Slashdot Mirror
That's Using Your Head
broKenfoLd writes "In an earlier post, we looked at the future of Matrix-esque control over computers. In that article, monkeys got to play the games. Today at UW in Madison, WI, it's the humans who are playing video games just by thinking about it. While this is cool for us power gamers, it has many more impressive applications, including limb replacement."
But the gamer side of me is telling me "where the hell do I sign up, I'm grabbing my car keys as I type this."
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
When this is refined it can change the way games are played in general. No longer will games be about who has the best hand-eye coordination. Rather they will be about who can think the smartest and fastest. We may end up calling any form of gaming that requires movement or manipulation of physical controls old-school.
This can't be allowed to reach the mainstream. I like using a mouse and keyboard for my FPS games. You see, when I get tagged 27 times by the same guy, have negative experience and my only kills are to my teammates, I like to have something to blame. I have gotten quite good at it.
For example: Spilled Dew on my keyboard. Darn kid dropped my mouse and there is the rollers don't quite work right. Or my favorite: holographic mouse pad wreaks havoc on my optical mouse.
Don't get me wrong... I can come up with lots of excuses. But yelling about lag only works for so long. Bad monitor? Maybe... but not as good as a story about Mountain Dew.
Heed my warning. Just say 'no' to gadgets implanted into your brain.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
I hate double posting but it just occured to me that I need to make an obligatory reference to the ramifacations of these developments in terms of malicious applications. Think about a computer with a virus and then attaching that directly to your brain. Scary.
... my head asplode.
-- I prefer the term "karma escort."
Screw limb replacement. I want limb addition!
A Multiplayer Strategy Game for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
If they were able to figure out a sufficient amount of what a person's brain activity meant (which is exactly what they seem to be trying to do), and if they could hook that up to some sort of wireless transmitter (should be a piece of cake), it could be used for basic telepathic capabilities. Imagine hooking it up to an FM transmitter, even with just a 6' range - you could come through the radio of the car next to you. Dirty.
Seriously though, an implant that could do this would make telepathy somewhat of a reality. How cool is that?
putfwd.com - 1GB Free file storage with a twist
Jet Li and I fought a battle in our minds. I won.
Brain surgery to play video games better?
/Billy hurls himself down stairs
"Please Mom!"
"No Billy. That system is designed for paralyzed people not so you can play video games better"
Checkmate
Think about THAT.
Combine the unsurpassed parallel processing capability of our brain with speed of sequential execution of an even average home pc, and who knows what can happen. This is what you read about in sci-fi, yet it's already on our door steps. (Mind you it's in infant stage, but nonetheless.) Next thing you know faculties of Math/Science/etc. will cease to exist and instead the parents will pick if they want the latest copy of Mathematica or Maple installed in their childs brain ;)
"You mean you have to use your hands? That's like a baby's toy!"
This kind of subject has been talked about very much lately. I appreciate that, but i'm kind of disappointed at the way the subject is handled in general. Why not discuss technical issues? How are brain patterns read? EM signals surely, so how about talking about the probes that are used? And about the signals, surely there must be some interresting stuff to discuss about fuzzy recognition here... Guys, what can i say, we're supposed to be talking about our brains and the way they work, and all i find is some kids discussing 'applications' for something they're not really willing to understand. This is NOT the marketing dept!!! Where are old time nerds? Worse, i find some 'ethical' rethorist wrecking the fun... This is not litterature, this is science, may the heretics burn! Oh, before i go, i would like to insult people who think brain control applications are two-way systems. Terrorized geeks are worth nothing, the price for greater science is never too great! (please, repliers, dont discuss my mail, discuss the hardware)
Does anyone know if any group is doing research on using input devices for your brain from a computer? In other words, a way of sending information back into your brain so that you could know it, hear it, visually see it or feel it?
The Matrix is cool but here's a the rub. Neo, Trinity, Morpheus and all the rest were born in the matrix. They learnt to control their virtual bodies as they grew up. Even if the machines got it into their silicon minds to hook up one of the children of Zion it would take years for him to learn how to control his virtual body, if he ever did. We are children of Zion, and should we ever get enough electrodes implanted into our brains it will also take us years to learn how to control our virtual bodies.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Just great...now when my Halo2 scores are still:
Kills/Killed
2/25
Instead of listening to weedsmoker36 pop off I'll now get to hear chest thumping chimps.
This got me thinking, once you're dealing with the brain directly and not hearing, smell, touch, tase, vision, you could add senses in the same way modders currently add levels or features to games.
I think the best application would be the ability to wire your brain directly into another person's to express ideas without waiting for our mouths to do the work. There is a gob of tissue that connects the left and right sides of the brain that when cut leads to all sorts of weird problems.
If we can borrow the right side of someones brain for an art school assignment then wouldn't humanity start to look a lot like open source software? We own our brains now, they're proprietary. What happens when we connect a bunch together? What happens to "self"? Are we the final Beowulf joke?
What if Digg added local news and a Slashdot inspired comment karma system? ---
http://houndwire.com
So you're saying that you want to become a beowolf cluster?