馬斯克:把人腦和電腦連接起來的技術不遠了
Elon Musk has revealed his Neuralink startup is close to announcing the first brain-machine interface to connect humans and computers.
埃隆-馬斯克近日表示，其創業公司“神經連接”即將公佈首個人機交互界面，該界面可將人腦和計算機連接起來。The entrepreneur took to Twitter to tell followers the technology would be “coming soon” – though he failed to provide details.
馬斯克在推特上告訴粉絲說，這項技術“即將實現”，但他沒有透露細節。Neuralink was set up in 2016 with the ambitious goal of developing hardware to enhance the human brain, however, little about how this will work has been made public.
神經連接公司在2016年成立，其龐大的目標是開發計算機硬件增強人腦功能，但具體實現方式鮮少對公衆透露。
The startup’s website, which is advertising vacancies for 11 different jobs, describes the futuristic technology as an “ultra-high bandwidth” connection between the human brain and computers.
公司網站正招聘11個不同工種的空缺職位，並將這項未來科技描述爲人腦與計算機之間的“超高帶寬”。Mr Musk has frequently claimed the rapid rise of artificial intelligence poses an existential risk to humanity. Such an interface, he says, is essential if humans are to compete with such technology in the future.
馬斯克已屢次重申，人工智能的飛速發展威脅到了人類的生存。他說，如果人類將來會與智能科技競爭，這樣的腦機交互非常重要。At a technology conference in 2016, Mr Musk said humans risked being treated like house pets by AI machines if a brain-computer interface was not built.
馬斯克曾在2016年的一次科技會議上說，如果不建立腦機交互系統，將來人工智能機器就會像對待家養寵物一樣對待人類。“I don’t love the idea of being a house cat, but what’s the solution?” he said. “I think one of the solutions that seems maybe the best is to add an AI layer.”
他說：“我不想成爲家養寵物，那該怎麼解決這個問題呢？我覺得似乎最好的辦法就是在人腦增加一個人工智能分層。”Speaking last year on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Mr Musk said Neuralink’s technology would allow humans to “effectively merge with AI”.
馬斯克去年在《喬·羅根的經歷》播客上說，神經連接公司的技術將使人類“有效地與人工智能融合在一起”。A paper published in Nature Nanotechnology in 2015 described a concept for this connection, explaining how a flexible circuit could be injected into a living brain.
2015年發表在《自然納米技術》上的一篇研究論文描述了腦機連接的概念，解釋了柔性電路可以如何被注入活人的大腦。“We’re trying to blur the distinction between electronic circuits and neural circuits,” said Harvard researcher Charles Lieber, who co-authored the study.
研究報告的合著者、哈佛大學研究員查理斯-利伯說：“我們正試着模糊電子線路和神經迴路之間的區別。”“We have to walk before we can run, but we think we can really revolutionize our ability to interface with the brain.”
“在跑之前我們要先學會走，但我們認爲我們將徹底革新腦機交互的能力。”
Despite the technology’s potential to augment the human brain, experts have warned that brain-computer interfaces risk being hijacked by rogue artificial intelligence.
這項技術除了有可能增強人腦以外，專家還提醒說，腦機交互還可能被兇猛的人工智能劫持。Such a scenario could lead to AI controlling the thoughts, decisions and emotions of a person using a brain-computer link.
一旦被劫持，將導致人工智能可以通過腦機連接控制人的思維、決定和感情。“Technological developments mean that we are on a path to a world in which it will be possible to decode people’s mental processes and directly manipulate the brain mechanisms underlying their intentions, emotions and decision,” stated a Nature comment piece written by 27 neuroscientists, ethicists and machine intelligence engineers.
27位神經系統學家、倫理學家和機器智能工程師發表在《自然》上的一篇評論寫道：“技術的發展意味着，在將來，人們可能會解碼人的心路歷程，並直接操縱大腦機制，從而瞭解他們的目的、情感和決定。”“The possible clinical and societal benefits of neurotechnologies are vast. To reap them, we must guide their development in a way that respects, protects and enables what is best in humanity.”
“神經科技可能產生的臨牀和社會影響非常之大。爲從中受益，我們必須以尊重和保護的方式指導其發展，使人類從中獲益最多。”
