Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/393
26 #1 Fall 2008 rather than. say. perceptual intelligence or happiness, mainly because it's measur- able. My immediate impulse is that elimi- nating psychological misery would create the greatest benefit of all -- both for its own sake and because troubled people cause our biggest problems socially and economically. But are there other reasons why memory has the greatest advantage, if it does? PWE: We're focused on memory because it is the currency of our very existence. Our memories give us a sense of continuity and connection to our friends, relatives, and associates and to our own histories. We're also focused on memory because moving memory information from the brain to a device accomplishes one of the two most basic directional transfers of information (into the brain and out of the brain), which is a first step toward establishing meaningful and increasingly complex two-way communication. ere are many types of information that might flow from the brain to a device but when we consider establishing connectivity at the most basic prototype stage, we probably think of "sending" requests to a device for information input, and transferring to a device somewhat more meaningful, preexisting information about ourselves. is first type of "query" information is important for accessing or learning information and we are addressing this with our "e IF Prize for Learning." is information can be stored and retrieved as "memory" but this challenge is somewhat different from dealing with other types of information, particularly complex and preexisting memories of, for example, friends and events. Capturing this more-meaningful "memory" information on a device is beyond our current under- standing and technical abilities, but this is information you'd like to recall accurately over time, and even back up in the same way you back up important documents stored on your computer hard drive. But the complexity of this type of information exists on a continuum that can be as trivial as a grocery list or as meaningful as the de- tails of your wedding day or your first date. We won't be able to store and subsequently access all the complexities of an important memory with initial prototype devices; we'll probably begin much closer to the grocery list stage but with time they'll improve; and it is hard to say what the upper limit will be. So, we have established "e IF Prize for Memory" to accelerate the development and demonstration of a prototype memory augmentation device. and a particularly powerful prototype device might satisfy the criteria for both prizes. e reason we're not trying to acceler- ate development of other research or tech- nologies is multilayered. First, mainstream research into the brain and behavior is very well funded. Mental diseases and disor- ders are researched by thousands of people around the world. e kind of research we would like to accelerate is woefully un- derfunded and is difficult to fund through traditional channels. Second, we think that the pace of scientific research and technol- ogy development are limited primarily by the natural limitations of the human mind. It seems self-evident that a more-powerful intelligence can solve difficult problems -- including providing lasting cures for any disease or disability -- much more quickly and efficiently. So we're putting all our ef- forts where we think they'll do the most long-term good, rather than wishfully em- I m a g e b y D C S p e n s l e y