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Gadgets: Digital People Mind Control
Posted December 13, 2007 11:14 AM
Too bad it isn't the real kind (not really big brother!), but soon you guys will be playing video games solely based on thought. Sega and NeuroSky are teaming up to create games and toys that read and measure brain waves so they can in turn be controlled by them. That's right mind control. It's pretty simple right now, still at the stage where activity is measured along a single axis though signal strength allows for some variations on the axis. So far the program that runs the mind control only involves lifting, dropping, and pushing around objects on a map (read experience) but for the real bang on mind control you have to go to the big dogs.
Those dogs are NASA engineers. Instead of looking to the brainwaves for control, sub vocal speech is being used to improve the abilities and controls of machines used by astronauts in space. There is still much research and development being done on the technology, improving the accuracy of the commands, but they are already using it for some tasks. The goal is 
to be using sub vocal commands to control robots and other machinery in space that would normally require an astronaut to attempt in zero g and a bulky space suit. The suits are a big hindrance in many tasks that involve precise movements and actions. The technology works thanks to button-sized sensors stuck under the chin and on either side of the Adam's apple that gather nerve signals and translate them into actual commands. What the sub vocal commands have over brain waves are that there is a much broader capability with less set up using current technology. Brain waves would require sensors across the entire skull to pick up activity in all areas of the brain, whereas with the sub vocal commands people need only think about what they would say and the sensors pick up the nerve signals and unconscious muscle movements of the throat muscles. Soon though, very soon, we will be controlling the world around us with our minds.
Tags: technology, mind, guyville, control, sub_vocal, commands, thought,
