS,
prosthetic limb control, BCI, smart
drugs)

➔ same level: micro wireless,

(opto-)electrical arrays (e.g.
BrainGate), deep electrodes (e.g.
DBS), ECog/uECog

➔ lower stack: signal choice/detection

First-stage program (first year)

➔ v1.0 based on existing 100um
prototype, built with lab infrastructure
➔ platform for research market - partners
become 1st users/customers
➔ encourage use in similar labs
BCI & NEURAL OS: APPLICATIONS TIME-LINE
(2-3 years) hippocampus prosthesis in
Human trials - experimental treatment of
stroke & neurological damage
(5-8 years) prosthesis enables “library of
memory” collect/identify/tag
(5-10 years) brain circuit analyses enable
machine learning products (AI, compare
“deep learning”)
(8-12 years) motor control
prostheses - treatments
for paralysis
(10-14 years) sensory
prostheses - treatments
for blindness, deafness,
etc (compare cochlear
implants)
(10-14 years) augmented sensation via
prosthetic
(10-20 years) mental co-processors
(database-like memory, faster
recognition/reflexes, etc)
(10-25 years) prosthetic treatments for
deficits in many brain regions
(25+ years) all parts of Whole Brain
Emulation with mind transfer protocol
(robust & failsafe mind,
substrate-independent, long lasting)
BCI & NEURAL OS: BCI BENEFITS
BCI & NEURAL OS: EARLY APPLICATIONS
2008 – 2012...
2013 HBP & BRAIN Initiative
2014 – 2018...

CLOSING: NEAR FUTURE –

DROSOPHILA UPLOAD
Dr. Balaji Lyengar, University of Toronto
CLOSING: FRUITS OF WBE
CLOSING: CHANGE & 2014-15 milestones:
OPPORTUNITY
➔ WBE Coffee Table Book
➔ Roadmap revamp: New
focus on interface delivery
gap!
★ 10 years ago: WBE in ➔ Neural OS Interface
academia, unmentionable platform (NeuraLink)
(now accepted goal)
★ 6 years ago: YOU CAN PARTICIPATE!
Connectomics starts (now
proof-of-principle +
ramping up)
★ 3 years ago: Activity
recording Gap! (now
ProBAM & BRAIN)
★ At the Brink of New
Interfaces
★ proto.neural prosthesis
★ proto.high-res interface
SUMMARIZING

SIM: Improve ourselves while we

improve our machines

Trends & exponential curves

don't automatically lead to goals

WBE is now lab-accepted

Connectome proof-of-concept
PoBAM – functional access
Market-driven BCI refinement
5 years to fruitfly WBE project?

Randal.a.koene@carboncopies.org
http://randalkoene.com
http://carboncopies.org