每周一词第126期—脑机接口

Word of the Week--brain-computer interface

【词义解释】

脑机接口（brain-computer interface，BCI），也称作“大脑端口（direct neural interface）”或者“脑机融合感知（brain-machine interface）”，它是在人或动物脑（或者脑细胞的培养物）与外部设备间建立的直接连接通路。在单向脑机接口的情况下，计算机或者接受脑传来的命令，或者发送信号到脑（例如视频重建），但不能同时发送和接收信号。而双向脑机接口允许脑和外部设备间的双向信息交换。

【背景资料】

初创公司Neuralink的首席执行官埃隆•马斯克16日宣布，该公司已开发出一套系统，可以将数千个电子探针植入大脑，并有望于2020年开始在人类身上测试这项技术。目前已通过动物测试。16日，马斯克在旧金山进行了YouTube直播演示，并表示：“猴子已经能够用大脑控制电脑了”。他还公布了该公司科学家预期之外的一些研究成果。

Neuralink, Elon Musk's startup that's trying to directly link brains and computers, has developed a system to feed thousands of electrical probes into a brain and hopes to start testing the technology on humans in 2020, Chief Executive Elon Musk revealed Tuesday. And it's working already in animal tests. "A monkey has been able to control a computer with his brain," Musk said at San Francisco livestreaming the presentation on YouTube Tuesday, revealing even more research results than the company's scientists expected.

马斯克说，Neuralink的最初目标是帮助人们处理大脑和脊髓损伤或先天性缺陷。这项技术可以帮助那些因脊髓损伤而失去行动能力或感觉能力的截瘫患者。

Neuralink's initial goal is to help people deal with brain and spinal cord injuries or congenital defects, Musk said. The technology could help paraplegics who have lost the ability to move or sense because of spinal cord injury.

但其长期目标是建立一个“数字超级智能层”，将人类与人工智能连接起来，马斯克认为人工智能是对人类生存的一种威胁。

But the long-term goal is to build a "digital superintelligence layer" to link humans with artificial intelligence, a technology he views as an existential threat to humanity.

马斯克说：“最终，我们可以做一个完整的脑机接口，与人工智能实现某种共生。”其中一个目标就是让人们仅通过意念就能每分钟输入40个单词。

"Ultimately, we can do a full brain-machine interfaces where we can achieve a sort of symbiosis with AI", Musk said. One goal along the way will be letting people type 40 words per minute just by thinking.

“我们希望今年年底之前在人类患者身上实现这一目标。这个目标并不遥远。”马斯克表示。不过，他承认，要获得美国食品和药物管理局的批准“相当困难”。

"We hope to have this, aspirationally, in a human patient by the end of this year. So it's not far", Musk said. He acknowledged, though, that approval from the US Food and Drug Administration "is quite difficult".

【词汇拓展】

spinal cord  脊髓

congenital /kən'dʒenɪt(ə)l/  先天的，天生的；天赋的

paraplegic /'pærə'plidʒɪk/  n.截瘫病人，下身麻痹患者 adj.截瘫的，下身瘫痪的

existential /,egzɪ'stenʃ(ə)l/  存在主义的；有关存在的

symbiosis /,sɪmbɪ'əʊsɪs/  n. [生态] 共生；合作关系；共栖

aspirational /,æspə'reʃənl/  adj.有雄心壮志的；（生活形态等）梦寐以求的 n.成功指南；处世自助手册

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