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Facebook is Working On a Way To Let You Type With Your Brain (theverge.com)

Posted by msmash on from the moonshots dept.

From a report: Facebook today unveiled a project from its secretive Building 8 research group that's working to create a brain-computer interface that lets you type with your thoughts. Regina Dugan, a former director of DARPA and the ex-head of Google's experimental ATAP research group, announced the news today onstage at Facebook's F8 developer conference. Dugan, who now heads up Building 8, says the goal is "something as simple as a yes-no brain click" that could fundamentally change how we interact with and use technology. While it does not exist today outside of very specific medical research trials, Dugan says her team is actively working to make it a reality. Dugan refers to the technology as a "brain mouse for AR," meaning it could be an ideal way to receive direct input from neural activity that would remove the need for augmented reality devices to track hand motions or other body movements. For instance, the Microsoft HoloLens uses hand tracking to let you tap your finger in front of you as if you were clicking a mouse. Facebook's theoretical device could also be used for patients with severe paralysis, acting as a "speech prosthetic" Dugan says.

10 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. I'm surprised they are going with typing. by SeaFox · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wouldn't Facebook rather figure out a way for people to just pick strings of emoji to send to each other.

  2. I'm not installing by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There is no way I'm letting Facebonk have access to my brain even if it's just to read a brain signal that says "click". Next I know they'll tap into the pleasure centre and post a facebook post everytime I get sexually aroused.

    I don't want everyone on Facebook to know when I visit the farm.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    1. Re:I'm not installing by Jeremi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Don't be silly -- when Facebook taps into your pleasure center, it won't be to notify your friend that you're horny, it will be to give you a dopamine hit every time you view an advertisement. Within a few days you'll want to do nothing else.

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
  3. The thing that always worries me about this by JoshuaZ · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In the very long-run, once we have functionally built in direct brain to computer interfaces, what is going to stop people from sending a lot of half-baked emails and the like? At least with a phone, you can take it away from someone when they are drunk, but frankly given how incoherent my very late night/early morning thoughts are, I'd be more worried about accidental shitposting that way, or sending really stupid emails.

    1. Re:The thing that always worries me about this by burtosis · · Score: 3, Insightful

      In the very long-run, once we have functionally built in direct brain to computer interfaces, what is going to stop people from sending a lot of half-baked emails and the like? At least with a phone, you can take it away from someone when they are drunk, but frankly given how incoherent my very late night/early morning thoughts are, I'd be more worried about accidental shitposting that way, or sending really stupid emails.

      geez, I was under the impression that was presidential.

  4. Terrible idea... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Funny

    When someone bragged in a comment about dropping $3K per night on wine, my reply was that they had drinking problem and a financial problem. I got six paragraphs of barely strung together sentences, no capitalization and obscenities about my dick size. The follow-up post was more of the same. Now imagine that person's brain typing into a comment. Not pretty.

  5. Easy by 110010001000 · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is easy:

    Step 1: Open up skull
    Step 2: Take out brain
    Step 3: Press the keys with the brain from Step 2

    1. Re:Easy by sinij · · Score: 3, Funny

      Your code is bugged. I hit segmentation fault at Step 2.

  6. Re:A feature most FB users won't use by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Are also also vegan and have not owned a TV for over a decade?

    Join our group!

  7. Going straight to plaid? Yeah right. by geekmux · · Score: 4, Interesting

    We've watched companies like Dragon Systems struggle to perfect speech recognition software.

    Decades later, we watched Siri struggle to understand the proverbial brogue associated with converting various languages to English, falling victim to parody videos.

    Now, I'm supposed to believe we've magically eclipsed all that to type with my brain? This is like NASA claiming we've gone straight to plaid with regards to fast space travel.

    There's a valid reason we're all still banging away on keyboards in the year 2017.