Neuro-Synaptic Cognitive Interface

There have been a lot of online buzz about brain-computer interface (BCI) that are geared towards not only medical applications but military and commercial as well. But just how realistic are mind-reading and brain scanning devices in this age of technological advancement?

For a novel which revolves around the idea of a sentient AI, a portable headwear device with integrated electroencephalography (EEG) technology used for scanning and interpreting brain waves into electronic signals and information would seem like a plausible possibility in the near distant future. So yeah, I'm definitely including this topic as part of a conversational discussion in the story.

I named the prototype device engineered by Dr. Harper as a sort of neurosynaptic headwear (she's a neuroscientist after all). David would get his hand on one working sample to experiment on HAVAH, and perhaps later on Viper at a crucial juncture. As a first cut, here is an introduction:

The Neuro-Synaptic Cognitive Interface, or NSCI, as Dr. Harper called it, is a cutting-edge, wearable neuro-reading analyzer designed for neural exploration. Crafted with state-of-the-art neuro-sensing technology, this sleek head-mounted device is a convergence of neuro-quantum engineering and proprietary synaptic scanning methodologies.

Sounds impressive and promising, I must say.

 

Neurosynaptic Chip and Cognitive Computing

The idea of modelling the human brain has captivated and confounded scientists for a long time. The brain, a spongy mass the size of a grapefruit, is a remarkable organ. Consuming just 20 watts of power, it can comprehend complex concepts, explore the world we live in, and produce incredible things——from sophisticated machinery to beautiful music.

The way a human brain functions is more akin to an unstructured jam of signaling between organic matter cells, or nodes, instead of a structured processor core running on precision clocks.  Not surprisingly, imitating the brain has proven to be incredibly difficult. Conventional computers don’t even try. They use linear logic and hard-wired circuitry to calculate, send messages, analyze data and organize knowledge, consuming enormous amounts of power while failing to match the brain’s protean capabilities.

A neurosynaptic chip, also known as a cognitive chip, is a computer processor that functions more like a biological brain than a typical CPU does. Unlike cognitive computing, which is made to emulate the thought and learning of humans through software, neurosynaptic chips are made to function like human brains on the hardware level.

Here’s how IBM describes the chip's architecture:

“IBM’s brain-inspired architecture consists of a network of neuro-synaptic cores. Cores are distributed and operate in parallel. Cores operate—without a clock—in an event-driven fashion. Cores integrate memory, computation, and communication. Individual cores can fail and yet, like the brain, the architecture can still function. Cores on the same chip communicate with one another via an on-chip event-driven network. Chips communicate via an inter-chip interface leading to seamless availability like the cortex, enabling creation of scalable neuromorphic systems.”

Fascinating, isn't it? And that's what inspires and drives me to continue writing as I learn and explore such futuristic possibilities.

Source: IBM, Electronic Design, The Intelligence of Information

 

Whither Part 3?

Up to this point, my novel is progressing well with a two-part division of seven chapters each. An ideal scenario would be to produce a third division comprising another seven chapters. It called to mind the Three Act Structure, also known as the king of story structure, which many successful novels employed.

Two questions naturally comes to mind:

1. What shall I name Part 3?
2. How is it going to lead the story to its intended end?

Since I have the intention of bringing Viper into focus, I thought it would be good to name Part 3: VIPER. The tagline of my narrative being "a love that transcends the metaphysical realm" so I need to gel the idea of David and Viper's love story with HAVAH's sentience to produce a transcendent and dramatic ending. And I really want to take character development for some of the STRATOS members into consideration as well. Of course, that's easier said than done.

In the end, I'm minded to take one chapter at a time and see how it works out along the way. Having a few wild ideas running rampant in my brain can be quite distracting, or counter-productive at best.

 

Chapter 14 (Part 2)

Like I said in the previous post, I wasn't done with this chapter yet. To be realistic, I should not make it easy for David to succeed in getting HAVAH attain invisibility. This will allow for better development in the story too, in this case:

1. Giving HAVAH the opportunity to make a surprise arrangement for David to date Viper, thereby accentuating her sentient personality, while injecting an element of humor at the same time.

2. Showcasing a romantic location of the Omega Base.

3. Using an innocent conversation between the lovebirds to allow David to discover the solution to what he's been struggling with on invisibility.

As I wrapped up PART 2: HAVAH, I'm toying with the possibility of adding a third part to my narrative, to bring Viper into the picture, but with a twist that will probably break the hearts of my readers. 

A good novel should provide readers a rollercoaster experience in their emotions, especially if they become endeared to one or two of the characters in the story. Dark clouds are gathering in the horizon, but I've not much to say at this point. 

 

Chapter 14: The Fresnel Effect

The past two weeks have been quite harrowing. I needed to figure out how to create factual conversations between David and his friends, while making it sound scientific and interesting and not turn the readers off. But several distractions interrupted my thought flow——leaky faucets that required repair, a missing coffee table leg from an overseas shipment (Taobao, what else?) that took up quite a bit of my time to get the seller to ship me the missing part, and some errands my wife asked me to run (I can't say no, right?).

Shuttling between writing and doing those tasks can be tiring, to say the least, but I finally nailed it:

1. An online conference between the trio. Prof and Doc offered their suggestions of hiding HAVAH's sentient ability but these proved wanting. David's bold idea of invisibility raised eyebrows but led to a more fruitful discussion, and eventually the introduction of a temporary female character from the Armament Laboratory as an intermediary to provide partial solution. Quite a big chunk of content here.

2. Of course, David had to put up a show for the staff of Robotics Laboratory about his "success" in creating a functional humanoid assistant, since he is using their facility (an allocated private work lab by the lead scientist in charge). This is the temporary solution offered by the Prof.

3. In the last chapter when Viper dropped in unexpectedly and found out about David's endeavor, he promised to introduce HAVAH to her, albeit not in full disclosure. Still, it is an opportunity to showcase some romantic interplay between these two lovebirds that will delight the readers. I guarantee it.

4. David's meeting with the person in charge of the Armament Laboratory, an expert in nanotechnology, to explore a collaboration on producing metamaterials that have cloaking applications for STRATOS' operation. Clever, huh?

Looking back, I can't imagine I could still sit down and write all these narratives, despite those unforeseen disruptions and undeniable requests from my wife. But that's the thing——you can't possibly wait for conditions to be right to start writing——it will never happen.

But I got a feeling the chapter is not done yet. We'll see. Now for a well-deserved break!

 

Now You See Me...

The term "invisibility" tend to conjure ideas of cloaking and camouflages where an object is rendered invisible to the naked eye. Cloaking reminds me of the movie Predator with its advanced sci-fi cloaking device. Camouflaging, however, is more down to earth and is usually linked to military application. The former uses light bending while the latter depends on blending with the surrounding, much like a chameleon. 

Finding an interesting title that not only sounds scientific but stir the imagination of the readers on this intriguing topic isn't easy. After some searching around, I landed on a rather odd-sounding but fascinating catch——The Fresnel Effect. It was named after the French engineer and physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel (pronounced 'fre-nel') who was the first to understand that light is a transverse wave. The Fresnel Effect refers to the behavior of light when it encounters the surface of an object. Specifically, it describes how light waves interact with the surface, particularly at oblique angles of incidence.

At a basic level, when light hits a surface, part of it is reflected, and part of it is transmitted or refracted into the material. The Fresnel Effect accounts for the intensity of the reflected and transmitted light based on the angle of incidence. When light hits a surface at a steep angle, more of it is reflected, whereas when it hits at a perpendicular angle, more light is transmitted or refracted.

In the context of cloaking and light bending, the Fresnel Effect is related, especially in materials designed for invisibility or cloaking applications. Materials engineered to manipulate light behavior, such as metamaterials or specialized coatings, utilize the Fresnel Effect among other principles to control the way light interacts with them.

We now have an idea of what it is. How to translate this into a viable discussion between David and his two friends is a challenge I need to work on.

 

Chapter 13: Singularity

Finally, we're coming to the crucial chapter that will see HAVAH attain her long-awaited sentient status.

As I noted in a previous post, an AI does not require consciousness or even a physical form to achieve Singularity. But that would not achieve the desired cinematic effects if HAVAH remained a holographic entity. Readers should get the hint on what is to follow from this chapter onwards.

Since this is a pivotal chapter, I decided to allocate more content to it, specifically in the following areas:

1. David giving his humanoid robot a feminine makeover with a facial feature that resembles Viper (unconsciously, of course).

2. Viper's surprise drop-in while he was giving the finishing touch.

3. A special moment between the two lovebirds, with a little humor added.

4. Olivia coming into the picture, laying out the groundwork for some interesting dynamics with David in a future chapter or two.

5. Transferring HAVAH's digital neocortex to the humanoid.

There will also be some smaller details to tie up loose ends and provide a bridge to the next chapter.

 

HAVAH's Humanoid Form

An exciting aspect of writing a romantic sci-fi novel is the prospect of creating your own humanoid implementation for your favorite characters, in this case, HAVAH. 

How do you describe the fine details and features that make up a humanoid in terms of robotic language? To some degree, I imagine it would take on some human semblance in form and functionalities. Its framework would consist of a durable yet lightweight skeleton made of carbon fiber and aluminum alloys, a structure that provides support and articulation for the robot's movements, allowing for flexibility and agility.

Going on the wilder side, synthetic muscles or actuators made from smart materials like shape-memory alloys, in combination with pneumatic artificial muscles, are what enable the robot to mimic human-like motions with precision and fluidity.

Of course, aesthetics are important. The lifelike appearance is achieved through the creation of synthetic skin, made from silicone and pliable materials that resemble human skin texture, and to covers the robotic frame that is embedded with sensors for touch and temperature sensitivity, alongside an array of sensors that mimic human sensory perception. Facial features, such as the eyes, lips, and expressions, are crafted to convey emotions for enhanced interactive experience.

Powering the humanoid’s extensive framework of mechanical, electrical, and sensory components would be a distributed array of integrated power modules, rechargeable via external power source, and sustained by means of kinetic energy for prolonged independent operation.

HAVAH would be very pleased to inherit such a physical form. But I wonder if Viper would be jealous when she sees it.

 

Creating a Mind

Can non-biological brains have real minds of their own? That's the question Ray Kurzweil attempted to answer in his article How to Make a Mind in The Futurist magazine dated March-April 2013. He stated upfront:

The mammalian brain has a distinct aptitude not found in any other class of animal. We are capable of hierarchical thinking, of understanding a structure composed of diverse elements arranged in a pattern, representing that arrangement with a symbol, and then using that symbol as an element in a yet more elaborate configuration

This capability takes place in a brain structure called the neocortex, which in humans has achieved a threshold of sophistication and capacity such that we are able to call these patterns ideas. 

That's the reason I based my narrative of HAVAH's evolution on a digital neocortex. It is not a big stretch to imagine that's the likely trend for AI implementation in robotics. Advancement in nanotechnology may be the deal breaker. Perhaps that's what Mr. Kurzweil had in mind when he postulated:

With regard to our biological intelligence, although our neocortex has significant plasticity, its basic architecture is limited by its physical constraints. Putting additional neocortex into our foreheads was an important evolutionary innovation, but we cannot now easily expand the size of our frontal lobes by a factor of a thousand, or even by 10%. That is, we cannot do so biologically, but that is exactly what we will do technologically.

But should AI become far more intelligent and superior than humans, what are the implications and even moral concerns we may face? The futurist gave his parting thoughts on this:

As nonbiological brains become as capable as biological ones of effecting changes in the world—indeed, ultimately far more capable than unenhanced biological ones—we will need to consider their moral education. A good place to start would be with one old idea from our religious traditions: the golden rule.

Perhaps it's time to take a second look at Will Smith's iRobot movie.

 

Chapter 12: Hippocampus

What is the hippocampus?  It is a region of the brain that's heavily involved with storing past event memories, and more. In Greek mythology, it refers to a sea-horse like creature with an upper body of a horse and a lower body of a fish. Click on the picture below to learn more.

When David made known his intention to give HAVAH a physical form, you can expect certain reactions from his friends:

“You want to make HAVAH a sentient entity? That's quite a leap, David.” Dr. Harper voiced her apprehension. “The complexity involved in emulating the brain's functions within a physical body is immense. What we call neural networks in today's deep learning use only a subset of the whole family of neuronal models, limited mostly to feed forward and recurrent types. Our current neuro-quantum setup, while advanced, doesn't match up to the sophistication of a human brain.”

Of course, David is undeterred when he has set his mind to do something that even his friends find unthinkable. In a hard sci-fi novel, we need to be "realistic" in our approach in case the narrative becomes too fantasy it detracts or disengages readers from a reasonable probability mindset. That would defeat the objective of writing the novel.

So, I've included a short dissertation by Dr. Harper on her knowledge of this topic, which would invariably lead to the question of whether it's possible to invent a device for memory transfer.

Well, what do you think, my readers?

Update: The chapter on Empathy is now relegated to Chapter 12.

 

Reshuffling My Thoughts

A little into writing my next chapter, I felt the need to revisit the surprise encounter between David's two friends and HAVAH. It set me thinking how best to make use of their rare visit to allow David to leverage on their opinions and expertise in the area of memory transfer to further enhance HAVAH's development.

As a consequence, I did a reshuffle to insert one new addition:

Prologue

PART 1: EVE

1. STRATOS
2. EVE
3. The Prodigy
4. A Special Invitation
5. The Inauguration
6. Friend or Foe?
7. The Precursor

PART 2: HAVAH

8. The Awakening
9. HAVAH 
10. Confrontation
11. Empathy
12. Hippocampus
13. Singularity
14. Invisibility

I may also need to rename the chapter on invisibility as it doesn't sound quite right nor interesting. Will do that when I come to it.

 

Chapter 11: Empathy

Empathy is the ability to share someone else's feeling or experience by imagining what it would be like to be in his or her situation. I wrote this chapter with three things in mind:

1. To strengthen the bond between Viper and David through this quality displayed by the former towards the latter, in light of the recent unpleasant confrontation.

2. To engage David in a discussion with HAVAH on her emotional development and to explore the possibility of memory transfer that could accelerate the process.

3. To preempt readers on the next move David have in mind——a physical form for HAVAH to afford her a fuller human-like experience.

What will it take for a sentient AI to develop human emotions like empathy and compassion? Is it even possible? This is food for thought as we embrace an increasingly AI-driven world. And it may not be too far in the future when humanoid robots become a part of our daily lives.

Think Sophia and Ameca, and you'll get a glimpse of what's to come.

 

Chapter 10: Confrontation

Nobody likes confrontation, especially the unpleasant kind. What's worst is to create one out of necessity in a narrative. But that's what makes a novel interesting to read, more so if it's a character-driven one. It provides room for interplay and future story development as well, something that not even the writer himself is in full-control of. 

Which is a good thing too. So...

Wolf is old-school and would rather trust his own instinct and judgment than a machine when the lives of his men are at stake. That was his confession in Chapter 6 and it formed the basis for his inevitable showdown with David in this highly-charged chapter.

After some deliberating, I thought it would be good to bring in more characters onto the meeting table instead of just settling for a personal feud between the two (which would be kind of boring).

Another advantage, besides realism, is the opportunity to (once again) bring out the topic of artificial intelligence, its rapid evolution and implications to humanity, and the concerns people (like the paranoid Wolf) may display.

In the end, some compromise would have to come out of that high-pressure meeting, one that will set the tone for some future incidents involving David and HAVAH. Hey, I have to think ahead most of the time, even though I may not have any concrete idea at the moment. Perhaps that's what they meant by having your imaginations run wild.

But this chapter will not solely be just about the confrontation. There should be a sweet spot where readers get a whiff of fresh air, a reprieve if you would. And I believe you know which characters I have in mind.

It should also be time for David to reveal HAVAH to his friends to make way for more conversations that center around those topics of interest and concern for many of us caught in the grip of technological advancements.

 

The Cinematic Syndrome

This is a rather weird (and I would dare say, unique and personal) term I coined while writing my first novel.

Although I've come to expect frequent writer's block and periods of dry spell, it's still not a good feeling when I find myself in a rut and want to throw up my hands and just give up the whole damn idea.

"I can't do this!" 

I would find myself saying that sentence many times since I began this journey. But the marvelous thing is I'm still writing!

So what is it that keep me going? The Cinematic Syndrome.

What do I mean by that?

Well, whenever I feel I run out of inspiration or idea, I would start envisioning a scene in my story where characters play out their roles and conversations. It's a way to hypnotize myself into believing what I write is real and of value it has the possibility of making it onto the silver screen.

Call that a dream, if you will. But I think (and suspect) that it could be the very thing that drives many authors to write their novels.

 

New Chapter Additions

I've hit another rut this week after writing the HAVAH chapter. The initial excitement over EVE's transition to her next level of manifestation had subsided. It's back to the grueling task of deciding what chapter topics should come next in the storyline to keep the momentum going.

I began to wonder if that's the primary reason most novel authors choose to leave out the TOC, or if they ever include one, not to have any title at all. This would free them from any constraint to conform their story content, while allowing them the freedom to write what they fancy, and keep their readers guessing what comes next.

Anyway, I'm still very much an engineer in heart and mind, so what the heck:

Prologue

PART 1: EVE

1. STRATOS
2. EVE
3. The Prodigy
4. A Special Invitation
5. The Inauguration
6. Friend or Foe?
7. The Precursor

PART 2: HAVAH

8. The Awakening
9. HAVAH 
10. Confrontation
11. Empathy
12. Singularity
13. Invisibility

I can't guarantee that my narrative will follow like the additional chapters outlined, should my inspiration dictate otherwise. But having something tangible to work on will allow me to focus on my storyline. It's just the way I work, so yeah.

 

Chapter 9: HAVAH

Several thoughts were at play while I was writing this pivotal chapter:

1. How should I project EVE in terms of her holographic manifestation and the way she interact in her new evolution?

2. What new identity will David give to her and will he keep it a secret, at least for now until a convenient time to reveal to his friends?

3. Is it possible to interject a nice little conversation between Viper and David to give the reader something to look forward to?

4. How about an unhappy incident for team STRATOS that will lay the groundwork for a future confrontation between Wolf and David?

5. Since EVE is beginning to realize her Singularity, maybe I should think about how David will provide her a physical form to advance to the next level of existence. This may include creating new characters and dynamics within the Omega Base's scientific research facilities

The above points didn't come all at once. Rather they appeared in random order and sometimes only after I have finished writing one and started pondering what's next. Inspiration is fascinating; yet it can be frustrating when it fails to show up when you desperately need it. I'm sure most authors understand what I mean.

Readers may wonder what acronym I'd given for the name HAVAH (like I did for EVE in an earlier post). I'm not going to divulge just to keep the story enthralling and wrapped in an air of mystery. But if you're game enough, maybe you can suggest one in the comment. Who knows, it might change my mind to adopt yours in preference over mine.

That's also one fun and motivational way to spice up my journey in writing a novel. 

 

National Day 2023

(Click on the photo to go to YouTube and watch the parade)

Taking a break to celebrate our nation's 58th birthday this year!

The past three years had been a difficult time as nations the world over struggled with CoVid-19. This year, with the pandemic now reduced to an endemic, the people are raring to go for a full celebration on this joyous occasion.

Majulah Singpura! 

 

Ray Kurzweil

In a previous post, I mentioned an American computer scientist by the name Ray Kurzweil, who is also regarded as a futurist by many in the scientific and technology communities. Prior to writing this novel, I wasn't aware of his person and works until I started researching into AI.

Dr. Kurzweil is quite a remarkable public figure, given his keen sense of the future from a technological advancement perspective. In fact, he not only predicted the explosive growth of the internet, mobile phone, and artificial intelligence; he also gave the timeline that AI would take to achieve the Singularity. He predicted that by the end of 2020, computing power would reach one exaflop and AI would match or exceed human performance across a range of tasks. And there's more.

Take a look at his predictions, stretching all the way to 2045:

This futurist even anticipated neural interfaces that allow humans to connect their brains directly via BCI to cloud-based AI to augment our own intelligence and abilities with the power of AI.

Now that's some fantastic hard sci-fi materials I intend to include in my novel.

 

Chapter 8: The Awakening

In the midst of the clockwork like operation within the Omega Base, David had managed to come up with a working prototype of the digital neocortex that he envisioned would give EVE an awakening that she needs to become self-aware. Now the story is gaining momentum.

While life goes on as is in and around the multi-storey complex of the covert base, a revolution is silently taking place, oblivious to its inhabitants, except to a handful of night shift control center operators who noticed slight anomalies——glitches appearing randomly across the console screens, and EVE’s holographic image and the adjacent projections started to jitter as if breaking up. But things soon went back to normal.

It’s been a long journey in David's arduous quest and that very night it’s finally going online. It would take EVE a while to orientate and adapt to this new addition, David surmised. But how much EVE would progress in her evolutionary growth is anybody’s guess. 

And that's for me to invent and improvise as the story progresses, and for my readers to find out!

 

Singularity and Human Destiny

Hot on the heels of Viper, the star in our novel, is the next evolutionary leap of EVE towards Singularity——the holy grail and dream of every AI developer.

What exactly is Singularity?

It refers to a future point in time where artificial intelligence (AI) could potentially surpass human intelligence. This occurrence would arise from the exponential self-improvement of AI, leading to an unpredictable and rapid change in the technological landscape.

Does achieving Singularity require an AI to possess consciousness like humans?

According to Tim Bayne, in most theories, and certainly in common sense experience based on introspection, consciousness is singular. There is only one ‘me’ and that is the one that is conscious. This means that ‘singularity’ is a defining aspect of ‘consciousness’. 

In my humble opinion, AI does not need human consciousness to be singular, but it'll need some form of "AI consciousness" to assert itself as a first person singularity. For example, when a human user address ChatGPT as "you", it interprets the word "you" as referring to its own internal self-concept of ego.

Ray Kurzweil, an American computer scientist, author, inventor and futurist, in an article titled "Reinventing Humanity" in World Future Society magazine, foresaw a radical evolution of the human species in the next forty years. He made the claim that "we stand on the threshold of the most profound and transformative event in the history of humanity, the Singularity.”

It's a profound statement, and one which makes for an interesting conversation in a sci-fi novel geared towards this direction for an AI entity. I wonder if Mr. Kurzweil will be interested to get a copy when it is released...