Cerebral extraction

Cerebral extraction (colloquially known as mindhacking) is an extension of whole brain emulation, and the result of decades of research by several branches of the Kryosi government scientific research division. On a basic level, cerebral extraction allows someone to access the entire stored brainmap of an individual – obtained via whole brain emulation – and extract sections of data they desire for later analysis, or even re-insertion to another subject.

History

Since the early 21st century, scientists have investigated the possibility of whole-brain emulation via scanning and mapping. By 2059, technological advancements had progressed to a point where Kryosi scientists in the specially formed Oblivion branch – a dedicated sub-department of the Kryosi Intelligence and Luminosity League (K.I.L.L.) scientific research wing; the ReAPer Division – were able to map a detail level up to and including the distribution of protein complexes within a human brain, and store them on a supercomputer. This first system, named Mnemosyne – after the personification of memory in Ancient Greek mythology – was used to successfully map a human brain for the first time in 2066.

Before any of the mapped information could be useful for the purposes of cerebral extraction, it would need to be decoded. This process took decades and experienced several setbacks due to the unforeseen consequences of stochastic behaviours on a molecular level. Notably, the primary system in use at Oblivion branch at the turn of the 22nd century – Mnemosyne VII – suffered a major failure as a result of these behaviours, setting research back by two decades. Only one member of Oblivion branch survived the ensuing cull. Through a combination of guided estimation and brute force methods, Oblivion branch finalised the decoding process in 2137, using their thirteenth-generation supercomputer, Erebos III . It was discovered that the decoding process does not have a fixed key system, but rather a fluctuating algorithm. The discovery of the algorithm – named the Aletheia construct – facilitated an evolving decryption system, allowing decoding of cerebral data maps based on naturally occurring patterns.

With the completed brain map complete, and decoding possible, Oblivion branch began working on ways to make use of the information that could be gleaned from human minds. The first complete transfer of cerebral information was made in 2149, when two scientists in Oblivion branch shared knowledge of a sealed envelope while in communicative isolation. The first subject was asked to write a note and seal it into a marked envelope, before being committed to a medically induced coma. The sealed envelope was locked into a vault while the remainder of the procedure took place. A second subject was placed in a medically induced coma shortly after the first, to prepare for cerebral insertion. Due to the nature of the human brain, the team had to allow time for memory consolidation before attempting to extract, and originally allowed for eight hours. Further experimentation found that inducing deep sleep for twenty minutes was enough to consolidate memories, and ultimately, Oblivion branch was able to consistently see successful results within fifteen minutes of insertion without inducing sleep.

In 2164, Oblivion branch made another breakthrough when a device was created to allow faster scans, allowing much quicker creation of brain maps. The original process took several days, while the device – the Hyperion X24 – reduced this process to a single day, or twenty-four hours.

In 2166, the bulk of the decoding process was reduced to a matter of minutes, by identifying using cross-references within the brain map. This allowed Oblivion branch to access the most useful data, such as purely informative memories, much more quickly. Mapping of more complicated data, such as the muscle memory required for certain sports, or experience-based informative memories, still required lengthy analysis.

In 2171, Oblivion branch completed a system to create a full, decoded brain map for an adult human within six hours, using their twenty-first generation system, Lethe I . The following year, Oblivion branch developed Eos , a discreet neuro-electrical device that could be implanted into an adult. Eos automatically transmitted a brainmap via satellite communication when the subject entered deep sleep, taking roughly thirty to forty minutes to create the map, and another hour to transmit it. By 2173, these two systems had been combined and ported to a small, easily concealed device, which could perform rapid scans on conscious minds, and transmit fully in less than one hour, thanks to new data compression techniques. This development relied on the device temporarily sending the subject into a trance-like state for approximately ten minutes, and allowed K.I.L.L. Field agents to infiltrate various institutions in Osarius in particular, to gather information.

By 2190, Oblivion branch had developed their final system, Sophia, which took the portability and speed of the Mercurial Scan device, and combined it with rapid consolidation. As a result, the device could extract a full brainmap in twenty minutes, compress it to a size of under 4 gigabytes within three minutes, and also perform a cerebral insertion which required just ninety seconds to consolidate within the target. As the device was implanted, and triggered via thought   or an external remote, used to extract from unconscious minds   it was near impossible to detect unless one was specifically searching for it. Transmission was still unreliable in some areas, but through the use of satellite networks, it became possible to complete the entire extraction, compression, and transmission process from even the most remote locations within thirty minutes by 2193.

Applications

Since the completion of a field scanner in 2173, Oblivion branch have worked closely with the rest of Reaper Division to gather and store as much useful information as possible, including, but not limited to Osarian intelligence, athletic development memories, and combat skill sets.

As cloning and selective breeding are common occurrences within the Kryosi military, the ability to implant acquired information from elsewhere, in the form of complete brain maps, into matured clones removes the need for extensive training from youth. Selectively bred soldiers are considered elites, and are thus given supplementary information via cerebral insertion, rather than entirely constructed brain maps.

A by-product of learning to map entire brains is that the Reaper Division now has the knowledge and means to accurately identify and repair key locations in case of brain damage. This is a common measure taken to rejuvenate field agents, via a combination of cloning and cybernetic implants. A well-known case is that of Agent Leroy Granath, who was known to have been succeeded by no less than four augmented clone versions after his death. Frequent scanning, and stockpiling of clones allowed Reaper Division to produce backups quickly, while identifying and filling in any gaps in knowledge found during the last scanned "version".

Limitations

Insertion of muscle memory still has some problems, outside of clones. The slightest mismatch in body structure can sometimes lead to several billion data points not lining up correctly in the brain map. Published findings in 2193 suggested that a body match of 98% or better will have few major problems, but anything less requires extensive tweaking.

As a result, Reaper Division stores several "template" maps for the most common body types among their agents, to minimise tweaking. Technicians at Oblivion branch have been unable to find a way around this obstacle so far, noting that even in cloned subjects -- which often have body matches exceeding 99.6% -- transference is still not perfect.

The acquisition of experience-based memory is also problematic when added to an existing brain map, as it will need to be altered to match an existing memory's timeframe at the very least, and will almost always overwrite existing information. Analysts at Oblivion branch have found a way to scrub temporal information from these datasets, though they cannot avoid creating conflicting memories, or inadvertent "black spots" (moments in which a subject's memory is blank, because data has been removed or corrupted).