Device for the Paralyzed Turns Thinking to Doing
From the Log Angeles Times, courtesy of Yahoo!News.
Specifically this device reads the elctric fields of the brain--the same electric fields that electroencephalographs (EEG's) read, the ones we call "brain waves"--and translates those fields into simple commands. In the present version, the device essentially replaces the "mouse" on a computer with a cursor that you can control just by thinking where you want it to go.
Actually, this technique is not entirely new. Last year, for example, scientists at USC recorded the brain waves of a monkey that was using a joystick to control a tiny crane. They then connected the crane to their EEG machine, not to the joystick, and let the monkey have at it again. Lo and behold, the monkey figured out that the joystick was a dead control--so she stopped using it and was deliberately moving that crane by her thoughts alone--and she knew what she was doing.
Those scientists are primarily interested in building a prosthetic limb that would take direction from the brain in the same way. But the technique has obvious military applications.
Does anyone remember this line?
But an electroencephalographic control system would be much more powerful--and some might find that chilling. Clint Eastwood's researchers found an estimate that such a system would give any pilot a three-to-five-second reaction-time advantage over any pilot using any other weapons system in use today--and yes, they wrote that into the script.
This is definitely not something you want to see in the hands of an enemy of freedom...!
Specifically this device reads the elctric fields of the brain--the same electric fields that electroencephalographs (EEG's) read, the ones we call "brain waves"--and translates those fields into simple commands. In the present version, the device essentially replaces the "mouse" on a computer with a cursor that you can control just by thinking where you want it to go.
Actually, this technique is not entirely new. Last year, for example, scientists at USC recorded the brain waves of a monkey that was using a joystick to control a tiny crane. They then connected the crane to their EEG machine, not to the joystick, and let the monkey have at it again. Lo and behold, the monkey figured out that the joystick was a dead control--so she stopped using it and was deliberately moving that crane by her thoughts alone--and she knew what she was doing.
Those scientists are primarily interested in building a prosthetic limb that would take direction from the brain in the same way. But the technique has obvious military applications.
Does anyone remember this line?
When the first rumors began to filter out of the Soviet Union some three years ago, our theoretical weapons strategists stood before NATO command to explain--with much confidence!--that it would take the Soviets a minimum of ten years to develop a Mach Five aircraft with thought-controlled weapons systems. I stand before you today to explain--with much regret--that they were wrong.Well, fortunately, the Soviets never did develop any such weapon (which is a concept from the motion picture Firefox, produced by, directed by, and starring Clint Eastwood, based on the novel by Craig Thomas--Warner Brothers Pictures, 1982). But our own armed services are always working on systems that enable pilots to shoot at things without having to press a button. Indeed, the Advanced Research Projects Agency already has such a program, which they call Visual Decision Estimate. It follows your eyes to sense what you're looking at and when you're ready to shoot.
But an electroencephalographic control system would be much more powerful--and some might find that chilling. Clint Eastwood's researchers found an estimate that such a system would give any pilot a three-to-five-second reaction-time advantage over any pilot using any other weapons system in use today--and yes, they wrote that into the script.
This is definitely not something you want to see in the hands of an enemy of freedom...!
posted by Temlakos at 3:05 PM
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