The information technology experts at the Institute for Advanced Study had talked to Li Gaoliang about this topic when they installed titanium alloy on him through neural connection technology and allowed him to stand up again.
Not only could a paraplegic with spinal nerve damage stand up again.
If complex visual and auditory signals could be simulated like motion signals, then the device could be directly connected to the neural prosthesis or the brain. Perhaps the neural connection virtual reality technology that allowed one's consciousness to enter the digital world would no longer be a fantasy.
At the time, Lu Zhou said that this was indeed an interesting topic and that he could research it. However, there were a bunch of more important things waiting for him to do, so he threw this matter to the back of his mind.
Now, there was a breakthrough in carbon-based chip technology, and he had too many general points to spend. After being reminded by Ye Nan, Lu Zhou thought about this matter again.
Lu Zhou thought about Vera, who was still lying in the dormant cabin. He felt like if he couldn't wake her up, he should at least try to do something for her.
However, he knew that the hope of this thing working on her was quite slim …
After changing his clothes, Lu Zhou sat in front of his computer and sorted out the things he wrote down.
Simply put, the core components of this technology could be divided into three modules.
One was the collection of neural signals, the other was the processing of neural signals, and the last was the simulation of neural signals, which was the final stage of feedback to the brain.
The technical difficulty of these three core components increased progressively in sequence.
The acquisition of nerve signals was very simple. As early as the 1980s, EEG sensors, also known as electroencephalogram sensors, had already existed. Today, this technology was so advanced that it had exceeded the imagination of ordinary people who had never come into contact with this technology.
Whether it was the VR system created by Silicon Valley's Eyemynd, which allowed users to navigate the virtual world with their thoughts, or the sensation caused by 16 students from the University of Florida winning the world's first brainwave drone competition in 2018, they were all manifestations of this technology.
As for the second module, which was the processing of neural signals, the difficulty was more complicated than the collection of neural signals.
Although on the surface, this was only a test of the computer's ability to process information, in fact, it was a rather complex programming problem.
This complexity lay in the fact that humans knew very little about their own brains. Unless it was a limited situation, visual, auditory, and olfactory signals were far less stimulating to the brain than movement signals.
Classifying these signals and compiling a set of instructions and operating systems for the virtual reality world … All of this could be classified as part of the second task.
As for the third step, which was to transmit the electrical signals processed by the neural signal modem to the brain, which was the most intuitive part of the user experience, it was the most complicated and difficult part of the neural interface virtual reality technology.
The reason was simple.
Just like the difficulty people encountered in developing the second core component of this technology, if they could not even understand the machine that was the brain, how could they output a signal to the machine that could be read by the brain?
At present, the more advanced method was to implant a neural prosthesis in the cerebral cortex.
However, for now, this technology was mainly used to repair functional impairments caused by nerve damage. There was still a long way to go before it could simulate a series of signals such as vision, hearing, and smell.
Currently, in this field, the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Barcelona, Spain, was leading the way. Using graphene-based materials, the researchers at the institute were designing a "neural interface" that allowed electrodes to interact with the brain tissue interface. As for how far they were in their research, only they knew.
In fact, for the third core component, Lu Zhou didn't have a lot of technical reserves.
The "answers" he exchanged with general points were mainly focused on the second part, which was the neural signal demodulator.
As for making his brain understand the signal from the modem, he could only do the visual simulation.
As for hearing, smell, and even tactile sensations, they could only be achieved with external stimuli.
For example, building a headset into the helmet.
Lu Zhou was a little disappointed.
If he could simulate all senses, he would be able to achieve the final form of virtual reality technology.
Which was to connect his entire consciousness to the virtual world and have a second life in virtual reality.
At that time, whether he wanted to experience skydiving, rock climbing, and other things that he wanted to do in real life but never had the chance to do, or spend a lifetime with a 2D person, he could do it.
As for other uses, he could slowly think about them.
Unfortunately, his academic level wasn't high enough for the system to answer his question. If he used general points to exchange for the answer, he would be punished by at least two levels of research efficiency.
The only thing that made him happy was that the system listed the amount of general points he had to spend, which meant that this problem could be solved in his lifetime.
However, it would be difficult.
Lu Zhou sat in front of his computer and thought for a while.
In the spirit of a scholar, he chose a theory that was not so advanced and did not involve patents. He compiled it into a thesis.
He didn't expect this thesis to revolutionize virtual reality technology. He only hoped that this thesis could inspire other scholars in this field to make more valuable achievements.
As for the author of the thesis …
Since the main content of the thesis was in the fields of computer science and biology, Lu Zhou used Dr. Z's identity again.
He remembered the mistake he made last time and was almost recognized by his own people. This time, he learned his lesson and didn't go to arXiv. Instead, he opened the biologist preprint website, BioRxiv.
Lu Zhou thought about the process of uploading the thesis. However, when he was about to upload the thesis, he suddenly realized something.
Wait a minute, if I upload it to BioRxiv, doesn't that mean I'm telling the truth?
Lu Zhou closed the BioRxiv website and uploaded the thesis back to arXiv.
Even though there weren't as many biologists following arXiv as there were on BioRxiv, from another perspective, more and more mathematics, computer science, and physics researchers had joined the field of biology. The probability of encountering scholars working on both neural networks and biological neural networks on arXiv should be much higher than on BioRxiv.
Of course, biological neural networks and mechanical neural networks were one of the most difficult fields in biology and computer science. It was not an exaggeration to say that scholars who could master both fields at the same time were rare.
In fact, even though Lu Zhou was looking forward to encountering talented and like-minded researchers who could help him perfect this technology … It would be best if they could solve all the problems for him.
However, he didn't have high hopes for this.
His main purpose of uploading this thesis was to warm up the technology. This way, it wouldn't be too out of the ordinary when he released the entire technology.
After all, if he released this thing, it would be a bit out of the ordinary. Ordinary people might not be able to tell, but people who truly researched this field would definitely feel that something was amiss.
This feeling was like building an atomic bomb before the relativistic mass-energy equation had even been derived.
Although he didn't care about what others thought, since he had the conditions to prevent this from happening, it was still worth his time to do it.
After Lu Zhou uploaded the thesis, he leaned back in his chair and stretched his back. He then sat up from his chair with a renewed energy.
"Xiao Ai, are you ready?"
A drone floated over, and a string of text popped up on the small TV.
[I'm ready! Master, Master, where do we start? (?????)??】
Lu Zhou looked at the robotic arm that was moving up and down on the wall. He thought for a bit and spoke.
"Let's make a reclining chair first."
[… Huh? Reclining chair? (?????)】
"Yeah, lying down … It should be more comfortable, I can't be sloppy. I'll go online and search for pictures of an ergonomic chair. You're free anyway, I have all the materials here. I have to find something for you to do. Then the helmet … This part has to be designed. The neural signal demodulator and EEG sensor have to be integrated into it. Let me think … Yeah, that's it … "
Lu Zhou sat in front of his computer and thought while operating a professional 3D design software. He was already in a state of work.
He didn't know that the thesis he uploaded on arXiv using Dr. Z's name, whether it was the author's name or the content of the thesis itself, had completely gone viral in the biology community.
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