Brain-Interface Computers

You know those science fiction movies where people plug computers directly into their brains and can interface by neurological impulses alone? Well it looks like that age is here, and has arrived without the bionic implants. Yes, two new companies have formulated ways so that you can interface your computer with your noggin.

The first is g.tec, who will go down in history as the first company to ever put out a Brain Control Interface (BCI) commercially. You may wonder why you may not have heard about it, but it looks like this German company is either deliberately downplaying this product, or cannot afford to saturate the media with advertisements. As you can see in the picture, the BCIsys is a contraption that fits on your head like a hunter's cap, and is sadly not wireless. If you're willing to put aside that you look like one of the Precogs in Minority Report, you will have a contraption that can interface into the human being's last private sanctuary: your mind.

Do not ask me how it works, but apparently this device can somehow read your mind and place letters on your screen. It doesn't look like it can do very much as far as actual words are concerned, though. So don't expect to be writing those great novels with just your thoughts. This interface also comes with the classic game of Pong, though. I'm not certain how you would play this mentally, though. Do you have to think: "Go up paddle?" Worse yet, when you mess up, who do you blame?

Another company is developing a similar interface. Emotiv Solutions has recently debuted the Epoc system, a headset designed to read the electric signals of the human brain. Apparently, all of this brain-computer interface involves some kind of inherent electric signals or EEGs based in the brain. The Epoc system is designed with gamers in mind, and is designed to control and manipulate the virtual world of a video game with their very thoughts. Emotiv is just one of four new computer interfaces that work with the user for added realism in gaming. Expressiv, Cognitiv, and Affectiv have the power to mimic facial expressions, set levels of emotions, and manipulate virtual objects, respectively.

There are so many questions that are going to be raised. Is this fooling with people's minds? Has this been checked out by the FDA, FCC, or whoever the heck you have to go to in order get something like this on the market?

One thing is for sure, we are looking at a future where we'll soon be able to access our computers with just our thoughts. So much for the mouse and touchpad. This raises even more questions. What if we're distracted? Will our mental deficiencies somehow affect our computing work? The future may give us mental-interface computers, but we'd better be prepared for the consequences.