Well in a previews posts i talked Mind Machine interface projects which are a game controlled by mind (well that was in CSG magazine but you can have more info from here) where the user controls a character to walk on a thin thing without falling with his mind , and blind people can see through their tongue where a machine interface is attached to the users tongue and sends signal through the tongue to the mind so the blind user can visualize what is in front of him.
In this post I would like to talk more about this very interesting input output interface between human mind and the machine(computers).
The fascinating part of this is the power you gain and also the danger you put yourself into while using this technology. Just imagine as the power the whole world information and all the control you can get from any computer is not at the tip of your finger it just require you to think about it and it will happen!!!! , and the dangerous part is that may be the future viruses infecting and hackers will be hacking and controlling human minds through these mind machine interfaces !
note: I am not talking about science fiction, this is the real world and believe me the thin line between science and science fiction is becoming even thinner every day.
Well enough talk about the coming future lets just see the present. Where are we ,and how close are we from this (fascinating and scary future)
Human brain works like a complex computer with millions or billions of brain cells exchanging electrical signals into the neural network. Dr. John Donoghue is director of brain science department in the Brown University that has created a technology to read human thoughts a brain wave sensor that can connect the brain to computer through a wire!! (just like connecting your i pod to the computer you can connect your brain instead).
This chip is attached to the surface of the brain and it can get signal from hundreds of brain cells and send it to the computer for analysis. Dr. John also created a software called Brain Gate that can actually understand and interpret the signals the computer getting from the brain!!! so the computer understand what the brain wants it to do. on one rare experiment that was shown on television Dr. John was using his system by connection his brain to the computer to move a hand image on the screen to touch a ball by using his thoughts only !!
Another experiment done on monkeys is the connect monkeys brain with sensor chip to computer and the computer to a mechanical arm and offer the monkey a banana which the monkey cannot reach from where he is but he can use the mechanical arm to grab the banana. and it actually worked !!
Another great project is “the audio” which is a project done by a company to recognize what a person want to say by putting a sensor on the neck and all the user need to do is to try to talk without any need to actually talk , the sensor can litrally catch your words from the tip of your toungue which means it is a great tool for people who can’t speak to talk cause the sensor knows what they want to say so it could be send to a software which can genirate the voice. another application could be that a disablled on a specially made wheel chair has to only think of saying directions (left ,right ,front, back) and through the sensor a microcontroller can understand the command and make the wheel chair move that way !!
it also could be used to communicate with others without actually talking. also good way to communicate to computers!!.
well this is the half way of the technology until now we are talking about using the brain interface or brain gate as input device to the machine, we are just moving commands or data from brain to computers. But can we use it as other way around ; as output device can the machine (computers) change our toughts , force us to think about something or at least send information (data) to our brains!!!
i am very afraid to say yes that also is possible and this is the scary part of the future! an evidance of that being possible is an earlier post in omandev about blind people can see through their tounge which is simply a device attached to the toungue of the user the device will capture the image infront of it it and send the image (the data ) to the users mind !!
Another technology technology that can move data, commands to the mind is ELF waves , extreamly Low Frequancies these frequancies have similler range frequancies that human brain have and there are scientific data that shows if a preson is affected with 6.6 hertz of ELF wave it could cause deprission to the person while 7.83 hertz makes the person feel good. so here it is computer will soon be able to communicate data and commands bidirectional ways with the human brain.
Well still this technologies are under research but you can imagen what will happen once they are perfected; users will be able to control machines by using their thoughts only. to turn on TV , turn off the AC you just have to think about it and it happens. well more usefull way of thinking on it is to controle a battle tank or war aircraft just by sitting in safe place and thinking how should the machine move and attack the enemy. well after knowing about Dr. John Donoghue’s brain gate system and the audio project it don’t look like science fiction any more it is very much possible. Now how hard will it be to have a software that can read what the person next to you is thinking about, or what your boss is thinking about. thats brain hacking!
