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But how are you going to program the computer to recognise those brainwaves?

It takes humans months of crawling before we can learn how to walk. That's months of learning the size and shape of our limbs and how to move them. But that's not all we learn. Everything is "recorded"; our thoughts and emotions during that process. Smells, sights, sounds and even tastes. All of that on top of the thought processes to actually just move our limbs the correct amount and in the correct order. All of that wired and rewired on the fly and in a totally unique pattern to how our brother / sister, our cousins, our parents and our friends. All of us wired differently.

So how on Earth will you program a computer to understand which neurons firing will relate to "paste bicycle image over CGI scene" and which relate to "oh I like that song that's playing on the radio as it reminds me of yoghurt"?

Rudimentary stuff like copy/paste from clipboard can be programmed in. But then you end up in a situation where you have to chain these rudimentary thoughts in sequence like you would clicks on a mouse. So you're no better off. In fact worse off as you're now having to program your thoughts into a computer before using it (which is currently a very lengthy process), you're having to learn how to control your own thoughts so you don't have the mental equivalent of a muscle spasm everytime a tampax advert comes on the TV thus resulting in your computer shutting down and you losing your work. And all you gain from this is the reaction time that would have been spent between thinking about moving your left finger and your left finger clicking the left mouse button.

As I said in my other epic post, the technology isn't the only hurdle we face with this ideology of yours - it's human development.

Edited 2011-10-11 00:16 UTC

The same way the technology currently exists where people can control UI using such an interface. Follow the links, watch the video.

Maybe it's like flying cars. It sounds awesome at first but then you realize something. Do you really want those schmucks who drive recklessly in two dimensions having a 3d dimension to worry about and fsck up? Never mind that at a couple of 100 feets even minor accidents become catastrophes.

This is a common and completely incorrect assumption about how the human motor control (movement) system functions. The body's motions are controlled by continuous feedback loops provided by muscles, nerves and the motor cortex not by conscious thought. Movement is only consciously controlled when we initially learn a new task. Conscious thought is only used to initiate a movement eg the desire to go and get a cup of coffee. The actual movements are essentially an automated process.


In fact mind control is extremely tiring because there are no real feedback loops. It is equivalent to being perpetually stuck at the ability level of your first driving lesson.

The only realistic use for mind control or voice control is to allow disabled people to perform simple tasks.

Edited 2011-10-11 04:09 UTC

I wasn't aware of much of that either. Thank you.

One thing I will add, is that even in the case of disabled where the subject is an amputee, it's more likely that any 'thought control' would be controlled via the nervous system using the impulses for the limbs they no longer have.

I think this bike example wouldn't work, because thoughts are not detailed enough for the computer to know exactly what you want if you think "I need a bike there".

Have you ever faced a situation where you have something in mind, you think you know exactly what it is, but as soon as you want to explain it or create it (if it is a physical object), you hesitate and must think some more ? I believe this reflects the way our mind works. We have a blurry image, and we work out details as needed. Like with vision : we only see a huge load of blur, with a tiny neat region in the middle, but our brain and eyes silently fetch and parse details on demand, so fast we don't notice.

Again, maybe someone who knows more about the subject than me can confirm. But if it's true, adding a bike in a CGI scene would need as much attention to details with a mind control interface as with a mouse. It would remain very lengthy, because although the brain-computer link could be made a bit faster, brain speed wou

Edited 2011-10-11 10:51 UTC

brain speed would be the limiting factor in the end*

(stupid phone browser character limit)