Russia faces the task of becoming one of the leading countries in the field of high technologies in the next decade. One of the tools to achieve the ambitious goal will be the creation of a network that unites the human brain and electronic devices into a common information field.
Universal environment
NeuroNet is the next round in the development of the World Wide Web, which will create communication based on neural connections between humans, animals and machine intelligence. The new network will supplant traditional Internet technologies, presumably by the end of the 2030s - early 2040s.
Neuronet is also given serious attention in Russia. As part of the National Technological Initiative (NTI), it was included in one of the promising industries, which in the foreseeable future is destined to become the basis of the world economy. The Neuronet roadmap in Russia was approved in 2015. According to the Deputy President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Ivanov, this program will be able to ensure the technological parity of our country and the leading world powers.
The principle of Neuronet operation is to supply nerve impulses from the human brain (or other animal) to an electronic device and vice versa. This network in real time creates the possibility of transferring any information from a person to a machine - words, images, feelings, including unconscious experiences that will be processed by artificial intelligence. This is how a new type of intelligent devices is formed - an organic computer. In Russia, Neuronet is understood rather not as a supercomputer, but as a universal communication environment that combines, on the basis of neurotechnologies, Internet of documents, Internet of things, Internet of people, Internet of living systems, human minds, intelligent agents and allowing them to exchange any information contained in the inner world of participants …
The integration between the human brain and the computer in the Neuronet will take place with the help of sensors attached to the body or nanochips implanted into biological tissue, which can replace neurons or work in conjunction with them. According to Russian scientists, such technologies will allow not only to immerse a person in virtual spaces, but also to discover ways of transferring “I” to a non-biological substrate. Together with neuroprosthetics, this will bring science closer to creating an artificial body.
Promotional video:
On the way to success
Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at the Technoprom forum in August 2018, expressed confidence that our country is capable of making a scientific and technological breakthrough. But for this, according to the head of state, it is necessary to consolidate the efforts of the authorities, science and business, which will be able to expand the "initiative and creativity of people."
Vladimir Konyshev, General Director of Neurobotics, noted that the rapid development of the Neuronet will begin after decoding and mapping the mechanisms of the brain, similar to how the previous biotechnological revolution began after decoding the human genome. According to Konyshev, all the prerequisites for this exist in Russia, since a good technological base has already been laid, which relies on the successful implementation of Yandex's IT algorithms.
It is important that the Russian government is ready to make serious financial investments in the development of high technologies. According to the NTI roadmap, by 2035, total spending on science will reach 4% of GDP, the revenues of Russian companies will amount to 1% of the global market turnover, and Russia will rank in the top 5 states in terms of the number of professionals engaged in research and development.
Neuronet is one of the priorities of Russian science - eight billion rubles have been allocated for this project from the budget, most of which will go to subsidies. And by 2020, the amount of investment in Neuronet may already reach $ 100 billion. Now the Neuronet project includes 6 areas: neurocommunications, neuroeducation, neuroassistants, neurosport, neuromedicine and neuropharm.
There is still no consensus regarding the timing and stages of development of the Russian Neuronet. Until recently, the founder of NeuraLink, Mikhail Lebedev, expressed the opinion that connecting the brain to global networks will become available to the rich by 2020, in another 5 years Neuronet will turn into a consumer product, and by 2030 science will reorient itself to other technologies. Maxim Patrushev, director of the Institute of Chemistry and Biology of the Baltic Federal University, believes that Neuronet will be able to replace the Internet only by 2035.
According to Russian experts, the main task for the Neuronet market is scaling. If earlier in any industry up to 50 players could compete, today, in the era of platforms, there are no more than 3, which imposes increased demands on the quality of products. Dmitry Peskov, Director of the Young Professionals Department of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, is convinced that, in terms of key indicators, we must grow at incredible rates with maximum cost reduction - only then will we have a chance to become one of the top three.
Future technologies
According to the Russian program for the development of Neuronet, its result should be a hybrid of natural and artificial intelligence, which will significantly expand the capabilities of the human brain and increase its productivity through integration with the technosphere. An organic supercomputer will allow us to create a digital copy of our world, in which life and work will become the norm for humans.
Serious attention will be paid to education in the Neuronet project. According to the order of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, new technologies are planned to be introduced into schools and universities in the coming years. In the State Duma, heated discussions are underway about transferring children's education to virtual space, as well as about the breakthrough idea of "pouring" a given program into the brain of a human embryo. But this is still a long way off. In the meantime, laboratories and technology parks are regularly opening in our country, in which children are actively introduced into the world of robotics, IT technologies, 3D modeling and artificial intelligence.
Massive innovations are planned in the health sector. Thus, the Helsnet program assumes the digitization of medical data of all Russians, neurochat is designed to create communication tools for paralyzed people, and telemedicine will make it possible to remotely monitor the health of a patient weighed down with sensors. In the Neuromedtechnics segment, the idea of the public use of mobile external defibrillators is being considered.
The drivers were not forgotten either. The program "Neuroassistants and Artificial Intelligence" develops systems that could monitor and maintain a person's performance while driving. Their task is to monitor the health of drivers, which should significantly reduce the number of accidents on the roads.
According to forecasts of Russian scientists, in the near future our life will be unthinkable without "smart things". These can be any physical objects, the connection of which to the global network will grow exponentially. We will be able to get the history of "moving" around the apartment of any object, for example, glasses or keys.
Domestic developers also plan to connect animals to the Neuronet that humans traditionally interact with, be it a dog, a horse or a monkey. This will allow people to better understand the feelings and mood of their pets, to have a better understanding of their food preferences or health.
The consequences are unpredictable
However, part of the Russian public is looking with caution at the approaching technological paradise. After all, no one knows for certain how the active use of neurocommunications will affect the human psyche. It is possible that excessive stimulation of visual, sound, tactile sensations with virtual images will lead to blurring of the boundaries between physical and digital reality.
Galina Tsareva, the director of a documentary about climate weapons and the HAARP program, fears that with the development of Neuronet, science fiction writers' pessimistic predictions about the possibility of remote control of the human brain will come true. People who obey someone else's will can become an obedient tool in the hands of intruders, Tsareva warns.
Scenarios of the future may indeed turn out to be not as rosy as the creators of Neuronet paint them. It is not known what challenges the human consciousness will face when transferred to cyberspace. That is why the founders of the Russian agency National Technological Initiative are already raising the issue of both the safety of new developments and their protection at the legislative level.
Taras Repin