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Comment by sysk | Hacker News Reader

I wonder if the receiving participants really felt "compelled" to move their hand or if instead they learned to recognise the "fire" signal over time and deliberately acted upon it. It could have felt like a more distinct buzz than other random signals received in between two firings. Not sure if I'm making sense...

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Though there's no answer in the video, the classic demonstration of TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) you'll find in an intro to brain imaging class is to trigger sections of brain containing the motor neurons. This creates involuntary movement in the muscles of your body, rather than any kind of information you would process willfully act upon. Given the mention of placing the TMS paddle on the opposite hemisphere of the brain from the subject's arm, it's plausible that they are actually just aiming at the motor neurons.

If the TMS causing a twitch is existing textbook knowledge, then are they doing anything new at all? Reading some kind of signal from a trained person's brain is also already commonplace.

It sounds like you're asking whether "minds" are communicating or whether one mind is simply controlling the motor parts of another body.

The latter makes me uncomfortable, but this is just another reminder that we are probably[1] machines after all.

[1] I don't want to start a determinism/free will debate. I don't think I've actually seen any sort of debates on HN, but just in case.

You haven't. Any undergrad philosophy class would have taught you debating the topic is fruitless.

Also, define machine.

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