Research has proved that genetics play a part in determining someone’s intelligence but to use gene editing techniques at the germline just won’t work if the person is already alive. So, that’s when scientists turned to augmented intelligence instead. But before we can get there, first we need an interface that can read/write to the human brain. One company that’s looking to make this science fiction possible is Kernel.
Kernel was founded by entrepreneur Bryan Johnson in 2016. This came a few years after the sale of his payment processing system, Braintree, to Paypal in 2013 for a cool $800 million. Before that, he founded a VC company called OS Funds that looked to fund entrepreneurs who are trying to developed quantum leap theories. Some of the companies that have been invested in so far include startup Vicarious, and AI pioneer and startup drone delivery service, Matternet to name just a few. Then Johnson finally got around to investing $100 million in Kernel and is now looking to take the company to new heights by introducing a way of augmenting the human brain with artificial intelligence.
Much of Kernel’s technology is based on research carried out by Theodore Berger who has spent the past 35 years learning how to store human memories on computer chips. Dr. Berger targets long-term memories and is trying to create memory implants that have the ability to enhance the memories in those where it’s weak, such as in Alzheimer’s patients. Kernel uses machine learning to deduce how the brain retrieves and writes memories. Johnson is very optimistic in the quest to enhance human intelligence and his own plans to “optimize for long-term value creation by raising approximately a billion dollars from public and private sources.”
There is still a little more to be done before Kernel has 100 percent accuracy; currently, it has around 80. But, when it is ready and available, people will be able to have a brain implant that will enhance their memory better than ever before. No more will you have to worry about what time that doctor’s appointment is, or where you parked the car. Eventually, Kernel would like to see the ultimate brain augmentation where all of our sensory inputs would be fed live streams of data.
More News To Read
