Interfaces helping man, machine understand each other better

By Dick Pelletier

      

    Computers are increasingly learning how to read human minds, which experts believe is the driving force behind new interfaces that allow stronger connection between man and machine.

    In a recent Futurist Magazine article, The Age of the Interface, foresight analyst Richard Yonck reviews how computer-user interfaces have evolved from 1950s IBM punch cards to today's graphic user interface (GUI), and describes the current shift to natural user interface (NUI).

    Punch cards required hours of training and experience, but they did offer a crude way to control computers. GUI, popularized by Microsoft Windows in the 1990s, made it much simpler; even untrained users could now easily command their computers.

    Today, we're in beginning stages of natural user interface. People can zoom in and out of a photo on an iPhone just by pinching two fingers. And computers with motion-sensing touch screens allow data to be further manipulated with special pens and hand and body gestures.

    Other interface technologies gaining popularity include the following:

1. Flexible screens – Already available in Kindle and Sony readers and LED and LCD TVs; experts predict this ultrathin, lightweight, flexible material will one day replace printed paper.

2. 3-D Displays – The movie Avatar raised consumer interest in 3-D technology. Entertainment executives predict that need for special glasses will be eliminated later this decade.

3. Haptics – When users touch on screen images, they feel a sense of reality. By 2020, virtual encounters with business associates, friends, and lovers will seem uncannily real.

4. Speech recognition – Allows talking directly to devices in hands-free situations like driving and cooking. Speech-to-speech universal translators will soon be lowering cultural differences.

5. Eye tracking – Cameras notice items that evoke our attention as we shop, encouraging advertisers to offer exclusive pricing. Welcome to the future of marketing.

6. Bionic contact lenses – These computerized marvels superimpose data over our vision. When meeting an individual, we can refresh our memory by Googling their information. And we can overlay a different look on their bodies making them more attractive to our eyes.

7. Brain-computer interface – The ideal way to control machines. As researchers unravel more of the brain's mysteries, BCI will become the 'holy grail' of interfaces. Guger Technologies already markets a brain-reading system for $12,250, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists created nanotube bio-transistors that allow wiring prosthetic devices directly into the body's nervous system.

    Forward thinkers ponder how interface technologies will affect our future. Author Ray Kurzweil in The Singularity is Near, says, "Between 2035 and 2050, we will merge knowledge, skills, and personalities with our machines. These breakthroughs will produce a superior human that thinks, reasons, and communicates far more efficiently than today's humans."

    By mid-century, experts predict the final step in this futuristic scenario could be the creation of an ultra-powerful artificial intelligence, or super-intelligence, which will eventually solve mankind's worst problems, including environmental destruction, poverty, and diseases; and begin a process that by 2100 will convert humanity from a group of quarreling nations into a peaceful global village.

    Human-machine interfaces promise a safer, more secure world with humans in total control of their machines. Can our bold vision unfold in this manner? Positive futurists believe that it can.

This article appeared in various print publications and on-line blogs. Comments always welcome.