Slashdot Mirror
Non-Invasive Computer Control Through Brainwaves
mikael writes "An article on the BBC website is reporting that U.S. scientists have managed to develop a 'thinking cap' which allows a computer to receive commands from the electrical activity of a person's brain alone. Comprised of 64 electrodes, this cap allowed two users to control a cursor through pure thought alone, rather than through eye movements or other physical gestures." Unlike some previous efforts, this one doesn't require anything to be implanted in your brain.
The end of left handed surfing!
... oh, nevermind
Saw the headline and thought "Non-Invasive Brain Control Through Computers". I need a new tinfoil hat.
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
could this be the first actual useful tinfoil hat?
I imagine this technology illegal if someone hooked this mind control up to a tivo like machine - when a commercial is playing you could think "I wish to skip this commercial" and the remote does basically a fast forward. Yeah we read the other day on /. that skipping commercial will be illegal one day so no one get a bright idea in making a mind control remote for tivo or we'll have to ban this too.
Remember Brainstorm starring Christopher Walken?
- Just my $0.02, take with a grain of salt, your mileage may vary.
I for one will be waiting for the 128-electrode technology to come out so I can think faster.
TT
I'll probably get modded down for this, but I can't be the only one who sees the connection between this ability and psychic "vibrations".
If we are able to detect and monitor energy waves that are emitted from our brains merely by thinking about things, how much more difficult is it to believe that there are people who are physically tuned to be able to "pick up" those brain waves?
People who oppose paranormal research are always claiming that they want quantifiable, reproducible data. Well, here it is.
Through Keyboard and Mouse!
So what exactly goes through the person's mind when they are moving the cursor. Do they just think "Left" and "Right" etc. Or do they simply have to look in the direction they want the cursor to go? It'd be interesting to try it out. It would bring me one step closer to utilizing the power of the force.
Because invasive would be that long spike jammed into the back of your cranium in the Matrix.
-Teiresias
.. now get cracking on the bi-directional interface. I need my legion of computer-controlled human drones to do my evil bidding!
Robots and sharks with lasers on their heads can't do everything, you know.
Robert Bozell did this story Monday night on NBC. I don't usually mock /., but come on, once it's been on network news, it's a little late.
/.ers watch NBC news regularly?
Then again, how many
It looked amazing to me. It looked rather like early pong games, the user just learned how to move the small dot onto the large one. Nothing real precise, but imagine 30 years from now...
because I, like the rest of you, have other uses for our hands while surfing the net.
On a real note (though the above is true), imagine playing CS or any FPS game with mind control. Now it will even mean that shooter games will be won by the smartest - not the most physically capable (hand to eye coordination).
I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
Now all you have to do to be a hacker is to wear one of these and stand behind people who are using a computer.
Imagine the fun in a library or computer lab...mauahaha!
Brain-Computer Interfaces for Communication and Control at the society for neuroscience annual meeting. There are already paralyzed people using this type of technology (electrode and even EEG(!)) on an experimental basis.
Very neat, of course, but what good is it if I have to put on a fruity hat? Work on making it cheaply implantable without risking a lifetime of vegetable-ness, please.
While I think this is wonderful for people who lack mobility or the use of their limbs, I for one, can't see this kind of tech gaining much ground for everyday use.
One of the primary reasons for this is the sensation of tactile feed-back you get from using controllers that require physical interaction. You can feel the mouse scraping against your desk as you move it back and forth. You can feel the microswitches 'catching' when pushing the buttons. You can feel the keyboard keys 'click' into place as the latex compression switches underneath connect.
Remember all the 'touch sensitive' microwaves that came out in the 80's and early 90s? Notice how all the buttons now at least provide some semblance of movement when you touch them, even if it's a small amount?
Even if this tech becomes cheap and wide-spread, there's just no replacing the touch-sensation inherent with using mechanical input devices.
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
Now the New World Order doesn't need to implant anything, in fact they'll just wear these themselves to control you.
Oh fine, I, for one, er... what was I just thinking about.
The message on the other side of this sig is false.
Noninvasive for how long? These peripherals never last long as "write-only".
--
make install -not war
It's been on TV for a few days now, with reporters trying it on for size. Are we that far behind? Oh, almost forgot which site I was on.
Just another day in Paradise
..of the thinking cap may cause severe scalp burns and cause all of your green Need and Desire bars to flatline and turn Red.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
Imagine a factory workforce of trained animals (pigs? Dogs?) using this sort of technology; they might be able to handle problems a bit too difficult for a an actual manufacturing robot to handle.
eat shiat and bark at the moon
Could the users make the mouse 'click'?
They want to impress me, forget doing commands, find a way to retrieve memories and put them on thumb-drives for later recalling.
Won't you pour me one more of that sinful Old Janx Spirit?
Once again, DNA fortells our future.
-Peter
Low prices! Go get 'em!
A friend of mine's child has a form of depression. She is in a program that uses brainwave-biofeedback to control a cursor on the screen.
She's a child, so the cursor is part of a computer game. In order to "win" she has to relax or whatever in such a way that her brain waves are closer to the way they should be.
From what the father tells me, her depression is improving.
------
I'm posting anonymously only to protect my friend's privacy.
I can see it now, me typing along on yet another lengthy report, and having my mind wander. The pointer fires up slashdot... Or worse! I think I would have to resist having one of these at work or any time I don't want those around me knowing what I am really thinking.
-ShelbyCobra
Living life in the right side of the s-plane
Man, this news makes me so confused. To make things worse, the thinking cap is on my head and I am connected to my computer with my confused state of mind.
I hope it won't hurt Slahdot... I really really don't want to be invasive...
Please advise!
I need one of these caps. Typing commands to this chick just ruins the moment.
"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." - Jack Nicholson
My wife (working on her PhD in psychology) was part of a program where children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder would play PlayStation games with a special controller in order to teach them how to strengthen their focusing skills.
The controller was tied to a machine which monitored the level of a certain brainwave (I don't remember which) and if the levels fell outside predetermined parameters the controller would cease to function properly. This helped teach the kids how to maintain focus while performing a task that required constant attention. The 'brain interface' part looked like a baseball cap with lots of little sensors inside, no neurosurgery required.
I tried it myself (I do not have ADD) and it was interesting how difficult it seemed at first to 'grasp' the required level, and how second hand it became after a few minutes of play (obviously the patients took quite a bit longer). It was a neat alternative / addition to drug therapy. I'd bet there is a lot of value in this more accurate control interface for future treatment.
When these things become mainstream, we can now have the user run a utility to see if they've got enough brainpower to be running a computer. Yay!
Until the porn or gaming industries figure out how to adapt it. I can hardly wait. Any ideas?
Now, all we need to do it make sure we all talk in Russian, and then we'll be able to fly planes!!!
it's also been around at least a year.
where's the fun in controlling my computer via brain waves or thought patterns if i don't get to stick a fiber cable into my head? i want a datajack, for dodger's sake!
Karma
It could be bad to be able to control your computer by thinking. Just imagine if you were sitting at your thought controlled computer when a "friend" comes up and asks, "hey, what's the command to delete everything recursively without confirmation?"
And you think... "\rm -r *"
DOH!
People have been using brain waves recorded from the scalp to control interfaces for many years now, it's just always been a bit clumsy (and judging from the trajectory pictures in this article, this one is also...)
Maybe it's an incremental improvement on the technology, and that's great, but don't sell it as something completely new.
Will you get sick?
"I will not look at lemonparty, I will not look at lemonparty...AAARGH! MY EYES!!!!"
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
to the day when I can dispense with this puny human body. And stop getting colds.
In fact, the article says: It is not the first time researchers have had this sort of success in brain-control experiments.
So even the original cited article claims that this is not new . . . I fail to understand why such "repeats" of similar "discoveries" seem to be so "newsworthy"
I remember playing with a device that connected to electrodes that one connected to the head and measured some level of brain activity when I was in high school. This connected to a PC which would draw a virtual strip chart of measured activity. We would move the stripchart pen with our mind . . . isn't this really quite similar? . . .
Wasn't there a (crappy) movie about this? People would do things like have sex or rob banks with the special recording cap on it, that would later be put on disks and distributed/sold.
Well, as soon as someone writes the Firefox plugin.
Baranovich: "You must think... of Russians!"
Andropov: "Are you enjoyink your ride, Mister Gant? Do you like our new toy?" Gant: "Boy, is this a machine!"
It seems some of the potentially really clever species like whales, dolphins, and elephants, really aren't equipped for communications with humans e.g., voice, American sign language, point-and-click. Maybe with this interface and computers, we can establish more successful forms of communication with species that see the world much more differently than us ... unlike say chimps and gorillas which seem so like us that it's depressing ... two both species actually.
"Consensus" in science is _always_ a political construct.
Partner this with a Partner Robot and some LRMs and it'll be friggin Mech War I. SWEET!
I have the sudden urge to use that technology in something like Counter-Strike or Quake 3. sniping and railing would be ridiculously easy...I want it! when will NewEgg have one of these helmet-mouse... mouse-cap...thingies? :-D
err...I wonder what the DPI is on one of those things compared to a mouse.
1001100 1100101 1100001 1110110 1100101 1001101 1111001 1000010 1101001 1110100 1110011 1000001 1101100 1101111 110111
what scares me as an artist is that rapidly an era is approaching where to be an artist, you no longer need to master a stylus... when everybody becomes an artist and simply thinks about something to make it, how will this effect the world? stuff like this scares the hell out of me.
Does it move left when you think of Kerry, and right when you think of Bush?
Have you read my blog lately?
Can you accept failure?
for crying out loud they need omega 3 not stupid Playstation controllers
The REAL goal is not to control computers with people's brains, it is to control people's brains with computers.
Hmmm... now we just need it to put images into our heads and it will be like the movie Strange Days. Makes pr0n much more interesting. Would also make it so you could record every second of life and have instant recall of everything.
Do really dense people warp space more than others?
what is BRAIN?
With devices that record brainwaves through from a skull thickness' distance, I reckon the recordings cannot be very detailed.
As such, I think it would require a relatively large amount of brain to emit these signals, and it would require yet another amount of surrounding brain to be practically dead -- as not to interfere with the signal. (I guess it's common knowledge that certain thoughts and feelings interfere within the brain because of their close positions. That is, I'm not a researcher, but I've heard of this and presume it's true.)
So I'm not sure how harmless it is to train your brain to move that pointer.
Nevertheless, I've found myself quite numb just using a mouse... Nope, what I want is a tablet the size of a basketball field and a jumping cushion as a keyboard. We need to move more to fight RSI, not less!
"We can confirm that Debian does *not* ship the version with the trojan horse. Our version predates it." [CA-2002-28]
If one can think and have their thoughts converted to actions, why have a mouse cursor? Why not just think "click the OK button" or "open $application"? It's interesting that they were able to convert thought to commands used to control a computer but why not think about the GUI along side the SUI (Solid User Interface)?
Could you imagine spam and viruses being uploaded into your brain. You would never be able to get the image out of your head of a pill that enlarges your breasts. Scary.
hell, I saw this on a report on the frickin' Today Show yesterday morning!
yesterday's news for nerds. stuff that mattered.
Does this mean that everybody will have to shave their heads in order to wear the skullcap?
I mean...hey..if everybody does it then it would'nt be that strange...
I'd imagine the world would look somewhat like THX1138!
C'mon... Mindlink anyone?
I don't know much about the technology they used. I am just curious:
Is there any chance this could be a DIY project to build one of these (under 5K) ?
I think this could be a revolutionary interface. Anyone interested in discussing going into business with these things?
And to all those thinking this isn't a revolutionary interface, I have always believed that people are often quick to dimiss new iventions as not useful, and it's only when they are shown how it's useful that they start using it. Or more generally, you can't know how useful it is until you try it.
Is this discovery more evidence of how the pseudoscience of The Matrix trilogy was lacking? Perhaps. Anyway, I posted this story yesterday with the headline "A New Kind of Tinfoil Hat?" and yes, it was rejected! *gish*
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
This non-invasive brain-technology is no good.. We need brain implants, without them we will never master time traveling!
Coincidentially, I am posting this from the year 2257.
Gives a new meaning to the concept of thoughtcrime. On the other hand, biofeedback from TV viewers through some logging device (even if anonymizing as TiVo Inc claims) is an ad agency's wet dream.
Most likely it will be very hard controlling a fps with this hat completly, but it would be fun if u could map atleast a few buttons in a fps. Star Wars Jedi knight series would be über cool if you would be able to do push, pull & lightning(forces) with your mind :)
PS9, here we come!
I can't remember the original captains name but he was a quadrapalegic and could control 3 lights with using only his mind for communication. Life imitates art
The really interesting part of the article was the "Basement Nerual Hackers" section (although, I think the author was taken for a ride by us geeks):
-----------Article Follows------------
Basement Neurohackers
Perhaps more within the realm of science fiction than science fact, "neurohackers" are the new do-it-yourself brain tinkerers who have decided to take matters into their own heads. "There is quite an underground of neurohackers beaming just about every type of field imaginable into their heads to stimulate certain neurological structures (usually the pleasure centers )," a neurohacker wrote to me via e-mail. Several of these basement experimenters were willing to talk.
Meet Zorn. I got his name (which has been changed) from another neurohacker who told me a wild tale about a device that Zorn had recently built. "It's got an electrode ring situated over the pleasure centers of the brain. I know someone who tried it and he said it was like having a continuous orgasm." My God, you mean this guy's invented the Orgasmatron ? I immediately called Zorn, but at the suggestion of the other hacker, I only talk to him generally about basement brain tech.
Zorn's a psychologist by trade and a weekend electronics hobbyist. He tells me about several sound and vision devices (brain toys) he's built, similar to those now commercially available. He seems entirely sane; he's full of cautions. When I tell him about some of the other neurohacks I've heard about, he expresses deep concern. "If these people are going to mess with neuroelectric or neuromagnetic stimulation, they should build in more safety devices. There's a tremendous potential for harm: brain damage." When I ask him what he's been doing recently, he becomes quiet. "Well, it's something I'd rather not talk about. It's a device I built that could very easily be abused." (Hmmm... My mind flashes with perverse images of twitching orgasmo-junkies permanently jacked into the Zorn Device.)
"Why would it be abused?" I ask.
"I really can't say anything more about it. It would be a disaster if it got out into the world." Definitely an Orgasmatron...or perhaps just another piece of cybernetic mythology.
David Cole of the non-profit group AquaThought is another independent researcher willing to explore the inside of his own cranium. Over the years, he's been working on several schemes to transfer EEG patterns from one person's brain to another. The patterns of recorded brain waves from the source subject are amplified many thousands of times and then transferred to a target subject (in this case, Cole himself). The first tests on this device, dubbed the Montage Amplifier, were done using conventional EEG electrodes placed on the scalp. The lab notes from one of the first sessions with the Amplifier report that the target (Cole) experienced visual effects, including a "hot spot" in the very location where the source subject's eyes were being illuminated with a flashlight. Cole experienced a general state of "nervousness, alarm, agitation, and flushed face" during the procedure. The results of these initial experiments made Cole skittish about attempting others using electrical stimulation. He has since done several sessions using deep magnetic stimulation via mounted solenoids built from conventional iron nails wrapped with 22-gauge wire. "The results are not as dramatic, but they are consistent enough to warrant more study," he says.
Part of the danger of monkeying with one's brain, especially with little or no knowledge of neuroscience, is that most individuals do not have access to the sophisticated testing and feedback devices that are available to legitimate researchers. Through devices like the Mindset, a "desktop EEG," Cole and other researchers hope to change that (see Going Mental, page 106). "It is imperative that neuroscience research is not limited to large organizations with big budgets," insists Cole. The furthe
DAMN YOU OCTODOG! DAMN YOU TO HELL!
At the WorldExpo 2000 in Hannover/Germany, the Swedish booth showed something similar. Two contestants were wearing tin foil hats that measured their brain activity. The higher the brain activity, the lower the score, so the goal was to be more relaxed than the opponent.
The great thing was that the most ambitious people had no chance, because their brain was too active in wanting the victory. Pretty cool, watching two guys relaxing the hell out of each other.
Signature deleted by lameness filter.
I submitted the exact same story yesterday, but from a different source, and it was rejected. :-(
cp /dev/zero ~/signature.txt
This type of work has been around for at least ten years.
...A few laboratories started developing these
p ingtheMind.pdf
so-called brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) in
the 1980s and have been refining them since
then (Science, 29 October 1999, p. 888)...
From : http://www.nicolelislab.net/NLNet/Load/Papers/Tap
Unlike some previous efforts, this one doesn't require anything to be implanted in your brain.
/monty python reference
Yes, but it's not in colour.
Suddenly I find myself wondering if MRML is just a joke, or wether the author was truly ahead of his time...
So they have calculations to read the impulses and move a cursor in the desired direction. Too bad the article is a little light on details. Wonder how long before they're able to decode simple thoughts, perhaps letters or even words. It's understandably a pretty long jump.
If they could pick up the Medulla Oblongata's output and pass it along to electrodes the diaphram of a tetrapalegic, or from motor control to their arms to allow gross movement.
Imagine typing at 400 words per minute. Of course this tech might suffer from the same class of problems as speech recognition but there's certainly hope.
Would be interesting to be around to see the day that they fully understand what comes out and how to put stuff in to a brain. Those will be exciting. (and potentially dangerous times)
I posted this story to /. yesterday, /. reject it.
then I used my new 'thinking cap',
to have
Proof it works-)
~~you are under someones mind control~~
This gets me thinking of reverse-racial-memory - remember Arthur C Clarke's Childhoods end? Where people from the past "remember" events from the future. why not? after all, we only percive time as moving in one direction - it doesn't make a lot of sense that the highest dimension of time (classic Einstein - let's leave the other 7 out of this for now) is limited to the kind of directionality as the first.
For ages people have imagined psycic abilities and wizards and the like.
well, I think it is no coincidence that in this modern day we have computer "wizards" who use strange languages to concoct magical creations. Even the tomes which they use look like magical texts - big bulky and indecipherable to the uninitiated.
then this skull cap (a wizards hat?). doesn't it just seem right? controlling a computer with mere though? I know every one of us has at one time just wanted to say "computer! wikipedia precipitation!" and have the computer - our daemon - respond immideiately.
Telekenisis would simply be a memory of generations to come who work inside virtual worlds where they need not physically manipulate objects, but use mere thought.
if this is true, perhaps one day, in the distant distant future, what has sprung from this mortal coil of mankind will ressurect us and this is the heaven and afterlife so vehemently taught and imagined for so long.
after all, if 2 million years from now they get the technology to bring us all back, and if they are anything like your average consciable geek they will probably say, "well, it seems like a nice idea - let's bring everyone back why no?"
or maybe not.
Imagine "downloading" the thoughts of a Chinese torturer into the brain of a Tibetan nun. In short, we have brainwashing and zombies.
Scary stuff.
This obviates implications that go far beyond the simple control of gadgets. Helping to correct ADD with this approach illustrates the effect that the brain doesn't just adapt; it actually changes its physical structure as it learns this new behavior. Our brains have specialized uses for specific areas and groups of cells. What happens to someone who uses one of these frequently, with one or more of the electrodes placed over a spot that is involved in some unrelated function? How will it change you when you grow connections from voluntary motor functions right into your pituitary gland? You may inadvertently throw 50 or more hormone and endocrine systems WAY out of whack. OTOH, IF the designers of the sensor cap pay attention to the impact long term use will have, high resolution biofeedback tied to the reward system of a game can be powerful. It may be possible to enhance neural growth in valuable ways. When an adult is learning a new language, there is a point when they switch from mentally translating to/from a language they know to actually thinking in the new language. This is a discernible change in which sections of the brain are involved before and after this point of fluency has been attained. This sensor cap could help facilitate that change. Personally, I'd like it to teach me to hold the same brain patterns as a meditating Zen master. The best ones always look so happy.
On the one hand you take life too seriously, and on the other, you do not take playful existence seriously enough. Seth
True artists are capable of thinking and bringing to life creations that are utterly astounding in scope, beauty, breadth and ultimately, thought. Their works make you stop, and stare, and wonder, dream and imagine. Sometimes, as in the case of David Best's "Temple of Stars" (Quicktime VR), words and pictures cannot even begin to do justice for the work - you have to have been there to truely appreciate it (I walked across it at night, a truely amazing experience). This is but one very recent example of art that is breathtaking to behold...
There is much art of such beauty out there created by artists. This art can be found everywhere, from the truely large, to the intricately small and delicate. I cannot fathom how these people are able to think about, let alone bring to reality, their visions. Artists are truely on another level of thought, and through their works, one at minimum hopes to be able to touch those thoughts, and at best, learn or be imparted upon some modicum of wisdom to be able to think in kind.
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Ever since the dawn of the Computer Age, we've been in search of that special assembly language OP code:
RPM
Which stands for Read Programmers' Mind (and no, it has nothing to do with the RedHat Package Manager, thank you). It sounds like we may have finally achieved this!
But alas, now that we're here, I do hope that we won't be disapointed. For what no one has considered is: What if we could read a programmers mind, and nothing was there?
Hmmm.
...and I don't see what the big deal is. The biggest part of being an artist is in composition, not execution.
Even if you completely remove the need for fiddly hand skills, everyone isn't going to magically get good taste in color, composition, use of negative space, or even necessarily be able to think of visual things in detail without the natural iconic abstractions we artists have to train ourselves to avoid, lest a realistically shaded model turn into a stick figure.
Assuming a magic "mental image to picture" device ever came to exist, I don't think it would change the overall quality of people as artists much. Volume of output, maybe, but not quality.
Perhaps even less quality, as most people probably wouldn't spend much time editing once the picture was "in the machine".
In fact, it would be a lot like how email and instant messaging made everyone a writer.
Hmm. That IS a bit scary...
DNA just wants to be free...
The work is pretty neat. They put a sock thing on your head and measure your brainwaves. Apparantly not everyone can be trained to use the system. There was a long screening process where they looked for people with brain patterns that they could read. I signed up for the screening but I was never called; I guess they got all the volunteers they needed. My friend went in for the screening; they make you wear the reader thing on your head while you concentrate on a dot moving through a very simple maze. Evenutally you get to try to control the dot; that's as far as my friend reached. I know that eventually they move you up to an actual "Armitron" toy that they wired up to the monitors. It is very cool research.
This stuff isn't geared to replacing your keyboard and mouse. The hook is the promise of developing the technology for better artificial limbs; but think about it. If a disabled person can control their own artificial arm with brainwaves; why not a big crane? Why not a crane on a battleship or out in orbit?
Don't worry, head. The computer will do our thinking now.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Getting electrical signals to OR from the brain through an intact skull is going to be a lossy process. In the case of getting signals out, this is apparently manageable. But as for getting signals IN, it's not going to work -- this way at least. This doesn't rule out some much more precise (and much more advanced) tech in the future, but this isn't going to work for making zombies.
Besides, is drilling a hole in the head of your zombie really THAT bad?
Mal-2
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
Put two and two together!
not too sure about this. I don't believe hand-eye coordination is the only issue between you and success in a FPS, although it is the first skill you must master and will continue to develop during play.
The other big deciding factors which won't be removed by removing your mouse are reaction time or twitch response, *quick* smart decision making, and creativity. You might be able to make the smartest and most logical decision for the given situation, but if you make it after you're dead it didn't do you much good or even if you did it before death but it was too easy to predict it won't do you much good either.
On top of this, learning to use these mind controlled devices to control your game seems just as difficult, if not more difficult, than using a mouse. There will be just as much of a difference between those who have mastered that skill and taken the time (hours/days/months) to refine it as there is between people now who play once in a while then blame their loss on things beyond their control (like lag or eye-hand coordination) and those who play every day (even with a shitty service provider).
This looks like it isn't very complex nor very expensive - 64 electrical sensors in a cap and a PCI card with 64 inputs for A to D conversion- looks like less than $500 in volume, perhaps only $200.
You can do infinite numbers of fun things, first one that comes to mind is a brain wave visualization plugin for XMMS.
Lets hope someone picks this up and runs with it.
I am very easy to get along with, but I don't have time to waste being nice to people who are being stupid. -Theo
Besides spamming, this self-described school has, as another reader points out, "awarded an MBA to a cat owned by an undercover Pennsylvania deputy attorney general."
So that makes the school somehow suspect? I mean, come on, Harvard is one of the most respected schools out there, and it awarded an MBA to George Bush.
The brain leaves no mass unused in "The astonishing hypothosys" (misspl) they point out the fact that as a blind child matures the portion of the brain that is dedicated to focusing on an object within a field of vision are instead utilized to perform a simmilar function for hearing. So if a person were blind for any length of time restoring 'sight input' whether through eye surgery or a 'brain cap' would likely not return them to any sort of functional sight.
"this cap allowed two users to control a cursor ..."
One user, one cursor is my motto.
Or is this like a wireless Ouija board?
Ok, I'll go RTFA.
Could we finally have an answer to discovering if people in comas really can hear you and control the thoughts of their brain?
Perhaps this has already been done and I'm out of the loop on this one...
So many applications for use, so little brain activity!
--I smoked my sig.
Think about it, electrical fields fall of at the square of the distance. This means that at normal conversational distances the already faint signals are going to be essentially undetectable.
This is true for signals radiated in all directions, but why assume this is the case? You don't get a mile out of WiFi with a rubber ducky antenna. So long as it can be isolated from noise, intelligible data can be had from a very weak signal, and it's easier to isolate a highly directional signal. If ESP does exist and is transmitted by electromagnetic energy, that still doesn't mean it's sent everywhere. "Beaming" it would provide efficiency, clarity, and to a limited extent, security.
Not that I'm saying ESP has anything to do with sharks with fricking laser beams on their heads or anything...
Mal-2
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
Usually with anything new there is a time frame where it is tested and we can make sure that its use is predictable.
But with this, as far as I know, the human brain has never been used to control anything besides its own body. So I would think that it will take a long time for this kind of technology to be tested enough and accepted as something that works and is well understood.
Such toys already exist, but I don't see any FOSS stuff. Someone needs to produce EEG stuffs, interface card, and make the software free so we can all play.
http://www.bio-medical.com/results.cfm?inventor
I am very easy to get along with, but I don't have time to waste being nice to people who are being stupid. -Theo
My microwave beeps. My phone vibrates when I get the ball in the hole on minigolf. No reason that you couldn't have some - any (modifiable) - feedback. Hell, you could even make it visible by changing the appearance of whatever it is you are interfacing with/to.
J.
You're only jealous cos the little penguins are talking to me.
Hmm, I am waiting for the day these things would hook up with some music making software. To play the music in your head, and having it recorded.
This is my sig. There are thousands more, but this one is mine.
Close-fitting antennae receiving brain output, connected to amplifying circuitry, mutual learning with positive feedback provided at sensory-available levels, outputs translated enough to be digitally useful at first, output translations expandable to additional desired digitally controllable functions - Gives ENTIRELY new meaning to the term "Neuro-Linguistic Programming"... It may take quantum computing to reach analog functionalities, and I'll leave the "Matrix" comparisons to those so inclined, but I *like* the possibilities I see.
Take the 90-Day Challenge! http://rwmurker.bodybyvi.com/
while these types of devices currently seem to require a lot of training to get the user to figure out what is necessary to move the cursor, in the future, the sensitivity of these devices will likely be such that configuring it will be like configuring controls for a game. "click here and think 'right'", etc.
BSD is for people who love UNIX. Linux is for those who hate Microsoft.
Yea! Mix a little bluetooth technology with this and you could do wonders walking down the street! But then, eventually, someone would hack your thinking cap and crash your 'brain' software. A REAL brain freeze!
(iangbihfwa)
"A witty saying proves nothing." ~Voltaire
"d'Oh!" ~Homer
Now this is something I might be comfortable using one day. Was the thought of having sensors planted IN your brain making anyone else nervous?
Xierox
Ahh, but you don't realize just how new it isn't.
Brainstorm. It was okay.
There's a company called Cybermind that has sold this device for awhile and there used to be one that you could purchase from the maker (or some association) of 3dtop that would also do that. I think it was about 1200$US.
:)
The basic premise of these were that they would play music and depending on the how you thought it would change the style. I know it's not exactly the same but it was the default app that came with the device. I think a lot of doctors use this type of device to help people with stress problems.
I think it was Cybermind that also sold an add-on for a playstation though it's been many years since I've checked so I treat that info as non-checked.
I saw a demo on Discovery as well that showed the Cybermind device in use on a full blown flight simulator. Another demo I saw on some channel was some university in the US that showed an older person moving a square around on the screen. I don't remember why they chose an older person.
I wonder what the changes in the future generations of humans will be when control with their mind will become something normal and learned before puberty. From what I've read, I understand that for language, any language you learn before puberty gets placed into this one glump in the brain, no matter how many languages you learn. Learn any new languages after that and the brain creates a new glump beside it.
I wonder if Basic (learned at 11) is part of my original Glump and C (learned at 15) is a separate one... and if it's the reason that I can't find a better word for it than glump
---
Anonymous Coward? maybe.... Lazy bastard for not getting my login info on this unused computer? surely.
That is only a little funny, but I'm glad to see people considering the options.
Would it be fun to
have a wireless bluetooth adapter to an EEG cap? You could do various physical activities and check out what your brain was doing during the process. I'm thinking Vinyasa yoga, myself, but I'm sure you can imagine other activities that would be interesting to record and visualize later.
I am very easy to get along with, but I don't have time to waste being nice to people who are being stupid. -Theo
Now it can be demonstrated that "You're not thinking hard enough" is real.
/discrimination or declaration of a new disease ensues
To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
I just setup a home theater system and bought the guy a $180 remote control. It can switch on his fireplace, lights, you name it. If this technology could somehow be stuck in our head via permanent, sub-dermatic plugs and the technology/firmware could be upgraded independent of said plugs, it'd make sense to make this permanent assuming it's a one way(out) deal. I have a security system at my office that allows you to manipulate the cameras via their web interface. Might be a good application for this tech.
What if Digg added local news and a Slashdot inspired comment karma system? ---
http://houndwire.com
Do you imagine how user interfaces can be changed when controlled with a device like that ? I'd love to work on creating such a user interface.
Pupeno
Yea! and when your bidirectional helmet 'Locks up', we will call it a 'Brain Freeze'!
Where can I buy one of these caps?? I'm so interested in playing with it. This seems so fascinating.
Back in the 1980's,a research project was funded to determine the best way for rescue helicopters to find survivors wearing orange life-belts floating in the North Sea. Several proposals for advanced optical systems were proposed; these included infra-red cameras and laser scanning. The other system was based on bio-technology: A handful of pigeons were kept in enclosed containers on each side of the helicopter. The containers were warmed by an electrical heater, and had a window kept clean by a windscreen wiper. Each pigeon was trained to peck an alarm button whenever they saw any red or orange dots; The maintenance costs were simple; grain and water.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
I think I read about something like that in a book...
but in order to finance this development we must first download adware into your brain.
Yea! Peer to Peer Thinking cap porn networks. Now that would give a whole new meaning to Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
Seriously, When can I get one?
I really would like to get one - this would be aweseme. I'd pay too...
It is a very important research, we need to know who does not produce the brain waves since in the year 3000, when the gigantic brains will invade the Earth it will be up to someone with no brain activity to save us.
You can't handle the truth.
So, um.. Can we get this interface in a Read-WRITE mode? I'd be interested to see how much free space there is available in various people's brains...
...I could justify professional scalp massage as an antidote to brain-related RSI.
I'm calling my broker and stocking up on tin foil futures.
Squirrel!
This was the last component that I needed.
Thanks, guys!
Ahem, aren't you guys both correct? The gp described our purpose for the scientific method. The parent then claimed to refute that by describing how the scientific method is performed claiming to contradict the explanation of why we do it.
The word 'is' can truly be tricky. 'Is for' and 'is to' likely pertain to different aspects of the same thing.
When I read about this a couple of days ago on the BBC site, my first thought was, "Wow, Gibson had it so right". This is exactly how Gibson envisaged "Jacking in" with the "Trodes" in Neuromancer all those years ago (1983). On the one hand I find it amusing that Gibson completely missed the wireless revolution, and on the other I find it perhaps telling that I find it amusing, perhaps a measure of how much Gibson did get right.
I wonder how long and how many years it will take before the resolution of these trodes becomes high enough for any user to control implements and for sensors to be able to read images and thoughts directly from the brain, and VICE VERSA, i.e. how long it will be before high resolution images, video and perhaps even holograms can be sent directly to the brain, bypassing eyes etc?
What a relief! Lemme tell you, those suckers itch!
If it's not Consolidated Lint, it's just fuzz!
So when can I use one to pilot my UN SPACY VF-1A? Huuuh?
Will people stop harping on "2+2=5"...you are like the fifth post. It is a general statement - I am not a mathematician so I have no idea how to add. 2+2=5 is good enough. ...
select * from base where originalOwner = 'you' and currentOwner != 'us'.
0 rows returned.
There was an article in a magazine... Maybe Time Magazine in 1975, or 1974, about a pair of scientists who used a set of electrodes on the scalp to make a curser move on a computer screen. I really hope this go around actually produces some good products.
Nobody knows what they are talking about when they say they experience something.
Daniel dennet wrote a paper on this
http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/papers/quinqual.htm/
How do you know that the green color is green? When you were a kid, an object of green color was shown to you and you were taught that it's green.
Does that mean when you see green, your brain reacts (fire the same neurons or generate the same waves or whatever) the same as when you see green?
No.
Is it necessary that the same thing should happen in your brain and mine when we see green for both of us to agree that its green?
No.
Joe
This means so much more then what you short sighted idiot's are describing, who cares about CS or hl... fucking moron's.
Look at the applications for people that are fully paralized suddenly to have mobility again, and be able to interact with an enviroment.
Counter Strike!? Fuck off you morons. Get the hell off this site.
Captain Christopher Pike.
If it's not Consolidated Lint, it's just fuzz!
Too lazy to create a sig...
At openeeg.sourceforge.net they're working on hardware designs for cheap, safe electroencephalographs, and open source software to use the input.
On the other hand, if it was Non-Invasive Brainwave Control Through Computers, I'm sure our overlords in the U.S. Administration, the RIAA, and the MPAA would be all over it.
Hmm . . . looking at the past U.S. election and the "red" states, maybe it's too late. Perhaps the presence of salt water in the air negates the effect, thus explaining the "blue" states?
Enough with receiving brainwaves, can it beam some in?
You just think of Monica....
and Bob Dole to get it back up?
So when can I pick up my copy of Thought Pong!
Hi, I have not RTFA but sometime ago I saw this in the IJCAI conference, here is the link for the article abstract.
This article was presented in the conference back in 2003 summer.
Anyway, interesting things you can do.
One thing I remember about the talk, was someone saying that he "did not find any utility to moving a robot inside a box" (can you beleive it?)... and this is one of the top researchers.
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
In a matter of ten years I'd say we'll accomplish this. Oh happy days.
> U.S. scientists have managed to develop a 'thinking cap' which allows a computer to receive commands from the electrical activity of a person's brain alone.
Is there something that will fork for managers?
You should install Brainfox, it has integrated thought-blocking and some cool extensions in it's site
But... the future refused to change.
Damn, it took them long enough to figure out those thought-controlled systems from that stolen Soviet "Firefox" fighter jet...
There have been biofeedback systems like this for many years. I remember at least 10 or 15 years ago they had a system that allowed you to play pac man, controling his movement with your thoughts alone. It is used as therapy to help control various brain functions like focus and attention. The device would be laid over your head, receiving signals from regions of your brain, just like this system.
Hey, again speculations... 'It seems to me that if we want true noninvasive thought reading, we're going to need to use some kind of stimulated emission scanning method to determine firing states of individual neurons. Of course, that's easier said than done.' Nub talking, any idea of how much neurons are up there? lol! So, quite obviously, what is interresting here is 'how in hell' are they succesfully associating 'brain waves' patterns with specific concepts like 'move that cursor there'. I mean, this is pretty neat, sure, but HOW? Empiric measurements, obviously, like having someone move the cursor and measure brain waves. Hum, am i right? Wich leads me to ask : how are brain waves caracterized? Orientation? Intensity/flux density? Dominant source origin? Surely there must be more factors here... Oh, then again, i'm still wondering about average brain emissions intensity here. Anybody has a few technical urls about this? I mean research groups are such * when it comes to sharing their results freely these times.
High school physics cannot save you now!
In the 90's, without implants...do the research before writing the blurb or STFU.
In the Anime Series Robotech the pilots of the Veritechs and Destroids (Veritechs were the planes that transformed, Destroids were the non-transformable weaponry) used an oversized helmet called a 'Thinking Cap' to partially control their vehicle. For example, a pilot in a Veritech could manually issue commands to the plane, such as 'fire,' by pulling the trigger. And when they sudden saw an enemy 'pod pop up right infront of them they could issue a similar command, namely 'fire the goddamn gun before I get shot to hell,' via the thinking cap. The cap was also used to control various flight aspects, and the pilot also had to 'think' the plane through the complex transformation processes. So, am I the only one who awaits are newer, better, thought controlled generation of killing machines? Those Giant Frickin' Robots (GFRs) I am seemingly the world's only Living Expert on seem a step closer. (Living as most of the others died in the line of experimentation.)
Edward@Tomato - /home/Edward/ man woman
man: no entry for woman in the manual.
"Qua!?"
...to the reading/detecting helmet, at least. 'cause I doubt it'd be strong enough to read your brain waves through the tin-foil interference.
But then, why are you putting it on over your tin-foil hat anyway? Maybe you're already under "their" control.
When the mind control version comes out, you may have to upgrade your "mind-virus" protection to "iron foil" Service Pack 1.
Also FireFox.
You did know that PC stands for "political correctness" when you bought your PC, didn't you?
You can configure your PC level under extras/internet options/contents/content advisor..
I'm still trying to figure out what people mean by 'social skills' here.
Ready for thought controlled titanium exoskeleton battlearmor?!!? :)
So what's to keep them from putting things into your brain? If we can 'read' the 'volume', who's going to stop them from 'writing' to the 'volume'?
-- Game Developers: Stop porting badly-textured games from crappy console systems!