Braingate: Mind-Reading Computer Helps Those With Spinal Injuries

Matthew Nagle was attacked and left paralyzed from the shoulders down in 2001. Matthew later received a device called a "braingate" that allowed him to move a computer cursor, that little arrow on your computer screen. This computer device read his brain waves. The attached computer then "learned" the way to help Matthew move things like that cursor on the screen. Matthew would just think a thought that would normally be sent to his hand to activate a computer mouse, and instead, it did it automatically using a computer. Matthew died this year, 2007, from complications of a blood infection, called sepsis.

Computer nerds everywhere must love the story of Matthew Nagle. It is now possible to put a computer in control of normal human things, and all you have to do is think it ! Matthew could not talk on his own after his attack because he did not have normal control over his breathing. But, as you probably already know, computers can readily listen to your voice and do what you tell them to do. They have been doing this for years with a software program called "Dragon Naturally Speaking". That is a terrible name, but nevertheless, the software works fairly well. Braingate goes the extra step and controls computers with just a thought. Can computers read your mind ? You bet they can!

The braingate works by connecting to signals from the human brain in what is called the motor cortex. It is literally reading the mind. This is a technical breakthrough of monumental size for those who have spinal injuries. It presents the possiblity of using braingate to again stimulate muscles using the brain, the signals are just sent electronically instead of through your nervous system. One big problem is that after time, the braingate is rejected by the human body as a foreign object. After all, it is not natural to have an electrode inside your head with a wire sticking out through it. But while Matthew Nagle lived, he had what some call the "ultimate remote". Just thinking made things move.

The future may hold things much more powerful than braingate. If a person who actually needs such a device to improve on basic living can use it, eventually it may be used to simply do things we get tired of doing; "click that light" , "send that email" and such can already be done with computers using voice command, thought command is one step away from realization with the braingate system. Currently you can not buy this system. It is being tested under what is called a pilot clinical trial. The FDA is the government agency overseeing it. The folks testing braingate are still learning the language of neurons inside our heads. When they finally do, it will be quite a day for humanity, and even moreso for machines, as machines will be able to know the secrets of man. What are you thinking right now ?