back to article Latest military-research boon: Game interface to rule them all

Sometimes, people suggest that military boffins are a waste of the taxpayers' money. They either develop hideous weaponry calculated to increase the amount of misery in the world, or fool about inventing pointless gadgetry which wastes our soldiers' time. Not today, though - today is one of those days when the brainboxes of …

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  1. Disco-Legend-Zeke

    Think I Saw That In...

    ...Futurama.

    1. Blofeld's Cat
      Thumb Up

      Disembodied brain

      It's DARPA so probably more like L'oncle Irvin in "City of Lost Children".

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    So what do you call a man who can play a piano with both hands on his head?

    A clever dick...

  3. Wommit
    Paris Hilton

    (C)

    Anne McCaffrey, See The Ship Who Sang etc. etc.

    1. Gavin King

      Or perhaps

      a book called "Lethe", for a not quite as benign outcome as the McCaffery books.

      I forget who wrote it, though. Still got it lying about somewhere.

    2. John Smith 19 Gold badge
      Thumb Up

      @Wommitt

      "Anne McCaffrey, See The Ship Who Sang etc. etc."

      And I think you have the record for the *earliest* proposal of this idea. Starship troopers only went as far as prostheses as a throw away plot device.

  4. Warren G
    Thumb Up

    Tag

    What a great tag: "Disembodied Brains In Jars". Even better is the fact that there is actually another story tagged with it: another one of Lewis's from 2007. Can't help feeling that we could do with more stories with this tag.

  5. Andy Howarth

    Avatards?

    Is this not just a case of DARPA showing Avatar one too many times in the works canteen?

  6. Mike Brown
    Terminator

    next step: butlerian jihad!!

    we are getting closer and closer to the day i become a navigator!!

    Also is this announcement an annoucement that they have this tech already, or are they looking for some one to biuld it for them?

  7. Tasogare
    Happy

    A riddle:

    "We shall serve, forever!"

    Find the line from the article that brought this to mind and connect the dots between that line and this one. Five points to the first person to fully do so. (points redeemable for absolutely nothing)

  8. Speeder
    Happy

    mm reminds me of some games like...

    Mechwarrior or Warhammer 40k :P

  9. pyroweasel

    Jar-heads?

    So the Marines of the future could still be called Jar-heads?

    1. John Smith 19 Gold badge
      Joke

      @pyroweasel

      "So the Marines of the future could still be called Jar-heads?"

      Yes

      But now the jar will be *outside* the head.

  10. Captain Hogwash

    "Disembodied Brains In Jars"

    Ever seen Dennis Potter's "Cold Lazarus"? These won't replace game controllers, they'll replace game consoles.

  11. Ugotta B. Kiddingme

    RoboCop

    can't believe no one has yet drawn that comparison. Nigh indestructible robot body, controlled by lots of computers and (most of) a human brain. With the aforementioned human's face to make it appear more friendly.

    http://www.imdb.com/Title?0093870

  12. Marcus Fil
    Terminator

    I think, in all worrying seriousness,

    DARPA has just proposed the evolution of the Dalek. Cue comments about stairs. Will they fund my application for a time travelling Police box?

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The problem with the military-industrial complex...

    ... isn't DARPA. It is more how there's so many weapons manufacturers with such powerful lobbies that you couldn't reduce spending if you wanted to. It's the beltway bandits that will come up with overly expensive under performing "weapon systems" where a simple and cheap thing could do just because that's where the money is. It's the interaction between all that and then there's the new bubble, security theatre & circus spending.

    This latest bit of wacky tech, BTW, seems to be a relatively small step forward, as it likely requires sweeping up the existing research and "practicalising" it, if not outright weaponising. The interface is another step-up to a Gibson type "cyberspace", so it's worth noting. Astute readers will have noted this would to the opposite of what Gibson's "trodes" do, but come to think of it, he very well might have gotten that backwards anyway. Until we get actual and two-way neural interface jacks. Not sure I'd like to hang around for that.

    1. Kibble

      @AC 01:17

      Don't forget the Altered Carbon series by Richard K. Morgan, although that technology is slightly different. I'm up for that!

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Yummie! Bubbling brain nutrients.

    Could the nutrients be flavoured? If so, *and* they can provide a flavour identical to Holland's steak and kidney puddings served with chips, mushy peas and a good splodge of gravy, I will apply for bubbling forthwith.

  15. Melvin Meatballs
    Stop

    Where's the crazy angle?

    I am utterly disappointed that an El Reg article including DARPA does not mention how crazy they are.

  16. Yesnomaybe

    Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman

    describes something like this, we have the "flyboys", they are working on the "navyboys", and finally we might have the "soldierboys". A brave new world is looming!!

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