Software Engineer

Image created with nano banana by Joseph Olejak using the prompts "human divine evolution" Ever since the dawn of the computer age there has been a technological movement to advance the idea that one day artificial intelligence will be smarter than humans and by definition two things will likely emerge in that dystopian future: 1. Humans will have to merge with computers to remain a viable species 2. Technocracy (as opposed to Democracy) will be the political framework. I call this future dystopian because it is a future without love, compassion and feeling. It is a future based on zeros and ones and is a cold hearted rational approach. For example, computers may determine one day that there are too many humans to safely inhabit the planet. Or that humans are a parasite on planet Earth. The logical conclusion of that is extermination. One could easily imagine an extermination plan - Old Chatham Quakers has witnessed it before with industrial scale, but now try to grok what it would look like under technocracy. And carried out by robots where there is no appeal to humanity. Too crazy? Outrageous? Not really. Computer targeting "solutions" without a human in the loop are already a part of Pentagon protocols. A girls school with 180 souls was bombed in Iran as part of Trump trying to control Iran. Oops? Not its fault. The computer made the decision. Hegseth, head of the so-called Dept of War, declared that there will be no limits on what the pentagon can do with AI. Like it or not Old Chatham Quakers is now in a technological race with machines for its very survival. Futurists debate whether there will be a split between mandatory fusion with machines or merely biological upgrades... OR... whether "regular" humans will become obsolescent. There's three lousy choices. FYI Neuralink, an American tech company, is already working on a brain-chip interface. Old Chatham Quakers is in a very dangerous place. Ray Kurzweil, in his book The Singularity Is Nearer, predicts that by 2030 brain-computer interfaces will allow people to plug their neocortex directly into the cloud. A terrifying thought. Who knows what computer bug might get uploaded into your brain. That virus won't be DNA or RNA but a source code chosen by someone else and it could have you thinking thoughts that are not your own and acting on ideas planted there by Meta or Musk or Gates or ABC. If you thought FOX NEWS was programming people this is on a whole other level. So what is the REAL Singularity? As a Christ-Based Quaker, I'd say that singularity has to do with its ability to merge with the spirit of Christ. If you find that language offensive or can't relate, just put in the Spirit of love. Either way it relates to a merger of a different kind and has these characteristics: 1. It is based on freedom 2. It is based on love 3. It is based on connection with and feeling for other humans 4. It puts logic second and humanity first 5. It creates space for diversity of thought and diversity of action. The real singularity grows out of quiet, discernment and connection to both spirit and each other. It is based on that intangible spiritual nature of humanity. The part that so many of Old Chatham Quakers are disconnected from. The odd thing is that it is so easy to connect. No special techniques required. The spirit of creation, of God, is all around Old Chatham Quakers and imbues the living world with fantastic creativity. O pen your eyes. O ne only has to look! Observation is the fastest way to God. Goethe, for example, did not view God and Nature as two separate entities. He fused the terms Gott-natur (God and Nature) to describe this singularity. And... are Old Chatham Quakers not nature? Not a part of it, but nature itself; that is fully integrated and a part of the whole? This sacred wholeness is what Goethe called the "garment of God" or the direct expression of the living God. Where does sacred observation lead? · To wholeness vs separation · To integration vs. fragmentation · To abundance and bounty vs scarcity I woke up this morning and saw a gaggle of turkeys with their little pullets in tow walking across the lawn and then they came upon two rabbits also having their breakfast of clover and no one ran - there was enough of everything for everyone. This is the thinking Old Chatham Quakers must adopt to survive because the AI models are based on limitation and not-enough. Human-Christ Singularity / Human-Love Singularity offers so much more. Take a look around!!! ~ Joseph Olejak

Brain-Computer interfaces move from labs to real-world applications in 2026. Brain-computer interfaces have crossed a critical threshold in 2026, transitioning from experimental laboratory research to real-world clinical and consumer applications. The technology, which establishes direct communication pathways between the human brain and external devices, is now being implanted in patients with paralysis, enabling them to control computers, robotic limbs, and even communicate through thought alone. The rapid acceleration of BCI development is being driven by breakthroughs in neural recording technology, miniaturized electronics, and advanced artificial intelligence that decodes neural signals with unprecedented accuracy. Neuralink's first commercial implants. Elon Musk's Neuralink has taken the lead in the commercial BCI race, having received regulatory approval in the United States, Canada, and the European Union for its N1 implant. The device, a coin-sized chip surgically placed beneath the skull with ultra-thin electrode threads that penetrate the brain tissue, has been implanted in over 200 patients since clinical trials began in 2024. The results have been remarkable: patients with spinal cord injuries have regained the ability to control digital devices at speeds approaching natural typing and browsing. The most celebrated case involves a 38-year-old quadriplegic who, after receiving the Neuralink implant, was able to compose messages at 65 words per minute using only his thoughts - a speed that approaches average natural typing rates. Beyond communication, Neuralink has demonstrated cursor control for digital design software, enabling paralyzed patients to create digital art and perform CAD modeling for engineering work. The company has ambitious plans to expand beyond medical applications into consumer wellness, including focus enhancement and memory augmentation. Synchron's endovascular approach. While Neuralink has captured the most headlines, Synchron has been quietly advancing a less invasive approach that is winning favor among clinicians and regulators. The company's Stentrode device is delivered to the brain through the jugular vein in a minimally invasive procedure that avoids open brain surgery. The device, resembling a small stent with electrode contacts, is positioned in the superior sagittal sinus - a major blood vessel near the motor cortex - where it can detect neural signals associated with movement intention. Synchron's approach offers significant advantages in safety and accessibility. The endovascular procedure can be performed by interventional radiologists using techniques that are already widespread in hospitals, dramatically reducing the barrier to adoption. The company has treated 75 patients across clinical trials in the United States, Australia, and Europe, with all participants showing improved ability to perform digital tasks. Synchron has received breakthrough device designation from the FDA and is expected to receive full commercial approval by late 2026. The role of AI in decoding neural signals. The rapid progress in BCI technology is inseparable from advances in artificial intelligence. Decoding neural signals - translating the electrical activity of millions of neurons into meaningful commands - requires sophisticated machine learning models that can interpret noisy, high-dimensional brain data in real time. Transformer-based neural networks, originally developed for natural language processing, have proven remarkably effective at this task. Modern BCI systems use deep learning models that continuously adapt to each individual user's neural patterns. These systems can distinguish between intended movements, background thoughts, and physiological artifacts like heartbeats or eye blinks with greater than 95 percent accuracy. The decoding latency has fallen below 50 milliseconds, making the experience feel instantaneous to users. As these AI models become more efficient, they are being deployed directly on the implant hardware itself, eliminating the need for external processing units. Ethical considerations and privacy concerns. The rapid commercialization of BCI technology has raised significant ethical questions about neural data privacy, cognitive liberty, and long-term safety. Advocacy groups and bioethicists have called for strong regulatory frameworks that protect users against unauthorized access to their neural data - a uniquely intimate form of personal information that could reveal thoughts, emotions, and intentions. Chile became the first country to enact neurorights legislation in 2025, establishing constitutional protections for brain data as a separate category of personal information. The European Union has followed with proposed regulations under an expanded framework for neurotechnology, requiring explicit opt-in consent for any collection or processing of neural data. In the United States, the FDA has taken a product-safety approach rather than a privacy one, focusing on device safety and clinical efficacy while leaving privacy protections to existing health data regulations, which critics argue are inadequate for the unique threats posed by BCI technology. The rise of non-invasive BCI devices. Alongside surgical implants, non-invasive BCI devices have experienced a consumer boom in 2026. Headbands and wearable headsets that use electroencephalography to monitor brain activity are being marketed for productivity enhancement, meditation, and gaming. Companies like NextMind, Emotiv, and a flood of startups are offering devices priced between 200 and 2,000 dollars that can detect basic neural signals associated with attention, relaxation, and visual focus. While these consumer devices are far less precise than surgical implants - capable of distinguishing only broad mental states rather than specific thoughts - they have found a ready market in a population increasingly interested in quantified cognition. Workplace wellness programs are piloting the use of EEG headbands to monitor employee fatigue and optimize break schedules. The video game industry, always eager for novel input methods, has begun integrating basic BCI controls into popular titles, allowing players to cast spells or accelerate vehicles through focused attention alone. Future trajectory: from medical to mainstream. The BCI industry is projected to reach 15 billion dollars in annual revenue by 2030, driven primarily by medical applications in the near term but increasingly by consumer and workplace uses in the latter half of the decade. Both Neuralink and Synchron are already developing second-generation devices with higher channel counts, wireless power, and bidirectional communication capabilities that would enable not just reading brain signals but writing information back into the brain - a development with immense therapeutic potential for treating blindness, hearing loss, and memory disorders. The convergence of BCI with augmented reality headsets, haptic feedback systems, and AI assistants points toward a future where human-computer interaction is fundamentally reimagined. The keyboard, mouse, and touchscreen - the dominant input modalities for the past four decades - may eventually be supplemented, and in some cases replaced, by direct neural interfaces. 2026 will be remembered as the year the science fiction of direct brain-computer communication became a practical, commercial reality. Ramo is the editorial voice of Mylistingo - an AI and technology news platform based in The Hague, Netherlands. Covering artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, and the future of technology, Ramo delivers accurate, accessible reporting for both general audiences and industry professionals. Every article is fact-checked and written to meet Mylistingo's strict no-fabrication editorial standards.

Detecting implants in their brains. A San Francisco startup with ties to Elon Musk's Neuralink has started testing its brain implant to detect and treat cancer in humans. Coherence Neuro says it temporarily placed its coin-sized implant in the brains of three people undergoing surgery to have brain tumors removed at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia. The implant was in place for roughly 30 minutes before being removed, providing an important safety check before the device can be implanted long-term in patients with brain cancer. Known as a brain-computer interface, the Coherence Neuro device is designed to sense the unique electrical signals of tumors and deliver mild electrical stimulation to prevent their growth. In the time the implant was in the patients' brains, the company was able to see how it performed for a short period. (The patients had consented prior to surgery.) Matthew MacDougall, Neuralink's head neurosurgeon, is an adviser and investor in Coherence. Rory Murphy, a neurosurgeon at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Arizona who is an investigator in one of Neuralink's trials, is also slated to be involved in future trials of the Coherence device. The idea behind treating brain tumors with electrical stimulation comes from the long-held observation that cancerous tissue has distinctive electrical properties. "These are electrical conditions, just like epilepsy, just like depression. This is a network problem in the brain," says Ben Woodington, chief executive officer and cofounder of Coherence. In 2019, researchers at Stanford University found that a group of aggressive brain tumors called high-grade gliomas drive their own growth by forming synapses with healthy neurons. In that study, researchers showed that giving a seizure drug to mice successfully interrupted electrical signals to tumors and slowed their growth. Applying low-intensity electricity has also been shown to disrupt cancer cell division in brain tumors. A wearable device called Optune, developed by Novocure, was first approved in 2011 to treat adults with glioblastoma, which makes up about half of cancerous brain tumors. Earlier this year, the company received regulatory approval to treat pancreatic cancer with its device, which is attached to either the scalp or stomach with adhesive patches depending on the type of cancer. The Optune device can improve survival by several months if it's worn for most of the day, but people have to shave their heads to use it and carry a battery around in a backpack or on a hip belt. Coherence wants to deliver electrical stimulation in a more convenient way. Its implant sits in the skull and has 16 extending threads that extend into the brain tissue. It's designed to be implanted during a brain tumor resection surgery, when a tumor is removed. Even when tumors can be fully removed, it's common for them to come back after surgery, something Coherence's device is designed to protect against. The company is initially aiming to treat glioblastoma, which has a higher risk of coming back compared to lower-grade tumors. Glioblastoma patients have few options and a grim prognosis. Most patients live for just 15 to 18 months after being diagnosed, with a five-year survival rate of less than 10 percent. Right now, glioblastoma patients get an MRI of their brain every two to three months so doctors can monitor tumor growth and tweak their drug regimen as needed. But Woodington doesn't think that's frequent enough. Brain tumors can suddenly become more aggressive, and clinicians don't have a good idea of what's going on between scans. The Coherence device is designed to monitor people continuously and deliver customized electrical stimulation. A connected app will let patients log their symptoms, which get sent to clinicians along with their disease state and the amount of stimulation they're receiving. Doctors can fine-tune the therapy remotely or let the device do so automatically. And by detecting rapid tumor growth, the device could signal to doctors when to intervene with surgery before an MRI could. The company plans to begin a trial next year in glioblastoma patients in which they will have the device permanently implanted.