Brain-computer interface promises thought talking and more

By Dick Pelletier

      

    Touch-screens, voice-recognition machines, and typing systems that track eye and muscle movements all offer more convenient ways of communicating, but transmitting thoughts directly to computers, without any sort of implanted chip will revolutionize businesses and change forever how humans communicate with each other.

    By as early as 2020, it will be possible to send your thoughts to computer interfaces without implanting a chip in your brain.

    Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh have teamed up to work on Intel's Human Brain project that involves the transmission of thought to the computer.

    Already, the project has achieved a 1000-word vocabulary, but today it uses inconvenient EEG and fMRI systems. However, within 10 years developers hope to create an unobtrusive brain-scanning headset allowing users to operate wheelchairs, artificial limbs, voice synthesizers, and word processors, with their thoughts.

    Using Intel's system and future artificial intelligence, instead of manually typing this article, I would simply think about the article. The machine would scan my brain and search the Internet for content, then type out a grammatically correct completed article for my approval.

    Forward thinkers believe this technology could one day, scan a person's thoughts into a machine and convert those thoughts into "brain-ready" content for transmitting through the Internet to another person's brain, creating brain-to-brain thought talking. Positive futurists believe this technology could become the most popular method of communicating by mid-2030s or before.

    Today, scientists do not clearly understand how our 100 billion or so neurons communicate with each other when we think, move, feel, or remember. Experts are confident though, that by 2020, faster computers and artificial intelligence advances will solve this problem.

    In another effort to understand the human brain, researchers at the International Swiss Blue Brain Project believe within ten years, they will create an artificial brain that can generate intelligence and simulate human-like consciousness. Uses for this marvel will include drug testing with hopes of eliminating Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and dementia.

    Blue Brain Project director, Henry Markram admits creating the human brain on a silicon chip is challenging. Each neuron connects to others through 8,000 synapses. The human cortex has about 22 billion neurons and 220 trillion synapses. Clearly, building the silicon equivalent of those synapses is a huge undertaking, but project scientists are confident they will be successful.

    This cutting-edge research could produce answers to age-old questions such as; what is thinking, where does it take place, and what are its limitations; and finally - who are we?

    Two companies have already launched mind-reading products. Emotiv offers a $300 headset that enables players to play video games with just their thoughts, www.emotiv.com; and NeuroSky sells a $200 mind-reading device that reveals whether you are focused, relaxed, afraid, or anxious, www.neurosky.com.

    Future thought talking might work like this: wearing an electronic decoder, you simply think of any person you wish to communicate with, and with their approval, you are connected. In addition to exchanging thoughts and memories, you can also gaze through each other's eyes; even share feelings.

    The impact of sharing mind-to-mind in this manner will strengthen bonds between people and begin a new era of human relationships. An amazing future lies ahead.

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