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Chips in Brains Will Replace Keyboards, Mice, Dial Phones, and TV Remote Controls
By 2020 say Intel Corp. researchers:
[Intel scientist Dean] Pomerleau said researchers are close to gaining the ability to build brain sensing technology into a head set that culd be used to manipulate a computer. The next step is development of a tiny, far less cumbersome sensor that could be implanted inside the brain.
Such brain research isn’t limited to Intel and its university partners.
Almost two years ago, scientists in the U.S. and Japan announced that a monkey’s brain was used to to control a humanoid robot. Miguel Nicolelis, a professor of neurobiology at Duke University and lead researcher on the project, said that researchers were hoping its work would help paralyzed people walk again.
And a month before that, a scientist at the University of Arizona reported that he had successfully built a robot that is guided by the brain and eyes of a moth. Charles Higgins, an associate professor at the university, predicted that in 10 to 15 years people will be using “hybrid” computers running a combination of technology and living organic tissue.
I’m eager to volunteer for human trials.
12 Responses to “Chips in Brains Will Replace Keyboards, Mice, Dial Phones, and TV Remote Controls”
This is incredibly exciting… Where do you sign up to be a Alpha test subject?
Great! Sign me up. And while you're at it, give me a flu vaccination.
Had a friend take her dog to get microchipped at the vet. She said you couldn't even see the damn thing. Was in a liquid suspension in the syringe and if no one had told her, she never would've known her dog was being microchipped that way.
Weird.!?
One problem people will have with this tech is whether the human brain is actually organized enough for this sort of action. I can imagine they will find a way in the coming decades for a person to move a cursor on the screen, but people will move the mouse a bit, and then their brain will wander off in a completely normal, good fashion. Removing mouse control from immediate thought to something like the hand might actually make consistent action easier.
Then there's reading thoughts in the mind, so that you can “think” a sentence and have it appear in Word. As a linguist and cog sci ABD person, this is many decades away I feel safe to say.
Remember Captain Kirk talking to Spock on their 2 way speaking devices. In the late 60's it really seemed too far out to really imagine. Those speaking devices look a little old fashioned now. I still wish I had a phaser though.
At the rate our “intelligence” is growing boggles the imagination. I wonder where we will realistically be in 25 – 30 years. I just hope we never forget we are human and that the human emotions, thoughts and feelings are timeless and do not change with the improved technology.
Say it ain't so Joe. . . .
Wow..Thats an awesome post. Thanks for sharing it.
Already been done…
Brain Power: Mind Control of External Devices
I wouldn't worry about it, the Singularity (AKA as the rapture for nerds) isn't going to happen in the next 25 years… We'll be to busy trying to survive Global Warming and Hubert's Peak…
Nanotech, transhumanisim and Artificial Intelligence should be in their infancy by then though.
Give me a robust headset, but keep a chip out of my brain. With a headset I can remove(choice) the interlink…
I am disabled and will eventually will not be able to speak. I am involved in a trial for an artificial voice system that will allow me to speak and enter text into the computer just by thinking about what I want to say. It is through the University of Illinois.
It doesn't read brain waves, the researchers say they are too hard to reliably detect and decode. It reads and interprets the nerve impulses going to your vocal cords. They are much easier to decode since they are only associated with the voice.
The voice comes out of a speaker in.a dental plate in your mouth. You provide inflection to the speech by manipulating your mouth and lips just like you do in normal speech. I have not yet been fitted with the device. They say it takes a month to learn how to use it.
Very, very interesting, Merkin. Thank you for the information and I hope it works really well for you.