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‘’COGITO in Space”: a thought experiment in exo-neurobiology
  • +3
  • Daniela de Paulis,
  • Stephen Whitmarsh,
  • Robert Oostenveld,
  • Guillaume Dumas,
  • Michael Sanders,
  • Guillaume Dumas
Daniela de Paulis
IAA Permanent SETI Committee, IAA Permanent SETI Committee, IAA Permanent SETI Committee

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Stephen Whitmarsh
EEGsynth, EEGsynth, EEGsynth
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Robert Oostenveld
Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging
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Guillaume Dumas
University of Montreal, University of Montreal
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Michael Sanders
CAMRAS, Dwingeloo, CAMRAS, Dwingeloo, CAMRAS, Dwingeloo
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Guillaume Dumas
University of Montreal
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Abstract

In 2014, media artist Daniela de Paulis first presented at ASTRON in The Netherlands the possibility of radio-transmission of brain activity as part of her project ‘’COGITO in Space”, for which laboratory-grade EEG recordings are analyzed and converted to sound in real-time, using an open-source interstellar EEG-transmission protocol designed for the project by Guillaume Dumas and Michael Sanders and integrated in the EEGsynth fieldtrip software package. The 25m dish antenna of the Dwingeloo radio telescope in The Netherlands instantly transmits this audio-stream into space while the participant’s brain activity is recorded. The antenna uses amateur radio equipment, with a SingleSideBand (SSB) 120W power transmission with a fixed dish position. By spreading transmissions over the sky chances of possible detection by an alien civilization are limited. One of the challenges of the project was the real-time conversion of 32-channel EEG into a mono 3kHz audio signal for a linear SSB modulated radio transmission, including the 3D electrode positions that would allow the reconstruction of the cortical activity and topography by a hypothetical receiver.