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Control and regulation         central research topics

A Systemic Perspective on the Subject Matter    A ‘systemic perspective’ was beginning to permeate the natural and social sciences. This perspective called attention to ‘holism’ in two senses. The first sense involved addressing an individual system as a whole and not merely the aggregate of its constituents. The second sense involved appreciating the manner in which multiple systems participated within larger discernible systems, such that everything involved everything else. 

An Affinity for Systematic Models and Explanations     This search entailed a belief that at some level of abstraction biological and non-biological systems could be addressed equally. It also involved a faith that at such a level of abstraction there were uniform and reliable principles to be discerned and analyzed.

Treating Relationships in terms of ‘Communication’    A focus on ‘communication’ in two important senses. The first sense was the invocation of ‘communication’ as referential context for addressing functional interrelationships within and among dynamic systems. In terms of communicational ‘vehicle’, this meant framing interrelationships in terms of signals, channels, and routing. In terms of communicational ‘content’, this meant framing things in terms of signs, signification, and pragmatics. The second sense was the distillation of general principles from analyses of dynamics in (e.g.) interpersonal communications and communication technologies. By the early 1940′s this ‘communication’ motif afforded a basis for conversations among the various people poised to launch a new transdisciplinary field.

Cybernetic Intelligence Research Group Website. Cybernetic intelligence is the study of intelligence and its application. It is an approach characterised by its emphasis on sub-symbolic knowledge representation and bottom-up (ie. data driven) problem solving. Cybernetic intelligence describes theoretical, mathematical and philosophical aspects of consciousness and intelligence and their application to the design of intelligent machines and the control of complex systems. It encompasses nonlinear, distributed and intelligent control; models of information processing in the brain; novel neural networks; pattern classification; image understanding and processing. The group has gained an extremely high international reputation, as evidenced by the large number of requests for group members to visit key international research institutes and conversely for their members to visit the group, together with corresponding global media interest in the labs. The group has witnessed considerable success in the field of autonomous intelligent robotics

What happens when a man is merged with a computer? This is the question that Professor Kevin Warwick and his team at the the department of Cybernetics, University of Reading intend to answer with ‘Project Cyborg’. On Monday 24th August 1998, at 4:00pm, Professor Kevin Warwick underwent an operation to surgically implant a silicon chip transponder in his foream. Dr. George Boulous carried out the operation at Tilehurst Surgery, using local anaesthetic only. This experiment allowed a computer to monitor Kevin Warwick as he moved through halls and offices of the Department of Cybernetics at the University of Reading, using a unique identifying signal emitted by the implanted chip. He could operate doors, lights, heaters and other computers without lifting a finger. The HYPERLINK "http://www.rdg.ac.uk/KevinWarwick/html/implant_technology.html" chip implant technology has the capability to impact our lives in ways that have been previously thought possible in only sci-fi movies. The implant could carry all sorts of information about a person, from Access and Visa details to your National Insurance number, blood type, medical records etc., with the data being updated where necessary. The second phase of the experiment Project Cyborg 2.0 got underway in March 2002. This phase will look at how a new implant could send signals back and forth between Warwick’s nervous system and a computer. If this phase succeeds with no complications, a similar chip will be implanted in his wife, Irena. This will allow the investigation of how movement, thought or emotion signals could be transmitted from one person to the other, possibly via the Internet. The question is how much can the brain process and adapt to unfamiliar information coming in through the nerve branches? Will the brain accept the information? Will it try to stop it or be able to cope? Professor Kevin Warwicks answer to these questions is quite simply "We don’t have an idea – yet, but if this experiment has the possiblility to help even one person, it is worth doing just to see what might happen

On March 14th, 2002 at 8.30 am an operation was carried out at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, UK to implant a microelectrode array onto the median nerve of Professor Kevin Warwick. Date : 22-Mar-2002 Web Link : HYPERLINK "http://www.rdg.ac.uk/KevinWarwick/html/project_cyborg_2_0.html" http://www.rdg.ac.uk/KevinWarwick/html/project_cyborg_2_0.html The US Professor and visionary, HYPERLINK "http://www.digitalcentury.com/encyclo/update/wiener.html" Norbert Wiener, founded the field of Cybernetics in the 1940′s. He envisaged that one day electronic systems he called "Nervous Prostheses" would be developed that would allow those with spinal injuries to control their paralysed limbs using signals detected in their brain. In the UK two internationally renowned professors, in the HYPERLINK "http://www.cyber.rdg.ac.uk/home.htm" Department of Cybernetics at the HYPERLINK "http://www.rdg.ac.uk/" University of Reading, Brian Andrews and HYPERLINK "http://www.cyber.rdg.ac.uk/people/K.Warwick.htm" Kevin Warwick, together with the eminent neurosurgeon Peter Teddy have just taken a step closer to this dream. The team have come together from different branches of Cybernetics and Neurosurgery. HYPERLINK "http://www.cyber.rdg.ac.uk/people/K.Warwick.htm" Kevin Warwick specializes in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics and Brian Andrews in the field of Biomedical Engineering, Neural Prostheses and Spinal Injuries. Peter Teddy has a long involvement with neural implants and is the head of Neurosurgery at Oxford. Although seemingly worlds apart, these fields have many common threads. The principal investigators Andrews, HYPERLINK "http://www.cyber.rdg.ac.uk/people/K.Warwick.htm" Warwick and Teddy, lead a large team of surgeons and researchers including, Brian Gardner, Ali Jamous, Amjad Shad and HYPERLINK "http://www.cyber.rdg.ac.uk/people/M.Gasson.htm" Mark Gasson of the world famous National Spinal Injuries Centre (NSIC)-Stoke Mandeville Hospital, the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford and the University of Reading, UK. The team are supported by the HYPERLINK "http://www.davidtolkientrust.com/" David Tolkien Trust, HYPERLINK "http://www.ca.com/" Computer Associates, HYPERLINK "http://www.tumbleweed.com/" Tumbleweed and HYPERLINK "http://www.fujitsu.co.uk/" Fujitsu. A sophisticated new microelectronic implant has been developed that allows two-way connection to the nervous system. In one direction, the natural activity of nerves are detected and in the other, nerves can be activated by applied electrical pulses. It is envisaged that such neural connections may, in the future, help people with spinal cord injury or limb amputation.

Envision a world where people actively participate in virtual adventures instead of merely watching them in the form of a movie at home or in a theater. It is a world where the participants become the actors, interacting with friends and strangers in photo realistic environments. Just as the movies were initially viewed as a gimmick, immersive VR entertainment centers are the next big evolution in out of home entertainment. This is the promise of Atlantis Cyberspace.