
Data storage and transfer using human muscle contractions (2018) - alansammarone
http://peterbuczkowski.com/projects/medium-machine
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gwern
> The information can be anything. A seemingly uncoordinated twitching finger
> could be a song when placed on a piano or the right pin number when placed
> over an input panel of a cash dispenser. Until the signal is not decoded,
> even the carrier is clueless about its meaning.

Is that true? I've never heard of 'muscle memory' being an actual memory like
that...

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However, I'd like to point out that there is in fact a well-established kind
of memory which lets you use a human to carry a large amount of memory while
being 'clueless' about not just its meaning, but what the encoding even is:
visual _recognition memory_.

You can recognize whether you've seen an image before; given appropriate
datasets, this allows encoding messages into a human's visual recognition
memory without them being able to elicit this knowledge in the absence of the
target images. This can be used for tricks like storing passwords, or
multiplying 10-digit numbers:
[https://people.csail.mit.edu/andyd/rec_method.pdf](https://people.csail.mit.edu/andyd/rec_method.pdf)
I calculate that you could feasibly store 5.8 kilobits per human:
[https://www.gwern.net/Spaced-repetition#fn61](https://www.gwern.net/Spaced-
repetition#fn61)

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seafood
If this works then this would be a way to store passwords or private keys
unconsciously in the muscle memory of the only person who should have access
to them.

