# Key Points from #hplusroadmap IRC Discussions

• Participants discussed brain-computer interface technologies, with specific mentions of the Emotiv EPOC (which was successfully tested with a 5-year-old child), BrainLink System, PLX Wave, and NeuroSky, including comparisons of their capabilities and reports of subjective effects from SMR neurofeedback training.

• A concept for a "transhumanist bootcamp" was proposed that would focus on practical skills like tissue cultures, programming, rocketry, machining, and lab equipment building, contrasting with the more theoretical approach of institutions like Singularity University.

• Detailed neuroscience discussions covered the NPAS4 gene's role in fear-based conditioning, specifically how knocking it out in the CA3 region of the hippocampus using Cre/loxP recombination prevented fear conditioning in mice.

• The feasibility of human augmentation was debated, including the practical challenges of implantable modifications like horns and forearm blades, highlighting the significant gap between fictional augmentations in media like Deus Ex and realistic transhumanist modifications.

• Participants explored neural plasticity and the human nervous system's potential to adapt to novel body configurations in virtual environments, such as controlling non-standard body parts like wings or tails.

• Technical discussions included offline HTML5 Wikipedia implementations using git.js, with debate about appropriate revision control systems for Wikipedia-scale projects, as well as programming language topics including SICP, Common Lisp documentation, and a Lisp-to-C++ translator for Qt development.

• Resources for accessing academic research were shared, including Library Genesis for finding difficult-to-access publications like Ericsson's paper on deliberate practice.