ZDNET Technology allowing our thoughts and feelings to be translated into a digital form – and shared – is already a reality. Brain computer interfaces (BCI) allow us to connect our minds to computers for some limited purposes, and big tech companies including Facebook and many startups want to make this technology commonplace.
For those of you terrified by the prospect of technology recording – and broadcasting – your opinions of the boss, your secret fears, or anything else – relax.
At least, for now.
BCIs are currently not sophisticated enough to collect such granular information. The data they can gather is more based around measuring the physical movements people want to make or their emotional state. But, as machine-learning algorithms become more sophisticated and BCI hardware becomes more capable, it may be possible to read thoughts with greater precision.
There are currently two approaches to connecting up the human brain to external computing systems, invasive and non-invasive.
Non-invasive systems read neural signals through the scalp, typically using EEG, the same technologies used by neurologists to interpret the brain’s electrical impulses in order to diagnose epilepsy. Non-invasive systems can also transmit information back into the brain with techniques like transcranial magnetic stimulation, again already in use by medics.
Invasive systems, meanwhile, involve direct contact between the brain and electrodes, and are being used experimentally to help people that have experienced paralysis to operate prostheses, like robotic limbs, or to aid people with hearing or sight problems to recover some element of the sense they’ve lost.
11 to 100 miles on Maryland’s Eastern Coast.
11 to 100 miles on Maryland’s Eastern Coast.