Machines Like Us

In his famous essay, Thomas Nagel suggested that science's reductionist methods can never provide a complete understanding of the "subjective qualities" of consciousness. To illustrate this problem, he wrote that there was "no reason to suppose that" we would ever be able to comprehend what it's like to be a bat -- because we can't truly understand the subjective experience of, for example, echolocation.

Ironically, scientific advances in "sensory substitution" technology have demonstrated that it's possible to simulate (or stimulate) one modality (sight, hearing, touch) with sensory data from another. In one such system, a camera translates optical information into weak electrical pulses, which are then applied to the tongue (which is an ideal interface for sensory substitution due to its high sensitivity and large representation in the cortex). Users of this technology report the subjective experience of actually seeing with their tongue, if you can imagine that (note that Thomas Nagel would suggest you can't).

New research by Auvray et al demonstrates how a different sensory substitution system -- "the vOICe" -- provides people with the ability to see through sound waves, without the limitations inherent to electrical stimulation of the tongue (which includes irritation, pain, and large energy requirements).

Read full story in Developing Intelligence