Controlling Computers With Your Mind

Interesting news on the futuristic technology front. A team of researchers at the University of California has been given a $4 million grant from the US Army to study synthetic telepathy. Basically, computer aided psychic communication. It’s not all that crazy though. Essentially, this involves translating brain waves into instructions for a computer. A person could think “telephone the office”, which would in theory produce a unique pattern of brain waves that could be understood and executed by the computer.

The University of California explains:

The brain-computer interface would use a noninvasive brain imaging technology like electroencephalography to let people communicate thoughts to each other. For example, a soldier would “think” a message to be transmitted and a computer-based speech recognition system would decode the EEG signals. The decoded thoughts, in essence translated brain waves, are transmitted using a system that points in the direction of the intended target.

Wired Danger Room: “Army Funds ‘Synthetic Telepathy’ Research”

[via We Are the Planet Earth Preservation Society]